Stay Safe.....

Just a very quick post this week...

Pumpkin Character book reports due on Oct. 30th
Halloween Parade on Oct. 31st at 1:30 p.m.

Please stay safe over the next couple of days... this weather looks to be rather nasty.  Play games with your children, read books, practice math facts, and enjoy each other's company.

Veterans Day is coming up.... If you have a family member that is currently serving or served in the past for our country please let me know so the class can do something special to honor him/her on that day.  Please include: name and branch of their service (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard)

Time flies….

This week flew by.  One moment it was Monday and we were learning about how to write stories about something special and the next moment, it is Friday afternoon, and we are playing a football math game with Miss Gizelbach’s class.  Where did all the time go?

The class is all a buzz about their pumpkin character book report.  They sound wonderful.  I cannot wait to see what you have been doing at home. They are due in class on Tuesday, October 30^th.  Please make sure that your child can carry the pumpkin into school by themselves.

Parent Teacher Conference slips went home today.  Please mark off your first and second choice as to when you would like to meet with me and send them back to school.

Beginning, Middle, End

This is what happened in the beginning of the week.  The students learned about chunky monkey.  Chunky monkey is a strategy to try to find words within words to help us read.  We tried each day as we read to find words within words.  By the end of the week, most students were able to find even the smallest of words within words.  It was quite exciting to see their development rapidly progress.

In the middle of the week, we learned about complements of 10 in math.  For example 1+9=10, 7+3=10, 2+8=10, etc.  First we used beads on a pipe cleaner and physically moved the beads from one side to another to make the math sentences.  Next we tried to do the same using a ten frame and two sided counters.  At the end,  we made “SUM” tree-mendous trees that had only math sentences with the sum of 10.

At the end of the week we finished up our 3^rd book of Junie B. Jones.  I love reading Junie B. Jones books to the class.  Although she is not always  a great role model, she does have a lesson or two to learn in her books.  When I read  the books aloud, I get into the character of Junie B.  My voice even changes, ask your child.  Also I stop  at certain parts to stress right and wrong and I have the class problem solve with me how we could change the action into a positive one.  Also, I do not read all of the "unkind and ugly" words in the book. I do not feel it is always necessary…. So as I read, I skip any words I feel really do not need to be said in the classroom.  I call them "ugly and unkind" words.  You can do that too with your child. 

In writing, we learned about writing personal narratives with a beginning, middle, and end.  This is a tough process but one that needs to be taught at an early age.  By showing them step by step our story writings has gone from 2-3 sentences to over 5-6 sentences each time.  I know with more practice we will be writing pages upon pages in the near future.

Word Study--- this should be thought of a fun way to play with words and word patterns.  I love seeing your child’s creativity come alive with the painting and play dough.  I want the students to know that learning is fun and does not always need to be a pencil and paper like it was when we went to school.  Please make sure your child plays with the word patterns each week.  Make it fun.

A Week of Respect

Thisis a week of respect in our school.  On Thursday we had Magie Mcgee and the Good Character Bandwagon come to our school and present different ways how one can show respect in our family, community, school, and to our classmates.  The actors came from the Surflight Theater on Long Beach Island.  It was perfect for the students and made the abstract concrete.  In addition, Ms. Black came into our class to talk to us about respect. 

In reading we have been word detectives.  Using our just right books, each child has been trying out their new skills: Eagle Eye and Stretchy Snake.  Although they heard of these terms used in Kindergarten, now we start putting them into practice.  Eagle Eye helps the child while reading when they come to a difficult word by reminding them to look at the picture to help figure out the word.  Stretchy Snake reminds them to stretch out the sounds of the word one letter at a time to try to figure out the word.

In writing we have begun writing personal narratives. We realized that each one of us has a writer inside and if we use our binoculars we can pay close attention to our lives and collect our stories.  Sometimes it might take some reminding of those stories, so we have learned how to quickly sketch out ideas on a paper to hold our thoughts.  We called that what ideas writers think about.  We will keep this in our writing folder to help us when we have “writer’s block.”

This week we also learned about why we have the day off on Monday and the importance of his travels.

Enjoy your long weekend.  Don’t forget to keep practicing your CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant) words.  Just because we do on to a new vowel pattern each week does not mean that we have forgotten them.  We are always reviewing them at class.  Feel free to review them at home.