News for September 28-October 2
Hello, parents! I hope you all had a great weekend. Here’s our plan for the week:
ELA
This week’s essential question is- how can your senses help you learn? We will discuss the meanings of vocabulary words senses, explore, feast, kneads, and finished. The students will identify s in the beginning and ending positions of words, and our new high frequency word is see. For Fundations, the class will practice the letter-keyword picture-sound combinations for d and s. We will also continue our work on rhyming. We have arrived at one of my favorite times of the year when the students learn how to blend and read words! Being able to smoothly blend letter sounds is such a crucial building block for reading success. This week, I will teach the children how to “tap out” and blend letter sounds in 3-letter words.
Math
As we near the end of chapter 2, the students will compare numbers 0-10 using terms greater than, less than, and equal to. We will add “one more” to groups of objects, and they will use ordinal numbers first-tenth to describe objects’ positions. The children will take their Check My Progress quiz on Tuesday; the chapter test is scheduled for next Monday.
Religion
Our new chapter is called, God Gives Us Senses. We will name our senses and share ways we can use our senses to explore God’s world. Weather-permitting, we will take a nature walk around the school and discuss how we used our senses during the walk.
Social Studies
As we continue our Core Knowledge unit, the class will learn about maps and globes. We will also discuss our first continent, North America. Have a good week!
Raider Run A Thon Reminders:
Our time slot for Wednesday’s Run A Thon is 9:30-10:15.
The children may wear their Raider Run A Thon shirts (they will get them on Tuesday).
Homework:
Monday: Complete math pages 141-142.
Tuesday: Complete the ELA sheet.
Wednesday: Complete the ELA sheet. Complete math pages 149-150.
Thursday: Reread the booklet. Complete math pages 155-156.
News for September 21-25
Hello, parents! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Last week, you received instructions for checking your child’s grades through PowerSchool. I encourage you to review your child’s grades weekly so that there are no surprises come report card time. As always, feel free to reach out with any questions. Here’s our plan for the week:
ELA
This week’s essential question is-how do baby animals move? We will discuss the meanings of vocabulary words adventure, movement, exhausted, exciting, and arrived. The students will identify the short a sound in the beginning and medial positions of words, and we will continue our work on nouns. Our new high frequency word is we. For Fundations, the class will practice the letter-keyword picture-sound combination for short a and hard g. Also, we will work on rhyming activities.
Math
As we continue chapter 2, the class will print number 10 and will create groups of 10 using ten frames and tokens. We will review counting and creating groups of 6-9 as well. The goal in using ten frames is for the students to recognize these numbers as “5 and __ more.” The students will independently take the Check My Progress quiz on Monday.
Religion
Our new chapter is called, God Gives Me Feelings. The class will name our many feelings, and we will discuss ways to help our friends when they are feeling sad. The children will describe Mary and Joseph’s feelings when young Jesus was lost.
Social Studies
We will begin our first unit from the website: coreknowledge.org. This site offers free curriculum for a variety of subjects and grades. Unit 1 is all about exploring the vast parts of our world, starting with our neighborhoods and eventually branching out to all of the continents. Have a good week!
Reminders:
There is no school this Friday, September 25, due to a professional development day.
Students will be dismissed at 1:30 next Monday, September 28, due to curriculum collaboration. They may be out of uniform for a $1 donation.
Homework:
Monday: Complete the ELA worksheet.
Tuesday: Complete math pages 123-124.
Wednesday: Complete the ELA worksheet.
News for September 14-18
Hello, parents! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Ideally, the students will take the math portion of the iReady test this week. We will also need to catch up on the reading section. The children are just itching to use their headphones and iPads! ;) Here’s our plan for the week:
ELA
This week’s essential question is- how can we get along with new friends? We will discuss the meanings of vocabulary words friend, problem, grasped, escape, and rescue. The children will identify the m sound in the initial and final positions of words. Additionally, I will introduce nouns this week, and we will practice our new high frequency word- the. For our Fundations work, the students will practice the letter name-keyword picture-sound combination for hard c and short o. We will do a bit of syllable work as well. At this Thursday’s Curriculum Night, I will give you a copy of the Fundations alphabet that we use in class as well as a list of all of the high frequency words the children will learn through our reading series. Please keep them as reference sheets or for extra practice for your child.
Math
The children did a terrific job with their chapter 1 test! We will begin Chapter 2: Numbers to Ten. The class will work together to answer the essential question- what do numbers tell me? This week, the class will learn how to print numbers 6-9 and will count and create groups of 6-9. We will use ten frames and tokens to model groups of 6-9. (6 is 5 and 1 more, 7 is 5 and 2 more, etc.)
Religion
Our new chapter is called, God Creates Me. The children will learn that God made each of us special. We will praise God for our talents, and we will share ways that we are special.
Science
Using our Scholastic magazines, the class will examine what happens during a monarch butterfly migration. We will also discuss the life cycle of a butterfly. Have a good week!
Reminders:
Our Picture Day is this Tuesday, September 15. The children may be out of uniform; please have your child still wear comfortable shoes.
Curriculum Night is this Thursday, September 17, from 6:00-7:00.
Homework:
Monday: Complete the ELA sheet.
Tuesday: Complete the ELA sheet. Complete math pages 97-98.
Wednesday: Complete the ELA sheet. Complete math pages 103-104.
Thursday: No homework-see you tonight!
News for September 7-11
Hello, parents! I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend. This week, the students will begin the first iReady diagnostic. On Tuesday and Thursday, the children will take the reading portion; math will be completed next week. The results of the reading test, in combination with my own observations, will inform my differentiated groupings for ELA. Here's our plan for the week:
ELA
We will complete the third week of Start Smart as we focus on the essential question-what can you do? The class will review high frequency words I and can, print letters Qq-Zz, and count the number of syllables in words. Last week, I introduced 2 of our Daily 5 rotations: Read to Self and Work on Writing. The children will practice them again, and I will teach them another round: Word Work.
Math
The children did a great job on last week's quiz! We will wrap up chapter 1 this week as the students compare numbers 0-5 and add "one more" to groups of objects. They will have 1 more formative quiz on Wednesday, and the summative test will be on Friday.
Religion
Our new chapter is called, God Creates People. We will thank God for loving us and making us, and we will discuss ways we can show our love for others.
Science
Using our Scholastic magazines, the children will identify the characteristics of a Hidden Rose apple. Additionally, we will conduct an experiment to see if lemon juice stops apple slices from turning brown. Have a good week!
Reminders:
Our Picture Day is next Tuesday, September 15. Weather-permitting, we will still have outside recess, so please have your child wear comfortable shoes.
Curriculum Night is next Thursday, September 17, from 6:00-7:00.
Homework:
Tuesday: Complete math pages 65-66.
Wednesday: Complete the ELA sheet.
Thursday: Reread the ELA booklet. Complete math pages 73-74.
News for August 31-September 4
Hello, parents! I hope everyone had a good weekend. The children are off to a great start with learning our classroom routines and procedures. For your reference, these are our 3 class rules: be respectful (be kind, helpful, do not interrupt), be responsible (follow directions), and be safe (keep our hands to ourselves). I am going to start the ClassDojo points this week. The children are able to earn up to 5 "positive" points a day for things like following directions, staying on task, raising their hands, being helpful, and putting forth good effort. Conversely, they may earn "needs work" points for things like not following directions, being off-task, interrupting, being unkind, and not putting forth good effort. The students and I will review all of this Monday morning. Please check your child's points daily, and feel free to reach out with any questions about this. Here's our plan for the week:
ELA
The first 3 weeks of our Reading Wonders series are called "Start Smart" weeks. During these 3 weeks, the children will learn how to print letters Aa-Zz, learn their first 2 high frequency words, and engage in several phonological awareness activities. Each week of our reading series also has an essential question. Because it was a full week of school last week, we already completed the first part of Start Smart! The students learned high frequency word I, discussed how we are all special, and practiced printing Aa-Ff. This week's essential question is- who is in your family? The class will learn h.f. word can and will practice printing letters Gg-Pp. Last week, we began our first Fundations (phonics) unit. The children learned the letter-keyword-sound combination for b, f, and t. This week, we will focus on m and n as well as identify those sounds at the beginning of words.
Math
We are progressing nicely through Chapter 1: Numbers 0-5. Throughout this chapter, the class will work to answer the essential question: how do we show how many? Last week, the children learned how to print numbers 1-3, and they counted groups of 1-3. This week, we will print 4, 5, and 0 and will also count and create groups of 1-5. Additionally, the students will match objects with a one-to-one correspondence to create equal groups and will compare groups to determine "greater than" and "less than." On Wednesday, the students will independently take their first Check My Progress formative assessment (like a quiz).
Religion
Our first chapter was called, God Creates the Earth and Skies. We celebrated all of the wonderful gifts of creation God has given to us. This week's new chapter is called, God Creates the Animals. The class will share our favorite animals, and we will devise ways we can care for our pets. As I mentioned in our handbook, we will start attending the all-school masses in November. Please be sure to take your child to weekend mass before then so he/she is prepared for when we go.
Social Studies
The class will learn about Labor Day, and the students will discuss what they might want to be when they grow up. Have a good week!
Curriculum Night on 9/10:
Unfortunately, I will not be at Curriculum Night as I have a prior engagement. Please feel free to still stop by our classroom.
Reminder:
There is no school next Monday due to Labor Day.
Homework:
Monday: Complete the math worksheet.
Tuesday: Complete math pages 39-40.
Wednesday: Complete math pages 47-48.
Thursday: Complete math pages 53-54.