Week of October 24

This week we will be celebrating Red Ribbon Week. The students will pledge to be Drug Free!! Then on Friday we will have a Story Book Character Parade and a Fall Activity Day. (Some students will spend all day in the Character Costume, others will want to change into another outfit. You know your child, please send a change of clothes if you think they will want to change.) 

We also have the following Resources: Monday~ P.E., Tuesday~ MEDIA, Wednesday~ MUSIC, Thursday~ MEDIA and Friday~ART. Also, Wednesday is an Early Release Day and it is the last day to turn in money for School Shirts. Thursday is the last day to submit payments for the Amazing Grade Crop Maze Field Trip. *PLEASE NOTE: Payments will not be accepted late for the field trip.

As if Friday can't get even better, with all the fun things we have planned... Joey will be bringing in Fun Friday snacks for the whole class.

MATH

We are starting a new Module on Shapes. Be ready for your child to discuss shapes with you ALL THE TIME! Knowing the names of shapes is important, but knowing how to describe them is even more important. We begin with flat shapes- 2 Dimensional shapes= 2D. Your child will want to count the sides and corners, discuss rectangles and the "special rectangle" the square and they'll even want to draw a six sided shape for you.  Then your child may ask you to play Simon Says. We will plan this game by using shapes and placing them in front of us, beside us, above us, behind us and next to us. However I will not be naming the shape but instead describing the shape. For example, "Place the 6 sided shape below your feet."

Although we will be focusing on shapes, we are still counting sets, making sets and writing numbers for 11-20. Plus the students are expected to count to 50 this quarter. So please make sure to practice these items at home with your child.

Here is a fun Youtube video that discusses shapes and use a lot of the vocabulary that we will be discussing in class. I feel the need to mention it is a rather long video though, a little over 9 minutes.

READING

We are beginning a new Module on Plants. This module is one of our Non-Fiction modules and it focuses on using illustrations to check and support comprehension of the stories. Identify that words have multiple meanings~ plant (a verb and a noun). Along with drawing the different parts of the plant and gluing the life cycle of a plant in order. 

The stories and the vocabulary we are reading is as follows:

Introduction to Plants: environment, nutrients, plants (noun), plant (verb), soil

Plant Parts: flowers, leaves, photosynthesis, roots, seeds, stems, survival

The Life Cycle of a Plant: germinate, life cycle, mature, sapling, seedlings

(Don't forget to click on the title of the story. You can read it again with your child and discuss it with them. I will warn you the stories discuss the illustrations a lot! I wasn't able to post them in, so you may want to find pictures before you read the story.)

Saxon

We are focusing on letter Mm. Then we are reviewing sounds for the past letters discussed and reading words. Please make sure to review the Saxon sheets that go home with your child. On the past few Oral Assessments, all of the students have been able to code the words, but only about half have been able to read the word.

We will also continue to review rhyming words and count the sounds in words. 

Sight Words

The words for this week are down, is, my & in.

Writing

We are beginning a new Writing Genre. We will begin How To Writing. We begin by discussing the different things that the students can do as five year olds and making a chart. Many of the students will say pick up toys, go down a slide, unpack their backpack. Some of the students will say tie my shoes, button my pants, make a bowl of cereal.

We will be writing as a class. This means the students will be telling me the steps and together we will be sounding out the words and writing. We do this so everyone can practice chopping up words, use spaces and punctuation in their writing & see the steps that a real writer takes.

There will be less drawing in this writing genre and more sound usage. So make sure to practice letters sounds!