January

Wiebe Weasel January Newsletter

Happy New Year and welcome back from a wonderful Christmas holiday! I trust everyone had quality time to spend together as a family. I hope you all received everything you deserved from Santa on the beautiful Christmas morning we had. Speaking of gifts, I would like to thank you all once again for your very kind and generous Christmas gifts. I felt very spoiled, opening your terrific (yet very unnecessary) presents. Thank you also for sending in veggies for our scrumptious “Stone Soup” and for donating food drive items for local families in need. What a blessing to work with such a fantastic group of kids and their thoughtful parents!

I look forward to getting back into the school routine and hope your children are ready too!

Home Reading Refresher

Remember that Home Reading (H.R.) includes ANY form of reading; books from home, the library, articles, internet research, RAZ-Kids, Lexia, A-Z Home Reading, etc. What you record in each box of the monthly planner page can be the number of books, or minutes, or pages, or chapters read or book titles. Record what works best for you and please sign/initial the page at the end of each month.

Important Dates

Jan. 5 – Classes begin, Welcome Back!

Jan.12 – Bring a favourite card game or board game by today (see note in Curriculum Corner)

Jan. 14 - P.A. Day

Jan. 31 - Home Reading Due (record itp.53 in planner)

Curriculum Corner

Math: geometry, measurement (time, length, perimeter, area, mass, capacity), numeration review

Language: reading and comprehension strategies, paragraph writing, viewing and analysing media, review of previous writing forms (recounts, procedures, letters, retells)

*We’ll be playing favourite board and card games this month, then writing a procedure. Please help your child pick out a game to send in by Jan. 12. Feel free to play it together to review the instructions.

Science: Review of Energy, then we move onto Structures

*As always, feel free to e-mail me anytime regarding questions or concerns:

a.wiebe@tvdsb.ca

Weasel Website:

https://sites.google.com/gotvdsb.ca/wiebeweaselwebsite/home

***Kindergarten registration will begin in January. Please share this information with families with school-aged children. We’re looking forward to our newest little Huskies!***

Well rested, and Cheerfully Yours,

Mrs. Wiebe ☺

“Success comes in cans, failure comes in can’ts!”

Msot Poelpe Can Do Tihs:

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/questions.htm

Did that grab your attention? Well if you haven’t figured it out yet, Spelling happens to be the point of discussion in our Newsletter this month. Is spelling important? Of course it is! However, things have drastically changed since we learned “spelling” in school as children. Although spelling is an important skill, our language curriculum only mentions it three times out of 90 language expectations. The focus in Primary grades is less on spelling, and more on reading, writing and oral language as a whole.

With technology as it is, there are spell check programs to do much of the work for us, however, we still need a basis for spelling in order to pull the proper word and help us narrow our search. Also, how much longer does it take to do a spell-check when most words are spelled incorrectly? How can a spell-checker decide which form of they’re/their/there you want? So despite spell-check programs, we still need an understanding of spelling strategies.

In class, we spend time on “Word Work”. New words are introduced through the month and we do a variety of chants, actions and other activities to reinforce spelling rules and patterns. When we “dissect” words, we find ways to help spell them and other words. When we can spell, we can also improve reading. In class, we get both sides of our brains working, use visuals, movement, writing, and practice, to encourage concrete understanding and (hopefully) application! New words are then posted on our Word Wall along with other interesting words students identify and use in their everyday writing and oral communication.

Using “Word Wall” words helps us build other words with similar patterns. We also recognize differences in letter sounds, s, c, and g have 2 sounds; ph has an f sound etc. Many concepts have to be learned before students can read and spell properly. Exceptions to rules also need to be taught (“i before e except after c and when it sounds like an ‘a’ as in neighbour and weigh”). Our “Word Work” Program also teaches the importance of being resourceful. Words are posted in the room at all times. You may ask, “how is this teaching spelling if they can see the words?” One goal is for children to become resourceful. At the primary level, you will see incorrect spelling in your child’s work, however, Word Wall Words should always be spelled correctly since they’re posted, practised and applied. Phonetic spelling (guessing at sounds to spell a word) is acceptable in primary grades. Spelling will not always be corrected unless we’re editing and revising our work with spelling as an expectation.

In the end, some students will catch on quicker, and others will have to work harder at it. Either way, your children are learning skills to reinforce spelling concepts. Enough about the “why” of spelling..... What are some strategies that can be applied to help your child spell? Some of the ideas listed below have been done in class, so your child will recognize these and be able to use them at home more readily. Using the words we write in our planners on alternate weeks, try to find time, consistently to have your child.....

1) Look, Cover, Spell, Check: look at it, cover it, spell it, check it

2) Draw what the word looks like as a picture

3) Create word pyramids on paper (see triangle to the right)

4) Make songs out of words (remember the Mickey Mouse song?)

5) When printing out the words, highlight the tricky spelling patterns (p I E c e)

6) Chant the words done at school (marshmallow clap, volcano, disco and others)

7) Create rhyming words (light- flight, night, bright, fight, might, right, sight, tight)

(this becomes tricky when rhyming words have different spellings: white, bite, height)

8) Picture it (draw an outline around the word, these are called word prints)

9) Form the words with plasticine, glue or something fun to manipulate with fingers

10) Make a word search out of the spelling words and then find them

11) Type the words on the computer and manipulate the font, size and colour

12) Try to find spelling words, or similar patterns in regular at-home reading

13) Toss-A-Word (toss an item in the air and spell each letter of a word on each catch)

14) Find smaller words inside words, without scrambling them (another= an, not, other, her, the)

15) Write words in air, on someone’s back, or on a frosted window with your “magic finger”