Week 9 - November 1, 2019

Happy Halloween 

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween.  Thank you to all the parents who helped at our celebration here.  It seemed to go very well and the kids seemed to have a great time!  We really appreciate your time and effort to make it fun for the kids!

Curriculum

Reading:
This week, the students worked on getting their lips ready when trying to decode words.  They learned to look all the way through the word as well.  Next week, students will learn to stretch words out looking at each sound and how to skip a word and use the rest of the sentence to help them to figure out words they do not know.

Book Baggies:
Students brought home six books.  Two books below their level so that they can practice fluency, two books on their level to help them practice decoding strategies and other skills we're learning in class, and two books above level to help students push themselves as readers.  Books should be returned every Thursday.  If your child feels the books are too easy for them, that is okay.  They can build their fluency and confidence as readers.  Levels will change throughout the year, but they will NOT change weekly.

Writing:
Students learned to revise their writing by showing vs. telling.  In addition, they learned to edit their writing for capitals and periods.  Next week, we will continue to learn to edit by looking at spelling.  Students will learn to use the dictionaries I gave them, to use the word wall and to use their word learning skills to help them stretch words out to spell them.

Math:
This week students worked on counting and representing numbers in their counting collection journals.  They are working on counting in different ways and showing their thinking.  In addition, they practiced solving number stories, showing their thinking and using a number model (equation) to represent their thinking.  Students also learned to use a Change to More/Less diagram (shown below) to show their thinking. Next week, we will continue to practice counting and showing our counting.  Students will learn to show their counting along a number line.  In addition, they will continue to practice solving number stories.

Science/Social Studies:
This week we learned about how the Earth rotates to create night and day.  We learned that because of Earth's rotation, the sun seems to move across the sky from East to West.  In addition, we learned that we have seasons because of Earth's tilt and orbit around the sun.  When we are tilted away from the sun it is winter and when we are tilted toward the sun we have summer.  Finally, students learned that the seasons are opposite for countries that are in the southern hemisphere.  Next week, we will be wrapping up some of our learning about air and weather by figuring out ways to show our learning on bulletin boards outside our rooms. 

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
• Work on a math skill (i.e. counting forwards and backwards within 120, adding and subtracting to 20 - play a board game for this, telling time, counting 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

November 5: No School - Election Day
November 12: Conferences
November 13: Picture Retakes
November 15: Bagels with Buddies (8:15 AM-8:45 AM)
November 25: Multicultural Feast
November 27-29: No School - Thanksgiving Break
December 6: No School - record's Day