Week 22

This week's story is a non fiction one called "At Home Around the World." The phonics emphasis will be on y making the long e sound as at the end of the word bunny. We will also review ar and ur. The vocabulary words are:

above

hold

warm

different

old

water

years

Questions of the Week:

Monday - It is School Nurse Day. List some ways she helps us.

Tuesday - It is Ground Hog's Day. Did he see his shadow? What does that mean?

Wednesday - Tell me 5 words that end with y making the long e sound.

Thursday - Use the word different in a sentence.

Friday - It is Chocolate Month. What is your favorite thing made of chocolate?

Hopefully we will finish our first math book this week. All of the snow days and late start days have taken us a bit off schedule. We will be doing math facts and the in and out machine. I will put an example of it at the end of this note. The kids will have to figure out the rule. It is not an easy concept.

Spelling is going really well. Most everyone is caught up to where they should be. I kind of expect them to all be on at least list 13. Your child should know what list he/she is on.

We will have our valentine party on Feb. 12. We will do it at 12:15 so we will have plenty of clean up time. Please have your child address the cards. It is a part of the work they should be able to do. Here is the class list:

Carsen Corbyn Baylee MacKade Jordan

Cesar Hannah Taylor Shaymon Jackson

Abby Daycee Kaden Jacob Garrett

Briana Mollie Gavin Savannah Demitre

Thanks for all you do to help me and to help your child. I appreciate all of it.

Have a great week!!!

Week 21

Since last week was a non-week, we will be playing catchup this week. Our story for the week is "Me on the Map." It is a non-fictions story. The sound this week is long a as in cape. The new vocabulary words are:

country

Earth

over

special

town

world

Questions of the Week:

Monday - What did you do on your snow day?

Tuesday - List 5 words that rhyme with lake.

Wednesday - Use the word special in a sentence.

Thursday - Tomorrow is Kansas Day. Who do you know that was born in Kansas? (correct answer. . .Mrs. Sass)

Friday - Monday will start a new month. What one is it? How many days in it? Any special holidays in it?

Our hundred day celebration was stymied a little. The late start and the fact that I also had Mr. Hardy's kids, meant we didn't get to do all we had planned. We will do some of these things on Monday. Just a little late. My kids were excellent when I had 43 kids in the room. THAT IS A LOT!!!

In math we will be doing probability and turn around facts. We will also start taking timed tests on math facts. The first few are pretty easy. They will need to do 42 problems in 2 minutes. Hopefully we can get math facts to be automatic to facts of 10.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate with us and we can have a fairly normal week of school. But remember FRIDAY IS AN EARLY RELEASE DAY!!!

Have a good week!

AR STARS

Week 20

We are starting a new reading book this week. It is hard to believe that we are starting book 4 already. There is only one more left when we finish this one. You will notice a jump in reading level in this book. It seems much harder than the last one.

The book is called Time Together. Our story this week is "A Bed Full of Cats." The phonics sound is long e, made by e, ea, and ee. The new vocabulary words are:

also

anything

know

moved

only

room

should

those

write

Questions of the Week

Monday - Holiday

Tuesday - Whose birthday was yesterday?

Wednesday - List 5 words that rhyme with me.

Thursday - What is your favorite TV program?

Friday - List 5 words that have the long e sound.

Please have your child answer these questions. . .I don't mind if you help with spelling, etc. but they aren't learning if you are doing the work for them.

In math we are doing greater than and less than. This is an easy concept because we have done it every day with our lunch count. We will also do 'how much more'. This isn't as easy. We will work with probability and turn around facts (1+2, 2+1).

I had the pleasure of giving out 3 AR shirts this week. Congratulations to Shaymon, Jacob, and Abby. I am so pleased that reading has become an important part of our room. Many others are now wanting to attain that goal.

Spelling seems to have improved in the last 2 weeks. More are passing tests and moving up.

Thursday is the 100th day of school. We will do activities dealing with 100 most of the day. Please have your child bring a bag of 100 things. It can be whatever you choose. Counting to 100 is a state standard. Please have your child count the 100 things. They aren't learning it if you are doing it for them.

Have a great week.

Week 19

We are reading the last story in this book. It is a fable called "The Fox and the Stork." A fable is a story that teaches a lesson. The new sound this week is the long o sound made by ow or oa. The new vocabulary words are:

door

kind

made

who

would

Questions of the Week

Monday - List 5 words with the long o sound.

Tuesday - What is your favorite snack?

Wednesday - List 5 words that rhyme with low.

Thursday - What would you do with $20.

Friday - List the people in your family.

In math this week, we will be doing more place value and exploring weight and volume. We will also be doing greater than and less than. We do these everyday as we take lunch count so greater than and less than should be really easy. Please continue to work with time and money at home as the opportunity arises. I am going to start paying the kids with play money this week. Then we can open the bank. They learn to trade coins and to count how much money they have. I will pay for all kinds of things like finished work, finished homework, good behavior, etc. I hope this will help us learn more about money.

Spelling seemed to pick up this week. I set the timer for 10 minutes and they can do nothing but practice spelling. It isn't very fun but the stamps and markers didn't seem to be working. They weren't concentrating on the spelling of the words when they were doing those activities. It was fun but not too beneficial!!!

We had a really good week back at school. The kids just came in and went to work. This is such a good class. Their reading scores were so good. It makes it such a pleasure to go to work.

Have a great week!

Christmas Fun

The slide show shows pictures from our party and some of the activities we did leading up to the holidays.

Week 18

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope 2010 brings everything that will make you happy.

It is time to go back to school and get back into our routine. I hope we can all adjust to a schedule again.

Our story this week is "Friends Forever." It is a non-fiction story. The phonics sound for the week is "le" as in the word middle. The new vocabulary words are:

each

great

other

place

school

talk

together

Questions of the Week

Monday - What was your favorite Christmas gift?

Tuesday - First roller skates, 1884. Is roller skating good exercise? Why?

Wednesday - It is Flower Day. What is your mom's favorite flower?

Thursday - Use the word 'together' in a sentence.

Friday - Write 3 words that have 'le' at the end.

The new skill for this week in math is place value. We will start with tens and ones, and then add hundreds to the mix. We will continue to work on math fact and getting them to automaticity.

Most are doing really well in spelling. Please continue to practice at home. We spend time daily practicing at school.

I am anxiously awaiting giving out my first AR shirt. I have a couple kids that are pretty close. I hope that can happen in the next few weeks.

Thanks again for all the help and support you give me and our class.

Have a great week.