It was so much fun to wear pajamas to school on Tuesday! I'd like to have pajama day every Monday -- wouldn't that be nice? We were all pretty relaxed on Tuesday in your pj's, but we still managed to get some work done.

This week, we started our unit on the Solar System in earnest. So far, all we have really done is discuss the importance of scale models, make a scale model that shows relative size, and one that shows relative distances. We also learned about what elements are a part of our Solar System. Many of the students believed that there are millions of stars in our Solar System, and it was good to uncover this misconception so we could discuss it. This is a quick unit, and the most important concept we learn about is what makes day and night and how all the planets and moons revolve around the sun. We will have our end-of-unit assessment at the end of next week!

We also began learning about division this week. It is quite a shift for the students to go from understanding multiplication to understanding division, even though they are different sides of the same coin!  Being able to read a story problem and understand that the larger number is being divided into equal groups is hard work! We have worked on this for a few days now, and we have discussed remainders. More practice is coming!

Our reading work has focused on wearing different "lenses" for fiction and non-fiction reading, and being able to identify each. We have also discussed how to tackle difficult words by looking "in and around them." The students have practiced figuring out new vocabulary words from the context. This is not easy, but practice makes all the difference.

We have done some similar work in writing, as we are finishing up our expert books. The students have been working on putting "expert words" into their writing. Some are even creating glossaries!  Their books are coming along, and we have a range of topics from football to having a baby brother!

Thank you all so much for making donations to the classroom store. I think everyone "bought" at least one item today, and they all seemed really pleased with their purchases!  One more week to go, and we will end our classroom economy. We will come back to the economics unit after Thanksgiving and relate it to Vermont.

Ask your kids about: Magic Science, our scale model made out of food, Boots flying off the mountaintop, revolve and rotate.

Next week's sharing: Something that is older than you!

Have a fabulous weekend.