Greetings!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all! It’s hard to believe that this time of year is already here. Your children have brought home their first progress report of the year. Go over it with them, and accentuate their strengths! Talk about ways they can make improvements, too! Overall the children are working very hard every day. I am proud to say that we have a very kind, caring class! It is so nice to see the children getting along so well with each other. They look out for each other, too! Thank you for all of the support you give the children at home with their schoolwork, it does not go unnoticed. I am amazed to see all of the children bringing their homework in every single day! The children are benefiting from all of the emphasis you place on their learning at school. Thank you!!
- The children did a phenomenal job in their music show Wednesday night! They spoke so loudly and clearly, and they sang their little hearts out. You must be so proud!
- Remember to return your signed report card envelopes next week at conferences!
- Encourage your child to keep working on their Landmark Challenge Project, they are due on December 7th! Really encourage them to take ownership of their project. Have them practice presenting it- to the family, a mirror, or even a digital camera so they can play it back and see how they did!
- See the bottom of this post for our fall conference schedule. See you Monday or Tuesday!
Spelling
The week after break, the children will be focusing on words with the long /e/ sound, spelled ‘ee’, ‘ea’, ‘e’, and ‘y’!
Reading
Our theme this week had to do with sports and physical activity! We started off listening to the story of John Henry, and how he defeated a machine digging a hole through a mountain with his physical strength! Our oral vocabulary words included: physical, hero, energetic, and exhausted. We then went on to read a realistic fiction piece called, “There’s Nothing Like Baseball.” We practiced making inferences again to build our understanding of the story. We remembered that when we make an inference, we mix a little about what we read with a little about what we know to determine what the author is intending for us to understand. Our new vocabulary words that popped up all week included: imaginary, uniform, practices, starting, tryouts, and coach! The children played a little guessing game with their vocabulary words that we called “Vobackulary!” I stuck a vocabulary word on all of the children’s backs, and they had to ask their classmates for clues using Yes/No questions about their word- without saying it! It was fun to watch them think critically about their new words as well as their meanings. Also, try this activity for additional review: Have your child try to think of a sentence about YOU, using each of their vocabulary words! Take turns!
We practiced identifying words with multiple meanings, such as: coach (a mode of transportation, and the leader of a team), and uniform (official clothing of a group of people, and “unchanging”). We looked at sample dictionary entries to determine which meaning was being used in a series of sample sentences.
Finally, we read an informational text about activities that students like to do to keep physically fit. The text incorporated the use of graphs to reinforce the information. (This tied in nicely with our math lessons last week!) The children are able to recognize that graphs are generally a nonfiction text feature, and they help us to better visualize and understand the text.
Finally, we read an informational text about activities that students like to do to keep physically fit. The text incorporated the use of graphs to reinforce the information. (This tied in nicely with our math lessons last week!) The children are able to recognize that graphs are generally a nonfiction text feature, and they help us to better visualize and understand the text.
Grammar
We continued to work on apostrophes this week! The children reinforced what they learned last week: ‘s is added to a singular noun who “possesses” something, s’ is added to a plural noun who “possesses” something, and sometimes, the letter s is just used to make a noun plural, or more than one! It can be tricky to differentiate the use of the apostrophe, but the children are really impressing me with their understanding of these concepts!
Writing
We are currently publishing our narrative stories. The children learned to sequence events into the beginning, middle and end. They developed a problem, created a solution, and practiced editing and revising their work. They are transferring their stories into a "book" format including illustrations. It will be fun to share their writing with another writer's celebration after the Thanksgiving holiday break!
The children applied the sequencing skills they’ve developed and wrote a recipe on how to make a turkey for Thanksgiving! Using laptops in our classroom, the children word processed these pieces on their own. (I helped them add bullets and increase the size of the font, but the rest of the work was theirs!) Normally these can be pretty inventive, but the children thought carefully about what they’ve seen you do in the past! Some of these recipes could actually be close! For the most part, they did a great job using the computers independently!
The children applied the sequencing skills they’ve developed and wrote a recipe on how to make a turkey for Thanksgiving! Using laptops in our classroom, the children word processed these pieces on their own. (I helped them add bullets and increase the size of the font, but the rest of the work was theirs!) Normally these can be pretty inventive, but the children thought carefully about what they’ve seen you do in the past! Some of these recipes could actually be close! For the most part, they did a great job using the computers independently!
Math
We spent some time reviewing frames and arrows problems with two rules this week. We also did some hands on work using coins- counting them and practice making change. The children took their Unit 3 assessment and we jumped right in to Unit 4, which focuses on addition and subtraction. We began the unit by completing “Change to More” number stories. Coming up after break: parts and total number stories, reading temperature on the thermometer and calculating temperature changes, estimating, and adding 2 and 3 digit numbers!
Social Studies
This week the children broke down the different levels of government. They learned about our leaders at the city, state, and national level (mayor, governor, president). We talked about the group of people who help at each of these levels (city- council, state- legislature.) The children also learned more specifically how the government in the state of Illinois helps the people who live in it, including providing funding and setting standards for our schools, maintaining the highways, keeping the land and water clean, and making and enforcing laws that are special for Illinois.
Have fun working on your landmark challenge projects over the long break from school!
Coming Soon:
November 22/23: No School, Parent/Teacher Conferences
November 24/25/26: No School, Thanksgiving Holiday
December 7: Landmark Challenge Projects are due!
Thanks for reading, and
have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Below is a copy of our conference schedule:
Monday, November 22
8:30: Michael D.
9:10: Nicolette E.
9:30: Eric P.
9:50: Audrey H.
10:10: Lexi N.
10:30: Christine A.
2:30: Azan K.
2:50: Annie H.
3:10: Logan H.
4:30: Aleksandra K.
4:50: Michael R.
5:10: Kristopher B.
5:30: Emily C.
5:50: Peter G.
6:10: Sarah R.
6:30: Matthew S.
6:50: Jack P.
7:10: Robert L.
7:30: Noah M.
7:50: Hannah E.
Tuesday, November 23
8:30: Brooke S.
8:50: Lucas B.
9:10: Alya P.
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