January Family Focus
A poem by Helen H. Moore to open the new year:
Snowing, blowing January
Starts the year off cold.
We say "hello" to the New Year now,
and "goodbye" to the old.
Reader's Workshop will see our young readers investigating mysteries. Throughout this unit, the children will not only uncover the elements of mystery books, students will continue to explore and reinforce the foundational "read to learn" skills they have been developing throughout their previous units of study. This unit lends itself to the children's inquisitive nature and sets the stage for the problem-solving thinking they will apply in science. In Writer's Workshop, we will begin opinion/persuasive writing. Students will discover the power of their voice in written expression and learn strategies to develop position statements well-supported with details and evidence. Our authors will learn to take into account the audience to which they are presenting their argument, organizing information for emphasis, and choosing powerful words that evoke emotion and connect with their selected audience.
Mathematics will complete Unit 3 by developing addition and subtraction strategies, reading and drawing scaled bar and picture graphs, using multiplication squares and the Commutative Property of multiplication. We will begin Unit 4 which explores measurement and geometry concepts. Please continue to practice multiplication facts each night. Students should be strong in x1, x2, x3, x4, x5, and x10 by the end of this month.
In Social Studies, students will become Bordentown experts! The Bordentown historians will learn about significant figures in the history of Bordentown such as Thomas Farnsworth, Joseph Borden, Francis Hopkinson, and Clara Barton. They will explore important events such as the "Battle of Kegs" as well as the development of schools within our town. This unit is a great opportunity for the children to understand the importance of names and places they see around them each day and deepen their pride in their hometown.