Marn’s Memo
September 29, 2017
Dear Parents,
It has been a very busy week in room 13! These days are really flying by…I can’t believe the month of October is just around the corner!!
Religion: We worked on chapter 2 in our textbook. In this chapter we are focusing on how much God loves us and how we can be generous to others like God is towards us. Due to mass and our presentations with Dr. Marcia McEvoy, we were unable to complete the entire chapter. We will complete the chapter next week. Your child will be assessed on making the Sign of the Cross next week. Please review this very important part of prayer at home each night.
Reading: Our Focus Wall concentrated on these skills:
Frequency Words: all, does, here, me, my, who
Phonics: Spelling words with short e, -et Word Family words, Consonants y, w, k, v, j.
Writing: Narrative Writing- we wrote a class story about The Fall Festival. We used the Writers Workshop method to complete our story (prewrite, write, revise, edit.)
Vocabulary Strategies: Alphabetical Order. This can be a tough skill for children to grasp. Please help your child to alphabetize their spelling words each week when studying at home. This extra review will greatly help with their understanding of this skill.
Grammar: Adjectives
Comprehension: The students used text and pictures to find information about a story.
Each day we continue to work on phonemic awareness skills (blending and sounding out words). Please encourage your child to do the same at home when writing on white boards or doodling on paper. Tell them to write every sound they hear…you’ll be amazed at how much their writing will improve when they sound it out!
Math: We continue to explore addition and number sentences. Many of the children are doing well and are not relying on counters to solve the problems. If your child is still using manipulatives to guide their work, do not worry. At this stage of development, the use of counters may be needed for some to be successful. Next week I will introduce the students to one of my favorite addition games, ”shake and spill.” Math is so much fun!! At this time I do not encourage addition facts to be memorized. I like to spend a few months exploring the concept with concrete objects. Once I feel the children have a handle on the skill (usually around January) I will encourage flash card review for speed and accuracy. For now… just sit back and help your child enjoy addition without the stress of memorization.
Science: We finished our study of reptiles, birds, fish, amphibians and mammals. Our art work will be coming home next week for your enjoyment. Please display your child’s creations in your home and let them tell you how each project was done. I hope you had an opportunity to read your child’s AnimalBook they created in class. Next week we will begin our study of apples.
Social Studies: We spent the week working in our new Social Studies magazines. Our focus has been on learning the rules of our school, home and community. Each day the children and I read and highlighted the information that we felt was the most important to know. The highlighters are a big hit and it’s teaching them a very important skill at the same time!! I will be sending the magazine home on Tuesday and I ask that you review the highlighted material with your child. The children should be prepared for a simple assessment on Wednesday.
Handwriting: This week we worked on the letter E. I can already see progress with their skills and I hope you can too! The children also had their first opportunity to work on writing a neat final copy of their Rainbow Fish paper. Remember when looking over their work 3 stars mean that most of their letters are formed perfectly, 2 stars mean they have some properly made letters but there are many more that need to be improved, and 1 star is given for effort but there are very few letters formed properly. Please support your children by reviewing their work with them when it comes home.
Coming home today in your child’s folder is their first BOOK-IT calendar. BOOK-IT is a school program that encourages children to read at home. I am asking each child to record his/her minutes on the calendar provided and complete the activity on the backside. If your child achieves the reading goal each month, he/she will receive a Pizza Hut or Chili’s food coupon. Please help your child to reach this goal every month!!
***********Dates to Remember************
- Oct. 6th – Zoo Field Trip 9:00 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.
- Oct. 13th – Y5-3rd grade Mass @ 9:30 a.m.
- Oct. 20th – Y5-3rd grade Mass @ 9:30 a.m.
4. Oct. 23rd - Bat Zone visits First Grade-10:30 a.m.
5. Oct. 26th – 1st grade Halloween Prayer Service
6. Oct. 30th- Halloween Party
1:45-2:45 Party
3:00-Parade (please join us)
7. Nov. 1st - Book-It calendars are due
Take care and have a restful weekend with your families!
Love,
Mrs. Marn