March News
Dates to Remember
March 6, 13, 20 and 27, 2024 Parent-Teacher Conferences
School-to-Home Connection
Reading Strategies
Some new (extra strength!) reading strategies have been added to our list. While your children are reading books or working on RazKids at home, please encourage them to use these reading strategies.
Based on the title and cover photo, think about what this book will be about (thinking power)
Look for picture clues (picture power)
Look at the beginning letter in a word and get your mouth ready for its sound (sound power) or look at the beginning blend and say it's sounds (extra strength sound power)
Use your reading finger to point to each word as you read (pointer power)
Read the sight words, such as "the," "a," "and," "in," etc. (sight word power) or look for sight words that are "wearing a disguise" such as "liked," "looking," "sees," etc. (extra strength sight word power)
Look through the whole word and say the ending sounds
Look for chunks in words to help read the word
Try the other sound of the vowel in the word (extra strength sound power)
Skip the word, read the rest of the sentence, and then come back to the word (reread power)
While reading, think about the following self-monitoring questions:
* Does it sound right?
* Does it look right? (cross-check power)
* Does that make sense?
Other Ways to Support Your Child's Learning
Ask your child about what kinds of places they can find in their neighborhoods.
Look at a map/globe of the world and talk about where we live. Ask your child to tell you their names. Ask them to show you water and land.
Ask your child to tell you about the difference between living and nonliving things.
Classroom Update
Math
In Math, we are learning and practicing addition and subtraction to 10 and beyond. We are especially focusing on how to "build" a number in different ways (for example, 10 can be made by adding 5+5, 6+4, 7+3, 8+2, 9+1, or 10+0). We continue to expand on our learning of 2D and 3D shapes. Shapes we are focusing on are: squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, hexagons, cubes, cones, cylinders, and spheres. We are exploring the idea that "parts," such as 4 and 3, can be put together to make a "whole" (7) and that different "parts," such as 5 and 2, can make the same whole. We are exploring this concept with shapes, as well, for example- " how many triangle "parts" will make a "whole" hexagon?
Social Studies and Science
In our unit, All About Our World, we are learning about other countries in the world and finding them on our map and our globe. We have discussed the different languages people speak in other countries and have seen some of the different currencies they use. We have learned how to identify land and water on a map or globe and we have practiced saying the names of all 7 continents.
In the spring we will study the science unit "Stayin' Alive." Students learn what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive. They will study the relationship between their needs and where they live. They will discuss how humans can reduce their impact on the earth. One engineering task activity will have students create habitats for zoo animals. The habitats will resemble the animal’s natural biome and meet their basic needs. These lessons will provide students opportunities to research, design, build, and explain their work.