What to Expect Each Week:

Spalding: Each Friday, the students will be tested on 30 Phonograms. We practice phonograms each day, and students will bring home WPR (Written Phonogram Review) papers throughout the week that are comprised of phonograms related to our spelling words for students to practice and master. I use the spelling words to create the phonogram tests so they are relating the phonograms and spelling words to each other. For example is the word "teacher" is on the spelling list, you can be sure to find the phonograms "t" "ea" "ch" and "er" on our test! 

On Thursday they will have a review of all the phonograms that we focused on throughout the week. 

On Friday they will have a final test of the phonograms we focused on throughout the week.

Please assist your student in ensuring that their letter formations are correct when writing at home.

Spelling: Every Friday, students will receive a Spelling List for the following week. We review these words the week prior to the list being sent home so that by the time they take that list home, we have already studied those words together, breaking them into phonograms and analyzing their structure and rules. We enter each word into our Spalding notebook which is an important and integral part of reading and writing. Please take time to review these words with your student to assist in their development of spelling analysis! 

Each Wednesday we have a spelling pretest to give the students an ability to quiz themselves on how well they are applying the phonograms and concepts that we have been discussing in class. Anyone who receives a 100% score on their pretest will be exempt from taking the test on Friday! 

On Fridays we will have the final Spelling test for the week, along with a Dictation test for all students. During dictation, a sentence is dictated to the class and they are responsible for writing it. On both spelling and dictation tests grammar, spelling, punctuation, and handwriting will be graded!

Reading: Each week (usually on Monday and Wednesday) students will be given a story to read together as a class which they will be tested on the next day. We will discuss vocabulary, plot, purpose, etc. when analyzing stories. These stories are sent home for you to re-read with them and provide a signature showing that they were read at home. The following day, there will be a quiz on the story. The quiz will address vocabulary, plot, inferences, sequencing, and other topics. 

Math: Math facts will be practiced each day in addition to our daily math lesson. Please work at home with your student on addition and subtraction facts as we work to move quickly and increase our comprehension and understanding of mathematical concepts. Concepts are discussed and taught in class each day and reinforced using our Saxon math worksheets. The A side of math work is completed in class, and the B side is homework. Students are timed and graded on math facts and as a standard should be able to complete 25 problems within 1 minute. 

The first week of each month, students are given 4 minutes to complete 100 fact assessments. We work on addition and subtraction, and in the spring of each school year we introduce multiplication and division. The first week of each month also includes a phonogram test made up of all 70 phonograms!