Buckaroo news for February 9th to 13th

Happy Valentine's Day!!!  I know it's a day early but we all celebrated in a huge way today and had a blast!  This post, once again, is a bit picture heavy:).  I just can't help post the great learning and fun we have at Camp Buckaroo!  Here is a snapshot of our week:
In word study, we focused on the long /o/ vowel patterns of /ow/ and /oa/.  Each word study group had their own focus.  When they write their words three times each and do rainbow words for practice, my hope is that they will practice at home as well.   Our writer's workshop became Valentine's Workshop this week as we wrote a Valentine for each of our peers in our class.  The children loved doing this and adding a personal touch to each and every one of them.  In science, we ended our study of penguins by writing six facts about them in our journals.  I hope that you'll take a moment to look at these wonderful journals when they come home with your child next week.  They are officially penguin experts:)  In math, we've been adding strategies to our "tool box" of strategies.  We learned how to use a hundred chart to add in groups of ten.  We also used base-10 blocks as a strategy to add groups of ten onto a given number.  Several are already doing this mentally and it's amazing to see them thinking and applying these complicated concepts.  Next week, we will be subtracting tens.  In reader's workshop, we are honing our skills to make meaningful connections to the books we're reading and not just making superficial connections that really don't help us to understand what we're reading.  

Next week's schedule:  Monday - NO SCHOOL (this time I'm right about this:)   Tuesday - Music   Wednesday - Library   Thursday - P.E.   Friday - Art

This is just a small part of the huge paper chain that wrapped itself around our room.  They worked fantastically as a team to create this and they were so proud when it was finally hanging up.