January 27-31st, 2020

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Chinese New Year on Friday. The children learned some fun facts about the traditions of this holiday. We also had a small feast of our own involving crispy noodles with duck sauce and fortune cookies.

Reading: Unit 4 begins this week. The stories in this unit will discuss adventures. The first story is Eric Carle’s animal fantasy, “Rooster’s Off to See the World.” Our comprehension skill to focus on this week is Sequence (the order of events in a story).  The new amazing words to explore are: world, trip, journey, lonely, horizon, and homesick. The featured sight words include: are, do, and that.

Phonics:  Our letter of the week is Hh. The initial /h/ sound (as in helicopter) will be the focus.

Math: We are continuing to compare and order numbers to 20. Please practice counting backward. Also practice using the words greater & fewer, along with more & less.

Class News:

~ Please remember to send back your child’s report card envelope.

~Our 100^th day is only a few days away! On Thursday, January 30^th we will be completing activities involving the concept of 100. Students are encouraged to dress as if they were 100 years old.

JANUARY 20-24, 2020     

Reading: This week’s story is a classic fable called “The Lion and the Mouse.” We will practice identifying the Main Idea (the important part of the story) in the story. The amazing words for the week include: jungle, nibbling, trembling, beast, snarled, and entangled. The sight words to focus are: they, you, and of. During the week we will also examine how to correctly write sentences. Children should know that a sentence is a complete thought. It starts with a capital letter, has spaces between words, and ends with a period.

Phonics:  This week is a continuation of the /o/ sound, spelled with letter Oo.  We will be practicing the short /o/ in the beginning, as well as the middle of words. We will also touch on some words with the long o sound made with a vowel-consonant-sneaky e pattern (ex. hole, code). Phoneme segmentation is also emphasized this week (breaking words into individual sounds- example: /c/, /a/, /t/ ).

Math: Unit 3 continues this week. This unit compares and orders numbers from 0 through 20. Remember to review concepts such as greater (more) and fewer (less), also practice counting backward  (20, 19, 18, 17…) and putting numbers in correct order.

Reminders:

~ Report cards will be sent home on Friday, January 24^th. Please sign the envelope and return as soon as possible.

Specials:  Tuesday: Gym     Wednesday: Music      Thursday: Art     Friday: Library

Thank you for your continued cooperation!

January 13-17, 2020 

Reading: The title of this week's story is "Then and Now." This non-fictional story emphasizes how things we use today are different from things used long ago. We will practice how to draw conclusions in a story. We will also work on developing meaningful word groups when writing sentences. The amazing words presented will be: gears, webcams, phonographs, headphones, handwritten, and newspapers. The sight words we will focus on are: they, you, and of.

Phonics: The letter of the week is Oo. The children will work with the short /o/ sound, as in hop, as well as the long /o/ sound, as in hope.

Math: Unit 3 continues this week. This unit compares and orders numbers from 0 through 20. Students are creating groups that have 1 or 2 more, as well as 1 or 2 fewer. We are also putting random numbers in correct order.

Reminders:

~ Friday, January 17^th is a dress down day. Students may provide a $1.00 donation in order to wear a Spartan shirt with jeans or sweatpants.

~ Please continue to practice sight words daily. The children are doing a great job reading these words in stories!

~ Also continue to practice letter sounds, segmenting words (cat- /k/, /a/, /t/), and blending sounds to read words.

~ Math skills to practice include: counting to 100, reading and writing 0-20, identifying 2D and 3D shapes.

January 6-10, 2020  

Welcome back to a regular schedule! I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday season. It is always nice to take a break and cherish the moments with our families. As we begin our new year, it is amazing to see how much your children have learned since September. I am impressed!

Reading: “Farfallina and Marcel” is the animal fantasy we will enjoy this week.  This is a heart-warming story about a duckling and a caterpillar. It helps the students understand how some animals change as they grow. The story uses plot identification as the skill to enhance comprehension.

Phonics: Ff is the letter of the week. The initial and final /f/ sound will be practiced, as in the words fountain and leaf.

Math: Unit 3 will continue this week. This unit will compare and order numbers 0-20. We are working with the terms greater and fewer.  We will determine a number that is 1 or 2 more than a given number. We will also determine 1 or 2 fewer. The unit also practices putting random numbers into correct order.

Reminders:

~ Please continue to practice sight words daily.

~ Also continue to practice letter sounds, segmenting words (this skill will help children learn how to spell when writing), and blending sounds to read words.

~ Math skills to practice include: counting to 100, reading and writing 0-20, identifying 2D and 3D shapes.

Specials:

Monday:Art, Tuesday: Computers, Wednesday: Gym, Thursday: Music, Friday: Art

Thank you for your continued cooperation and have a fantastic week!