August 23, 2019 Update...

We had a great week and accomplished so much in just five days! Check out what we did in each content area below. Don't forget Wednesday is an Early Release Day!  Make sure to consider any transportation changes and let me know by written note. 

Grammar/Phonics: We continued our study of nouns, focusing on concrete and abstract nouns.  We learned that abstract nouns cannot be seen, heard, touched, or smelled.  Some common abstract nouns are love, anger, kindness, and courage.  We also continued our study of long vowel spelling patterns. We took a quiz on Friday, showing our ability to apply standard conventions to our writing.

Reading: We read the book Crow Boy and talked about strategies that strong readers use to better understand a story. We learned how to ask ourselves questions in order to check our own comprehension.  We continued to read in our chapter books, where we practiced oral reading fluency in small groups.  We completed a close reading, learning how to use context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words and increase our vocabulary.  Close reading a text section also helps us to better understand it, and we practiced writing a quick summary of our passage.  We also reviewed how to answer comprehension questions in complete sentences. 

Writing: We looked at several mentor authors and how they wrote leads to hook their audience. We talked about the various strategies that we can also use; beginning with dialogue, including characters' actions, writing what you hear and see, and including setting details. We also learned how to take our story ideas and jot across the top of our booklet pages to ensure organization.  We talked about ways to revise our writing in order to make it better.

Math:  We continued our work with addition and subtraction within 1000, focusing on regrouping.  We looked at several strategies to use in order to solve these problems. We took several quizzes this week.  Make sure you are encouraging your child to practice single digit math facts. Students should not still be counting on fingers when adding and subtracting at this age.  I am assigning some math fact practice for homework next week, but this should be done every night for about 10 minutes in order to really master this.

Science:  We studied rocks and minerals and their properties. We read out of our textbook and discussed classifying rocks. We learned about the Mohs' Hardness Scale.

Class News and Announcements...

Don't forget to send in a pair of ear buds or headphones for your child to use in the classroom and in the computer lab.

Please return the Tellus Field Trip form and Performing Arts form and money as soon as possible.

If you are interested in attending Tellus, all are welcome. You will have to pay at the door.  We are allowed two chaperones who can attend for free. Once I receive all of the forms, I will randomly choose two parents to be the official chaperones and contact you via email.