Happy 2017! We all had a wonderful first week back after the break. I trust you all had a wonderful holiday season. Judging by the chatter the first day back, all the kids came back with a lot of exciting news! The break was a good reset for me. I came back Monday feeling very rested and ready for another semester of teaching. We spent our writing block on Monday coming up with academic goals for this coming semester. Kids wrote about what they wanted to improve in this coming 2017 year. If you’re ever wanting to know what your child is learning in class, ask them what their learning target for the week was in reading, writing, or math. Our learning targets generally reflect the “Here’s what we’re learning” portion of this newsletter but is said in kid friendly language. We’re all really working on taking ownership of our learning, by know exactly what the expectations are and how we can achieve those expectations.
Reminders
RED FOLDER: RED Folders are due tomorrow. The folder should only take about 20-30 minutes a night. Students should be doing about 5-10 minutes of Math IXL, 10 minutes of word practice (they can choose from the nonsense words, poem worksheet, spelling words, sight words, or sight word sentences) and 10-15 minutes of reading with you or another person.
SAFETY SMARTS: During the next few weeks, instructors from Voices Carry Child Advocacy Center will present Safety Smarts, a personal safety program in your child’s classroom. An opt-out sheet went home today explaining the class in detail. If you DO NOT want your child to participate, please sign the sheet and return it to me. Those classes will be each week on Tuesdays.
BOOK ORDER: Book orders are going home today and will be due back by Friday January 20.
PROJECT SMILE and VISION SCREENING: On Tuesday I sent home forms to have your child’s vision and teeth checked. This is free and a great opportunity to check in on your child’s eyes and teeth! Please return the forms by tomorrow. If you need a new form e-mail me and I will send another home with you.
Important Dates:
NO SCHOOL: Monday January 16
Here’s What We’re Learning Next Week
Reading
- Comprehension
- Genre: Folktale, Expository
- Strategy: Ask Questions
- Skill: Make and Confirm Predictions
- High-Frequency Words
- Across, carry, eight, once, saw, upon, walked
- Oral Vocabulary
- Encourage, friendship, relationship, rely, suggest
- Fluency
- Repeated Reading: Prosody
- Phonemic Awareness
- Rhyme, Phoneme categorization, Phoneme blending/segmentation
- Phonics
- Long a: ai, ay
Writing
- Grammar:
- Was and were
- Capitalize proper nouns
- Story: We are going to begin learning how to write stories with characters, setting, a problem and a beginning, middle, and end.
- Spelling words:
- Phonics words: mail, chain, play, rain, way, day,
- Challenge words: saw, eight, across, walked
- Extra Challenge Vocabulary: encourage, friendship, rely, suggest, relationship
Math
- Students will compare quantities less than 100 by analyzing two-digit number names and decide which of two numbers is greater.
- Students will practice ordering two-digit numbers.
- Students will work with place value on a hundred chart.
- Students will use the hundred chart to practice skip counting by 5 and 10.