Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Update

*We all had a wonderful time at New Pond Farm. The children learned a lot about the animals on the farm and even learned how to milk a cow and make yarn! Thank you to Mrs. Rentz and Mrs. Hansen for coming along on the trip and taking pictures.

*Our Halloween Party and Parade are this Friday afternoon. Please send your child in with his or her costume in a bag on Friday morning. If your child has an allergy please make sure that you send them in with a "party" snack for the afternoon.

*I have been assessing the students on syllables, vowel sounds in the middle of words, beginning and ending consonants. Please visit the Education Technology Center (ETC) on http://www.monroeps.org/ . There are many games to help your child practice these phonemic skills. Go to first grade and reading then to phonics games. You can also visit Literactive and register to play the learning activities. In level 4, there is a great game about syllables!

***READING*** I am beginning to assess the students in order to have some data for report cards, conferences and to re-arrange reading groups. Please have your child practice their reading strategies as they read at home.
What to do when you get stuck:
1. Check the picture
2. Go back and re-read (don't let your child just skip a word - have them go back and try and figure it out.)
3. Get your mouth ready
4. Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense?
5. Find a part of the word that you know.

***MATH***
Practice counting pennies, nickels and dimes. Have them sing the "MONEY RAP"
The children are also measuring with non-standard units.

***November 2nd and November 11th - NO SCHOOL***

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Week of October 4th, 2010

Picture Day is October 6th.

No School - Friday, October 8th and Monday, October 11th.

October 21st will be our trip to New Pond Farm. Please send back the permission slips and checks promptly. I will pick 2 chaperone names out of a hat and contact those parents by the end of the week.

We have been practicing the letter formation and sounds of the following letters: Ss, Bb, Hh, Tt, Ff, Ii, Kk. Please keep track of the 4 sight words that your child receives each week in their homework. You can make Bingo boards with these words or make 2 index cards for each word and play memory. Your child should be able to identify and spell these words.

The children will be picking a writing piece at the end of the week, editing it and turning it into a "published" piece. We will have a celebration of their work in our classroom next week. I plan on displaying these pieces in the hallway. If you are in the building in the next few weeks, please make sure that you take a look at our pieces.

The weather has not been cooperating for our Sunshine and Shadows unit but we are making the best of things. The children have been learning a lot about this topic in the computer lab through different sites in the ETC. Please visit these sites at home for reinforcement.

The children have been doing a wonderful job in math showing and telling addition and subtraction stories.