Friday, January 28, 2011

January 31st - February 4th

Important Dates . . .
February 21 -- President's Day -- No School
February 25 -- End of Trimester
March 1 -- Report Cards

Language Arts
We will be continuing the unit of "Verbs" this week. Students will get to listen to various stories that explain what verbs are with great visual examples. As always with language arts, they will be using the interactive white board to practice their knowledge of verbs with the class. Next week we will be working on a verb poster. If you feel you have extra time this week, you may want to begin some parent-child time cutting out pictures of verbs for their project.

Reading
This week we will continue with Soar to Success. We will continue reading and discussing the book Baby Whales Drink Milk. Also, they will further focus on literal comprehension using a Groundhog Day themed short story.

We will continue working on phonics, decoding, encoding, and comprehension throughout the week through direct instruction, Lexia, and hands on materials.

Please keep reading 20 minutes a night for the Independent Reading Program! This month I will be requiring 20 days at 20 minutes. Please sign on the date the reading was accomplished. This red folder should be turned in every Friday to make sure they are staying on track. The Independent Reading Folder should be turned in for a grade this Monday. Keep reading!

Spelling
The spelling words this week will review various vowel sounds. They will be receiving a spelling practice page daily as an assignment. A test over this week's lesson and last week's lesson will be given Friday. Please try to help your child study daily.

One strategy you can use to help with spelling words this week is: Rainbow Words: Children are to write each spelling word with their pencil. They then go back and trace each word with a crayon. They do this two more times with two different crayons.

Social Studies
This week we will begin Unit 5, Our Country Long Ago. Some concepts and vocabulary terms we will discuss are relating to types of transportation, shelter, traditions, etc. at the time of early America. We will also be working on sequencing events.

Students are to research a news event. The 5Ws are found in most news stories. Often, the five Ws are introduced in a story's opening paragraph. First of all find a news story that interests your child. They should either find it on the internet and print it out or cut out from a newspaper to bring into school at the beginning of the week. They will be asked to discuss this news event with fellow students towards the end of the week. In order to do this it would be good to ask your child to talk about the who, where, when, what, and why of the story. Circle, underline, or highlight the areas of the story that tell each of the five Ws. At school each student will be asked to report to the class the who, where, when, what, and why of the story. (Online resource suggestions: Time For Kids, Science News for Kids, Weekly Reader Feature Zone, & National Geographic Kids).

Math
We will be continuing Chapter 5, Addition Strategies up to 12. This chapter will be focusing on specific strategies behind adding numbers and incorporting more mental math than in the past few chapters.

Daily Homework
Reading - 20 minutes and fill in Independent Reading Folder Log
- monthly due as late as this Monday & weekly turn in on Friday
- practice reading poems given to work on fluency
Spelling - Practice Page nightly to be turned in & study words for test

Friday, January 21, 2011

January 24th - 28th

Important Dates . . .
January 25 -- District Spelling Bee
January 27 -- Chapter 6 Science Test
January 28 -- Bingo Night
February 21 -- President's Day -- No School
February 25 -- End of Trimester
March 1 -- Report Cards


Language Arts
We will be introducing the unit of "Verbs" this week. Students will get to listen to various stories that explain what verbs are with great visual examples. As always with language arts, they will be using the interactive white board to practice their knowledge of verbs with the class.

Reading
This week we will continue with Soar to Success. We will read a new story each week and focus on phonics and comprehension skills in small groups. This week we will read and discuss the book Baby Whales Drink Milk. Also, they will further focus on literal comprehension using a winter themed short story.

We will continue working on phonics, decoding, encoding, and comprehension throughout the week through direct instruction, Lexia, and hands on materials.

Please keep reading 20 minutes a night for the Independent Reading Program! This month I will be requiring 20 days at 20 minutes. Please sign on the date the reading was accomplished. This red folder should be turned in every Friday to make sure they are staying on track. The Independent Reading Folder should be turned in for a grade at this Thursday. Keep reading!

Spelling
The spelling words this week will reflect the Language Arts unit of Pronouns - more specifically object pronouns. They will be receiving a spelling practice page daily as an assignment. A test over this week's lesson and last week's lesson will be given Friday. Please try to help your child study daily.

One strategy you can use to help with spelling words this week is play a spelling game as follows: Spelling Game 1: Use Board Games, such as Monopoly

Play any game that is normally played with dice with your child -- Monopoly, for example. You can continue to move his token forward in the normal way by throwing the dice, but your child must orally spell a word to move forward.

To select words that can be used, you should first select the two spelling lists of pronouns (last week and this week), science vocabulary words, and use words from your child's schoolwork that he often misspells. Your child should make word cards of these words. It is best to use not fewer than 20 words and not more than 30. When playing a board game, the same 20-30 words can be used, or if your child already knows how to spell them, other words can be selected. You must thoroughly shuffle the word cards, and then put them in a pile upside down on the table between the two (or more) players.

When it is your child's turn to play, you must take a word from the top of the pile and then say the word aloud. Your child must spell the word. If they spell the word correctly, he may move his token the same number of spaces as there are letters in the word. For example, for a word of seven letters he may move his token forward seven spaces. The word card is then put aside. If, however, he misspells the word, you must show the word to your child, and they must spell the word aloud three times while looking at the word, and then three times without looking at it. Then the word is put at the bottom of the pile, so that it will come up again later. If your child misspells a word, he may also not move his token for that turn.

Science
We will continue with lesson three of Chapter 6, Natural Resources. The "Big Idea" of this chapter is Earth has many natural resources that people use. It is important to protect them to make them last. To maintain a consistent understanding of the science vocabulary words, we will be building this throughout the chapter in the form of flashcards and applying them in spelling also. It is important to begin reviewing vocabulary more often as a test is coming up this week, Thursday. Students will be bringing home their science text more often this week to reread in preparation for the test.

Math
We will be starting Chapter 5, Addition Strategies up to 12. This chapter will be focusing on specific strategies behind adding numbers and incorporting more mental math than in the past few chapters,

Daily Homework
Reading - 20 minutes and fill in Independent Reading Folder Log
- weekly turn in on Friday & monthly due as late as Monday
- practice reading poems given to work on fluency
Spelling - Practice Page nightly to be turned in & study words for test

Friday, January 14, 2011

January 17th - 21st

Important Dates . . .
January 17 -- M. L. King Birthday -- No School
January 17 -- PTO Dine Out Fundraiser -- Papa Passero's
January 28 -- Bingo Night
February 21 -- President's Day -- No School
February 25 -- End of Trimester
March 1 -- Report Cards


Language Arts
We will hopefully be wrapping up the unit of "Pronouns" this week. Students will get to work with pronouns not only in Language Arts, but in spelling this week and the following week.

Reading
This week we will continue with Soar to Success. We will read a new story each week and focus on phonics and comprehension skills in small groups. This week we will finish The Paper Crane and work on comprehension using winter themed short stories.

We will continue working on phonics, decoding, encoding, and comprehension throughout the week through direct instruction, Lexia, and hands on materials.

Please keep reading 20 minutes a night for the Independent Reading Program! This month I will be requiring 20 days at 20 minutes. Please sign on the date the reading was accomplished. This red folder should be turned in every Friday to make sure they are staying on track. The Independent Reading Folder should be turned in for a grade at this Thursday. Keep reading!

Spelling
The spelling words this week will once again reflect the Language Arts unit of Pronouns - more specifically subject pronouns. They will be receiving a spelling practice page daily as an assignment. A test over the lesson will be given Friday. Please try to help your child study daily. One strategy you can use to help with spelling words this week is: Spell words with magnetic letters on cookie sheets.

Practice pages will be assigned for the upcoming week's list on Friday to give additional study time. Over the weekend would be a good time to discuss the meaning of the words. Although we work on meaning typically on Fridays and Mondays, help from home is greatly encouraged! They will be receiving them daily as an assignment. A test over the lesson will be given this Friday.

Science
We will continue with lesson three of Chapter 6, Natural Resources. The "Big Idea" of this chapter is Earth has many natural resources that people use. It is important to protect them to make them last. To maintain a consistent understanding of the science vocabulary words, we will be building this throughout the chapter in the form of flashcards and applying them in spelling also. It is important to begin reviewing vocabulary more often as a test is coming up next week. Students will be bringing home their science text this Friday to reread in preparation for the test.

* Note: This Wednesday we will be making something with reused items. In order to make this science investigation possible on Wednesday, please send your child with one or more items that would normally be recycled - empty kleenex boxes, cans, newspapers, cereal boxes, etc.

Math
We will be wrapping up Chapter 4 this week. This chapter was a review of basic addition and subtraction. In this chapter we focused on problem solving and choosing the correct operation. As a review of the chapter last week they problem solved with snowflakes as the subject of their number sentences. Just a reminder of the strategy the children are learning: PAL.
P = problem ( 2 + 2 = )
A = answer ( 4 )
L = label ( toys )

Daily Homework
Reading - 20 minutes and fill in Independent Reading Folder Log
- weekly turn in on Friday
- practice reading poems given to work on fluency
Spelling - Practice Page nightly to be turned in & study words for test

Friday, January 7, 2011

January 10th - 14th

Important Dates . . .
January 10-14 -- Reading and Math MAPs testing daily this week in our room
January 12 -- Dan Kirk, Juggler Assembly on Wednesday at 12:30.
January 17 -- M. L. King Birthday -- No School
January 17 -- PTO Dine Out Fundraiser -- Papa Passero's
January 28 -- Bingo Night
February 21 -- President's Day -- No School
February 25 -- End of Trimester
March 1 -- Report Cards

MAPs testing: Once again, we will be taking MAP tests from Friday, January 7th - Thursday, January 13th. Please make sure your child gets a good dinner and a good night's rest before these tests. Also, make sure they have a healthy breakfast and a healthy snack on the morning of these tests.

Language Arts
We will be working on a unit of "Pronouns" this week. Students will get to listen to various stories that explain what pronouns are with great visual examples.

Reading
This week we will continue with Soar to Success. We will read a new story each week and focus on phonics and comprehension skills in small groups.

We will continue working on phonics, decoding, encoding, and comprehension throughout the week through direct instruction, Lexia, and hands on materials.

Please keep reading 20 minutes a night for the Independent Reading Program! This month I will be requiring 20 days at 20 minutes. Please sign on the date the reading was accomplished. This red folder should be turned in every Friday to make sure they are staying on track. The Independent Reading Folder should be turned in for a grade at this Thursday. Keep reading!

Spelling
The spelling words this week will once again reflect the sixth chapter science terms. They will be receiving a spelling practice page daily as an assignment. A test over the lesson will be given Friday. Please try to help your child study daily. One strategy you can use to help with spelling words this week is playing a game: Play word games such as hangman or write a spelling word with letters missing and ask your child to write in the missing letter.

Practice pages will be assigned for the upcoming week's list on Friday to give additional study time. Over the weekend would be a good time to discuss the meaning of the words. Although we work on meaning typically on Fridays and Mondays, help from home is greatly encouraged! They will be receiving them daily as an assignment. A test over the lesson will be given this Friday.

Science
We will continue with Chapter 6, Natural Resources. The "Big Idea" of this chapter is Earth has many natural resources that people use. It is important to protect them to make them last. To maintain a consistent understanding of the science vocabulary words, we will be building this throughout the chapter in the form of flashcards and applying them in spelling also.

Math
We will be continuing with Chapter 4. This chapter is a review of basic addition and subtraction . Also in this chapter we will continue to reinforce problem solving. Just a reminder of the strategy the children are learning: PAL.
P = problem ( 2 + 2 = )
A = answer ( 4 )
L = label ( toys )

Daily Homework
Reading - 20 minutes and fill in Independent Reading Folder Log
- weekly turn in on Friday
- practice reading poems given to work on fluency
Spelling - Practice Page nightly to be turned in & study words for test