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Dear UST Parents,
During summer break UST will be encouraging reading with a Summer Reading Challenge! This is a fun way to help prevent the effects of the summer slide—the learning losses that can occur during the summer months.
This reading challenge is optional for G1-G5 students. Students that participate will celebrate their efforts by earning raffle tickets to win some great prizes! The raffle will take place at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year.
G1-G2 students will receive 1 raffle ticket for every 2 hours read (Please note that school books will not be sent home and students will need to read books available at home or online to complete their summer reading). They can also choose to complete weekly book reviews. G1-G2 students may complete 1 book review a week for a total of 8 book reviews by the end of the summer holiday. Each book read can only be used once to complete a book review. Additional raffle tickets will not be awarded for completing more than 8 book reviews.
2 hours of reading = 1 raffle ticket
1 book review = 1 raffle ticket (limit: 8)
Raffle tickets = chances to win prizes!
Please find the book review pages attached. These will also be shared on Seesaw. The activity pages are available to print, but to save paper, we would like to ask that you complete your book reviews in a summer reading notebook or on Seesaw. Please see the example. Thank you!
If your child would like to participate in this school event, please help them fill out the reading goal sheet sent home in their backpack and return it to their homeroom teacher by Friday, June 25th.
Reading logs and book reviews will be due back to school the first week of school (week of August 30th).
Happy Reading!
UST Teachers
Plants and Animals
What happens to the grass and alfalfa plants after we mow them?
On Monday we looked at our little lawns and observed how our grass and alfalfa plants have grown during the last couple weeks. The class asked the question, "What happens to the grass and alfalfa plants after we mow them?" After drawing a picture of their lawn in their science notebook, students mowed their lawn using scissors. We talked about what we might see happen to our plants in the next two weeks.
We also observed new plants called pothos. We didn’t have seeds to make a new plant, so we brainstormed what we could do to get new plants from an old plant. The class learned the word node, then prepared cuttings to observe.
We ended the week learning about habitats and the basic needs of animals (food, water, shelter, air). We read a nonfiction book about habitats and students worked together with their table group to read about one habitat. They listed plants and animals that live in the habitat and talked about different structures that help certain plants and animals survive in their habitats.
Habitats: ocean, forest, grassland, pond, tundra, rainforest, desert
Concept Grid Example:
Graphs
Our last math chapter is all about graphs. This week our class learned about picture graphs and tally charts.
We focused on:
- collecting data and showing it as a picture graph
- understanding data shown in a picture graph
- collecting data and using a tally chart to organize it
- understanding data shown in a tally chart
Math Vocabulary
data picture graph tally chart tally marks greatest | more fewer most fewest least |
Reading Across Genres to Learn About a Topic
This week students continued to practice reading across genres to help them learn more information about different topics they are interested in. While reading nonfiction and fiction books, students shared facts they learned and talked about how the books are similar and different.
Response to Literature
Students worked on publishing their 2nd animal report during writing, then the class was introduced to Responding to Literature. During the last weeks of the school year, students will review fiction and nonfiction books they've enjoyed reading during Grade 1.
- Ms. Allison