Week 26

This week we are reading a non fiction story called "On the Job with Dr. Martha Smith." This story is written in the interview style to gain information about her job at an animal shelter. The phonics focus this week is /ou/(what you would say if I pinched you) made by the letter ou and ow. The new vocabulary words are:

any

Dr.

busy

care

eight

took

Questions-of-the-Week

Monday - Tomorrow is a new month. What one is it? How many days are in it?

Tuesday - Use the word busy in a sentence.

Wednesday - Today is Pick Up the Phone Day. Who would you call? What is your phone number?

Thursday - Tell me 5 words that name animal sounds.

Friday - List 5 words with /ou/ sound.

Math this week will be time to the 5 minutes, which we do not have to master but only introduce, and quarters. The touch points are two at the top, one in the middle, and two on the bottom for a quarter. They will still count money by 5's. We will continue with problem solving, graphing, and timed tests on math facts.

We are going to spend some time on handwriting. Ours seems to be deteriorating rather than improving. We are almost second graders so this has to improve.

Spelling is going pretty well. You child should be on List 18 this week. If not, he/she will be in during morning recess working on spelling.

I will be sending out conference schedules this week. Please be on the look out for yours.

Reading fluency seems to be improving. This is a really important skill and we have been working hard on it. The kids that are getting to AR every day are really doing better. Their fluency speed is building and they will probably meet benchmark by the end of the year. Reading practice is so important. I don't know at this time how the kids are going to be tested, but if they are not on grade level by third grade they will be retained. This is a state mandate, not a local one. This means the pressure is on for all of us. Your help at home is so important.

Congratulations to Gage. He earned a shirt on Friday. I didn't have my camera so no picture yet. MacKenzie will get a zipper pull on Monday. I am so excited to see the enthusiasm for reading. It is showing in their reading ability.

Have a great week!