Week 16 - December 21, 2018

Special Winter Week

Thank you for all your help in making our last week a blast!  I think the kids enjoyed it!

Curriculum

Reading:
As readers this week, we read and learned about snow, the Grinch and how he changes, and about Gingerbread and Gingerbread Men.  When we return from the Winter Break, we will continue learning about reading strategies and reading fluently.

Book Baggies:
Please help the students remember to bring their book baggies every Friday.  I would like them to have an opportunity to read different books.

Writing:
As writers, students reviewed writing a how to book by writing How to Build a Snowman.  We also wrote about the Grinch and how he changes over time.  When we return from the break, the students will be writing How To books.

Math:
In math we practiced adding and subtracting within 20, identifying/representing numbers to 100, and addition fluency within 10.  When we return from the break, we will be working on adding 10 to any number and subtracting 10 from any number.

IXL Skills - Use these activities as you wish to help your child with the skills we will be working on throughout this first trimester.

Science/Social Studies:
After the break, we will continue to learn more about sound.  The students will be reading and doing experiments to learn about volume, pitch and how sound is made.

Purposeful Play
Please see the Purposeful Play tab on the blog to learn more about our weekly Play Time and donation items we could use for it!

Homework

• Read every night (you can read with your child, listen to them read or read to them - all of it helps).  Then talk about the book - who are the characters, what happened, why did it happen, make connections, what's the main idea, why did the author write the book, how did the author give you information, what features did the author use to help you as a reader
• Work on a math skill  
• counting forwards and backwards within 120 (and skip counting)
• adding and subtracting to 20 - play a board game for this
• telling time (What are the hands on the clock? How is a clock set up?)
• identify and count coins
• measuring - length and volume -  have your child cook with you to practice this
• talk about shapes - 2D and 3D - find items around your house, etc.) 

Specials Schedule

Monday: P.E. (Wear tennis shoes)
Tuesday: Art (Bring an Art shirt labeled with your child's name)
Wednesday: Music
Thursday: Media/Library
Friday: Rotates (See the back of your child's OWL folder (everyday folder) for a schedule.)

Important Dates

December 24-January 6: No School - Winter Break

January 7: School Resumes
January 21: No School - MLK Day
January 31: Multicultural Night (6:00-8:00pm)

Week 15 - December 14, 2018

Special Winter Week

To help make our last week before the Winter Break special, we will be doing some themed days to guide our learning.  

Monday (12/17): Snow Day - Learn and read about snow, play in the snow and make projects with snow!

Tuesday (12/18): Grinch Day - Wear green or grinchy attire!

Wednesday (12/19): Gingerbread Day - Gingerbread Playdough: See sign up genius to donate items for the playdough and/or to volunteer

Thursday (12/20): Holiday Celebration - Wear festive attire- green, red, gold, silver, etc. The party is on 10:30-11:15 AM. If you are able to volunteer for this event, please arrive 15 minutes early to check in and receive directions for the station you signed up for. Also, please plan on staying about 15 minutes after to help clean up. **All volunteers must have a current background check form on file.** Thank you so much in advance!"

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e4aafae22a0f58-1stand1

Friday (12/21): Pajama Day

Curriculum

Reading:
This week, the students have been learning about blends and how to decode words with blends (bl-, cl-, sc-, sn-, fr-, cr-, etc).  They've also learned not to read too fast or too slow, but to read at a good pace so that they can understand their reading.  Finally, they've learned to back up and reread if they find that they are not understanding their reading.  Next week, we will get to do reading related to our themed days (snow, the Grinch, and gingerbread men).  We will also continue to practice decoding words with blends.

Book Baggies:
Many students forgot their book baggies today.  Please help them remember them next week Friday.  I would like them to have an opportunity to read different books.

Writing:
As writers, we took a short break from How to...books to work on another book this week.  Next week in our festive week, we will practice writing how to's about making playdough and snowmen.

Math:
As mathematicians this week, we learned several different strategies to help us when solving addition and subtraction problems within 20.  The students learned to use friendly numbers and helper facts to help them solve harder problems.  We will continue to work on adding and subtracting within 20 as well as building our fluency within 10.  The students have been loving practicing facts with flashcards!

IXL Skills - Use these activities as you wish to help your child with the skills we will be working on throughout this first trimester.

Science/Social Studies:
In science this week, we had an opportunity to explore sound more in a reading and in an experiment.  The students were given a cup, rubber band and tongue depressor.  They did an amazing job of exploring and finding ways to make sound with these materials.  They are really starting to understand that sound comes from vibrations, that it travels in waves, it can travel through different types of matter, that it can be loud or soft (volume), or high or low (pitch).  These last two, volume and pitch, we sometimes get confused on!

Purposeful Play
Please see the Purposeful Play tab on the blog to learn more about our weekly Play Time and donation items we could use for it!

Homework

• Read every night (you can read with your child, listen to them read or read to them - all of it helps).  Then talk about the book - who are the characters, what happened, why did it happen, make connections, what's the main idea, why did the author write the book, how did the author give you information, what features did the author use to help you as a reader
• Work on a math skill  
• counting forwards and backwards within 120 (and skip counting)
• adding and subtracting to 20 - play a board game for this
• telling time (What are the hands on the clock? How is a clock set up?)
• identify and count coins
• measuring - length and volume -  have your child cook with you to practice this
• talk about shapes - 2D and 3D - find items around your house, etc.) 

Specials Schedule

Monday: P.E. (Wear tennis shoes)
Tuesday: Art (Bring an Art shirt labeled with your child's name)
Wednesday: Music
Thursday: Media/Library
Friday: Rotates (See the back of your child's OWL folder (everyday folder) for a schedule.)

Important Dates

December 20: Holiday Celebration (see above)

December 24-January 6: No School - Winter Break
January 7: School Resumes
January 21: No School - MLK Day
January 31: Multicultural Night (6:00-8:00pm)

Week 14 - December 7, 2018

Special Winter Week

To help make our last week before the Winter Break special, we will be doing some themed days to guide our learning.  We are asking for some volunteers and for some items.  Please see the following sign up link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0945a5a62da1f58-first5.  There is also another separate sign up below for the Holiday Celebration on Thursday.

Monday (12/17): Snow Day - Learn and read about snow, play in the snow and make projects with snow!

Tuesday (12/18): Grinch Day - Wear green or grinchy attire!

Wednesday (12/19): Gingerbread Day - Gingerbread Playdough: See sign up genius to donate items for the playdough and/or to volunteer

Thursday (12/20): Holiday Celebration - Wear festive attire- green, red, gold, silver, etc. The party is on 10:30-11:15 AM. If you are able to volunteer for this event, please arrive 15 minutes early to check in and receive directions for the station you signed up for. Also, please plan on staying about 15 minutes after to help clean up. **All volunteers must have a current background check form on file.** Thank you so much in advance!"

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e4aafae22a0f58-1stand1

Friday (12/21): Pajama Day

Curriculum

Reading:
As readers, we've continued to learn different strategies to help us with tricky words.  We've learned to skip the word and come back (Skippy Frog), to get our lips ready to say the first sound (Lips the Fish) and to flip the letter sound (Flippy Dolphin).  In addition, we reviewed the short vowel sounds and worked on identifying which sound goes in different words.  We will continue to build our decoding skills next week.  Plus, we will begin learning about blends as a spelling pattern.

Book Baggies:
Many students forgot their book baggies today.  Please help them remember them next week Friday.  I would like them to have an opportunity to read different books.

Writing:
As writers, we've been reading How to...books.  As we read them, we looked at the features that How to...books have.  The students noticed many things.  We also then tried to write a class How to Draw a Snowman book.  We learned the importance of using details and pictures to help our readers.  Next week, we will continue to practice writing by writing about ourselves.

Math:
In math, we've been learning to add and subtract within 20.  We learned about doubles and doubles +1 strategies to help us solve problems.  Next week, we will continue to practice using strategies to help us solve addition and subtraction problems within 20.

IXL Skills - Use these activities as you wish to help your child with the skills we will be working on throughout this first trimester.

Science/Social Studies:
In science this week, we began our unit on Light and Sound.  We started by asking the students what they already knew about sound, sound pitch, sound volume and vibrations.  Next week, we will continue to explore these ideas through reading, experiments and other research.

Purposeful Play
Please see the Purposeful Play tab on the blog to learn more about our weekly Play Time and donation items we could use for it!

Homework

• Read every night (you can read with your child, listen to them read or read to them - all of it helps).  Then talk about the book - who are the characters, what happened, why did it happen, make connections, what's the main idea, why did the author write the book, how did the author give you information, what features did the author use to help you as a reader
• Work on a math skill  
• counting forwards and backwards within 120 (and skip counting)
• adding and subtracting to 20 - play a board game for this
• telling time (What are the hands on the clock? How is a clock set up?)
• identify and count coins
• measuring - length and volume -  have your child cook with you to practice this
• talk about shapes - 2D and 3D - find items around your house, etc.) 

Specials Schedule

Monday: P.E. (Wear tennis shoes)
Tuesday: Art (Bring an Art shirt labeled with your child's name)
Wednesday: Music
Thursday: Media/Library
Friday: Rotates (See the back of your child's OWL folder (everyday folder) for a schedule.)

Important Dates

December 12: Holiday Shop (4:30-8)
December 20: Holiday Celebration (see above)

December 24-January 6: No School - Winter Break
January 7: School Resumes
January 21: No School - MLK Day
January 31: Multicultural Night (6:00-8:00pm)