I hope you had a nice weekend. I can't thank you all enough for all the outpouring of kindness last week. WOW! You all spoiled me with lunch and breakfast, sweet treats and gift cards, letters and flowers. My heart (and my tummy) are full. Thank you so much for your generosity and your sweet kiddos that you share with me each and every day.
This is a short week. There is no school this Friday in observance of Good Friday.
In Language Arts we will be focusing on paired passages. Often we are given more than one point of view on a topic, and it's important to be able to understand them separately, as well as notice the similarities and differences between the two texts. This week I am showing students what that might look like in a testing format and teaching them a powerful strategy for answering questions that compare and contrast the passages. Homework this week is as always, which is to read at least 30 minutes a night, uninterrupted. There is also a little comprehension practice coming home today that is due Thursday. It's two short passages (non comparative) and questions. In writing we are reviewing something we studied earlier in the year: prefixes and suffixes. It's important to mentally isolate a prefix and/or suffix when breaking down a larger or unfamiliar word. Break it down to the base word to determine the meaning. Add the prefix back on to supplement or change the meaning. Add the suffix back on to determine the verb tense or part of speech.
In Social Studies we will be doing some research on one of the Texans buried in the Texas State Cemetery. There are people from many categories including senators, governors, Texas Rangers, signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence, authors, etc. Each student will be given the name of one of these Texas greats to read about and create a foldable about. Students will take those foldables to our field trip next week where we will break into small groups and find our assigned persons' tombstone. There students will teach their small group about him/her. I haven't been on this field trip before, so I'm really looking forward to it. I know we will need chaperones in order to have the groups small enough. More information will come home this week. In addition to our research, We will be reading Week 21. Texas is a new state, the 48th in fact. When it was admitted to the Union, the president was Polk. Students will learn what it was like as a brand new state. Because Texas was a republic, they have a couple of special rules. See if your child can tell you at the end of this week.