News+1-11


 * Brown’s Blurb**
 * January 9, 2008**

Important Reminder
 * The third grade will be presenting a play, //Thanks and Giving All Year Long,// on Friday, January 30th, at 8:00 am. Please help your child practice his or her lines and songs at home. Further information and notes about costumes will be posted soon.**


 * Reader’s Workshop:** We started a book study on //Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing// by Judy Blume. We will be discussing the elements of realistic fiction and finding examples in the book to help us prepare for writing our own realistic fiction stories next month. This week we discussed the literary device: Point of View.


 * Writer’s Workshop:** Students are publishing stories about their holiday breaks. They are also learning to use their Writer's Notebooks as toolkits for collecting ideas and stories. They were very excited for opportunities to write on topics and in genres of their choice. I hope to encourage them to enjoy writing and to publish their written work.


 * Social Studies:** We have started a new unit about //People on the Move// and //Building New Communities.// This week students learned about why people moved west to build new communities in the 1800s, how Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, and Sacagawea contributed to the expansion of communities in our country, and how immigrants helped change communities over time.


 * Math: It is essential that all students be memorizing their math facts at home. This includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.**