In Reading Workshop we have finished our first unit, Readers Build Good Habits. The students learned how to decode tricky words with many different strategies.
Tricky Word Strategies
1. Look at the Picture
2. Get your mouth ready for the beginning sound
3. Look through the word to the end...
4. Go back to the beginning of the sentences and Get a running Start....
5. Read around the word, "What would make sense?"
6. Look for Chunks you know.
7. Flip the Vowel from short to long
Students have been working on stamina (reading long and strong) with their books. Your child should be bringing home a book or two almost daily in the Blue Reading Bag. Having a just right book to read at home helps build fluency and comprehension. Be sure to ask your child to retell the story when they are finished reading. You could ask other comprehension questions after reading such as: Where is the setting?, What was your favorite part? Why? or Why did the character do that?
Understanding the story and Making Meaning is the key to reading!
SPELLING: We have finished studying Short A, Short O and Short I.
We will start short U on Monday, October 7th.
The goal is for everyone to spell words correctly in their writing.
Please have your child practice spelling the sight words below. I will be checking their writing and giving a dictated weekly sentence until all short vowels have been taught.
1. was
2. has
3. ran
4. bad
5. tag
6 have
7. went
8.. with
9. his
10. her
WRITING: We are writing true small moment stories. We are learning all stories have a beginning, middle and an ending. We are learning to start our stories with when:
One day, Over the weekend, Last Night, Yesterday, One day, etc.
We are learning to end our stories with what we think, feel or dialogue.
I was so happy. I felt sad. "I hope to do this again!" I said.
We are writing a lot of details stretching out the story bit by bit. Next, we will help the characters come alive by writing with action and dialogue.
One day, Over the weekend, Last Night, Yesterday, One day, etc.
We are learning to end our stories with what we think, feel or dialogue.
I was so happy. I felt sad. "I hope to do this again!" I said.
We are writing a lot of details stretching out the story bit by bit. Next, we will help the characters come alive by writing with action and dialogue.
Partner Work:
We continue to practice our listening and sharing skills on the carpet during teaching and in partner work. Learning to value others ideas, listen to another and share thinking is important for success in school. These partners are used for reading, writing and math. We get new partners about every 2-3 weeks so by the end of the year every child has had every student in the class as his or her partner.
Partners sit next to one another in a group of 4 desks.
MATH:
We finished Chapter 2: Addition and Subtraction up to 10. Being able to compose (make) and decompose (take away) numbers up to ten fluently helps students as they work on harder math skills. The goal is to be able to visualize the numbers in their heads and move between addition and subtraction with ease. Many websites are available to help with this skill.
One that has many games and has printable worksheets is:
http://gregtangmath.com/games.html
SCIENCE:
We watched our meal worms grow from larvas to pupas and then into beetles. In addition, we watched Painted Lady caterpillars turn into Butterflies. Learning about the life cycle of living things is fascinating to the children. Plus, we had a wonderful field trip to the Butterfly House.
This week we planted brassica(fast plant). These plants allow the students to see the complete life cycle of a plant in an efficient timeline. We will study about pumpkins and apples to go along with plant life cycle at the end of October.
Upcoming Dates:
Friday, October 11th No School- Teacher Prep. for Conferences
Mrs. Goode's Conferences are Monday, Oct 7th through Wednesday, Oct. 16
A link to the SignUpGenius page was sent to email.
Thursday, October 17th- Early Release
Friday, October 18th- No School
Thursday, October 31st, Halloween Party and Parade starting at 1:30
Scholastic Book Orders will be coming home. Orders are due: Friday, October 25th.
If you order, there are 2 ways to pay:
A) Return order sheet and a check made out to Scholastic.
B) Online order with your credit card.
1. go to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs
2. use my class activation code: fmr3g
3. shop and pay.
