Week of September 26

The month is flying by and we have another busy week :)

Our Resources for the week are: Monday~ MEDIA, Tuesday~ P.E., Wednesday~ MUSIC and Friday~ ART. Wednesday is an Early Release Day. Friday is Shorts and Sneakers Day. I hope the whole class participates!! Also, Noah is bringing in Fun Friday Snacks for the class. 

*I need all Scholastic Book Orders submitted by Friday!! If you haven't made your order yet and you still want to, go to https://orders.scholastic.com/GLPLP

Math

The students are really getting good at seeing a whole group and being able to circle a small part of the group. It doesn't matter if its a linear or scattered configuration! :) We are continuing to do this with larger amounts and we will be adding a line to connect the items we are counting. (There are i-Ready lessons the students will complete that practice this concept too.)

We are still practicing number writing and rote counting. Make sure to practice at home so I can see lots of growth when it's time to test. :)

Also, practice asking your child questions like,  "I have 3 cookies, but then Daddy gives me 1 more. How many do I have now?"  "I have 5 race cars. Then we go shopping and Mommy buys me 1 more. How many do I have now?" If your child has trouble answering these questions, have them draw the groups to show the amounts. MAke sure to use one color for the first group and a different color for the second. 

Here is a counting video that we've done a few times in class. It gets the kids moving and counting! Enjoy!!

Reading & Science

We are finishing up Module 2 with a story about the life of Helen Keller. (Click the title to read the story to your child.) The vocabulary from this story is deaf, disobedient, frustrated and sensations.

We will be completing the Standards Assessment and the Concept Assessment this week. Our Standards Assessment focuses on remembering key details from the stories, vocabulary and matching sentences to the picture they support (this is where the diagram pictures come in) from the stories The Sense of Sight and Ray Charles. The Content Assessment has a question or two from every story in the Module.

It may seem like a lot, however we have read over the stories in class and discussed every story in detail. The students have done great answering my comprehension questions. Go over the stories from this Module and your child will be fine. :)

Here are two videos featuring Ray Charles and Helen Keller. 

In Saxon we are discussing letters t and p. We will discuss rhyming words, blending sounds and using our letter tiles to spell words. (We are spelling words based off of the letters Saxon has introduced: l, o, g, h, t, p. So you'll notice we will spell words like lot, got, hop, top, etc.

Sight Words for the week are:one, two, day, said.

*Make sure you are practicing sight words. Focus on the color words first and then work on getting your child to read the other words. Testing for Sight Words will be happening soon. :)

Writing

This week we will be working on using our sounds to write words. We will be doing this whole class so that every student is focusing on producing the same sound and writing the correct letter. **I will send home the papers so that all of  you can see how the students will begin writing. They will be writing words with the sounds they hear. Here is an example of the word butterfly= butrfi. When the students segment (Stretch their words) they do not hear all the sounds that we hear. So when they write they use invented spelling. 

This writing is developmentally appropriate and as time goes on they will hear other sounds and begin adding them to their words. :) DO NOT force your child to write words the "adult way." That will cause them to lose their confidence as a writer.  However, if it is a sight word that we have taught in class, please make sure they spell them correctly.

Hat Day Pictures

Hat Day was adorable!! Almost everyone in class participated. :) 

On a little side note, we had an unexpected fire drill and the hats worked out perfectly!! The students hadn't taken their hats off yet, so they wore them outside. The students complained about it being warm, but no one complained about sun in their eyes. 

Enjoy watching the slideshow of the cutest class ever!!

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Field Trip- Amazing Grace Crop Maze

We are very lucky to have the opportunity to go on a field trip to the Amazing Grace Crop Maze. If you aren't familiar with the place, click here to read more about them.

The field trip will be on November 3rd and the price is $11.50 for students. If you would like to chaperone the field trip, the price will be $8.00 for you. (Chaperones are not able to bring younger siblings on the field trip.) All chaperones need to be Duval School Board approved volunteers. If you haven't filled out the application yet, please go online and do it.

 ALL money is due by 10-27-16. 

Permission Slips and envelopes are going home today. Please fill out all the highlighted areas.

**As we get closer to the date of the Field Trip, gallon Ziploc bags will go home. These bags will be our lunchboxes for the field trip and will have  your child's name and number written across the bag.

Week of September 19

The Resources for the week are: MONDAY~Music, TUESDAY~Art, THURSDAY~Art and FRIDAY~Computer Lab. Monday is PICTURE DAY and PROGRESS REPORTS are going home too! Order forms were not sent home yet for pictures, be on the lookout for them in the coming weeks. Please sign and return the bottom portion of the Progress Report. The detailed report is for you to keep. Friday is HAT DAY!! Please do not feel that you need to go out and buy a hat, you could make your child a hat to wear... be creative! Jamari will be bringing in Fun Friday snacks for the class. :)

MATH

We are focusing on varied configurations to 10. The groups may be linear, arrays, circular or scattered. We will review the amount of part of a group, along with the amount of the whole group. I will also be using the terms columns and rows.
This week we will also complete the Mid- Module Assessment whole group.  

 Reading and Science

 The students did great last week learning about Sense of Sight and Sense of Hearing. Make sure to ask your child what they learned about the sense and what the diagrams showed them. :) If they have trouble discussing the senses with you- refer back to last week's post for the stories.

This week we will get to the Sense of Smell (It didn't happen last week like I had hoped.) Sense of Taste, Sense of Touch and we will have a story about Ray Charles. We will discuss how he overcame his disability and used it as an opportunity to better himself. **I made each of the title's hot links, click on them to have access to the stories.

Vocabulary for the Senses and Ray Charles

Smell: molecules, mucus, nostrils, scents, smell receptors

Taste: congested, flavorful, pucker, saliva, taste buds

Touch: nerves, sensitive, skin, texture

Ray Charles: blind, disability, disease, opportunity, remarkable

Wednesday we do not have a Resource, so we have extra time for Science. We will review sense of sight and the diagram of the eye. Then we will visit a Sid the Science Kid sight game on PBS and make an entry in our journals about things the students see in the classroom.

Here is a Sid the Science Kid All My Senses video. Enjoy!  

In Saxon we will discuss letters h and t. We will discuss compound words, letter tiles and coding words.

Sight Words for the week are: three, four, it, go.

Writing

We will read the book I Like Me by Nancy Carlson and discuss how we will be STAR Writers. We will also discuss our favorite sense and draw a picture of something we love to do with it. Ex. Smell cookies baking. Touch fuzzy stuffed animals. Eat pepperoni pizza, etc.

Please remember we are still focusing on detailed characters and a setting. Do not force your child to write right now if they are not ready. I will work on getting them to tell a story that matches with their picture and then I will write a simple sentence for them. A few students have begun to label things in their pictures and that's perfect! 

Here is a picture of the 5 Star Writing poster. 

Sunglasses Spirit Day

This is one of my favorite Spirit Days. :) I love watching the students run around and play with their sunglasses. 

Enjoy watching the slideshow to see the beautiful smiles!

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Week of September 12

The Resources for the week are : Tuesday~ MUSIC, Wednesday~ART, Thursday~P.E. and Friday~MEDIA. Wednesday is an Early Release Day. Open House is rescheduled for this week on Thursday, September 15 @ 6:00. Friday is Sunglasses Day and Jaiden is bringing snack for the class. 

Math

We are discussing dot configurations and hidden partners for numbers 3-10. Both show the students different ways to make parts of a group. Dot configurations show the students that the amount of a group can be the same even if the layout is not. For example: a vertical line group, a horizontal line group, a group that is separated by a space but all the dots are there, different colored dots, etc. Hidden Partners is more of a game and gets the students prepared for decomposing numbers. Here are two pictures showing how the cubes have been split into two groups for hidden partners. 

We will continue singing along with counting songs to 100. I've already started noticing an improvement with rote counting! We will also practice number writing. (I tested the students on this skill and I noticed quite a few reversals. If you notice your child is writing numbers 1-10 backwards please correct them.)

Reading & Science

We completed Module 1 and the students took the Standards Test and the Content Tests last week. (I was a little nervous about administering the test whole group... but the students blew me away! Everyone was on the correct question throughout the whole test.) The tests showed me that we will continue to discuss B, M and E events along with rhyming. :)

We are moving along to Module 2~ The Five Senses. These lessons give the students LOTS of information, scientific information!! These lessons seem to be the most confusing for the students, so you will want to review the vocabulary with your child and then reread the stories by clicking on the titles below.

During this module we discuss the relationship between the illustrations (they may be pictures, sketches, diagrams) and the text. We also identify the main topic of each story and retell using key details. 

**I do a lot of prompting and supporting to guide the students thinking and answering the comprehension questions. You will want to do the same thing at home so that their thoughts stay focused.**

My Senses Are Amazing

The Sense of Sight

The Sense of Hearing

The Sense of Smell

Vocabulary for the senses

Sight: iris, protect, pupil

Hearing: echo, invisible, sound waves, vibrate, volume

Smell: molecules, mucus, nostrils, scents, smell receptors

In Saxon we will discuss letters g and h. We all also discuss blending, building words with letter tiles and brushing on coding words.

Our Sight Words for the week are blue, yellow, me, no.

Writing

We have really been focusing on body parts for people. :) The students have been doing great remembering to add all the details to the character's faces. They are remembering that people do not have sticks for arms or legs... We have muscles! They are also remembering to add a neck!! (It makes me so proud!) Drawing bodies is tricky for some, but the more we practice the more confidence I see and the better the work gets. Our main goal at this time is detailed pictures! Writing we will get to and if they are doing it great. But I need to see that the pictures have at least one character and a clear setting. 

**If your child begins to doodle around the characters or in the sky, STOP THEM and ask what they are doing. Some of the students have begun to do this and it wasn't rain, snow or stars like my brain thought it was. These doodles are making it difficult for them to complete their pictures.**

If the students are mastering their pictures, they will begin writing simple sentences with the sight words and sounds they know.

We will also discuss complimenting other students work with specific items. Saying, "I like your picture" doesn't tell the writer as much information as "I like how your people are holding hands" or "I like the tires on your blue bicycle."