Be sure to check the school website today for up-to-date information on the parade being held inside or outside. A decision will be made by 11:00 a.m. Keep your fingers crossed the weather cooperates.
This week our Essential Question is: How does your body move? We will be reading and talking about ways that our bodies and some animals’ bodies move. We will connect this week’s learning to our daily gross motor exercises where the movement helps our brains work smarter. Our phonics study will be “r” and “s” blends. Another tricky week! Our spelling words are: spill, spin, grab, grass, drop, drip. Our sight words are: two, move – with exposure to: jump, run. Because this is so tricky I will be doing something different for next week. We have our Artist-in-Residence program next week. We will be singing, drumming, and dancing with the Hawaiian culture as well as learning even more about our 50th state. As such, we will not be having any new spelling words next week. If your child is struggling with certain words from this week’s assessment, they can “re-take” those words next week. We will have our first Wonders assessment next week. It will be exciting to see how we can put all our new learning together to sound out and stretch words, respond to stories, and read for details. We will have our Unit 2 assessment with our Everyday Mathematics program this week. We continue to build our friendships within our classroom and within the NBCS community.... We have noticed a comfort level that has settled in with everyone. Friends are reaching out to one another – but that also means friends are comfortable with “tattling” on one another. We read Julia Cook’s book, A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue and then talked about rules that we could follow to help us determine if something was “tattling” or information that needed to be shared. Using this great book to guide us, we came up with the following rules - - ask your child to explain these to you. We had such a great classroom discussion. A reminder about Thursday’s Halloween Parade... as per the school policy: your child must be able to see clearly if there is a mask, they must be able to walk easily, and their costumes cannot contain blood, guts, or weapons. We will have lots of learning going on all day long. Please do not send your child to school with their costume on. We will get dressed right before the parade at 1:00. We will return to the classroom for some yummy snacks and a continuation to our study of spiders! This week our Essential Question is: What do friends to together? We will be reading and writing about friendships all week long. Friends and friendships are an important part of our day. Working with friends, getting along with friends, and learning how to make good choices when we are with our friends are daily conversations in the classroom. Our conversations will lead us to exploring what to do when you want to do one thing…and your friend wants to do something else. Hmmm….This will be a great follow-up to our weekly discussions with Ms. Brown and Mrs. Charbonneau with our Social Thinking/Second Step programs.
We are back to short vowels with our phonics focus. Our spelling words are: hop, top, log, hog, hot, lot. Our sight words are: they, too – with exposure to: fun, make. We have been investigating Hawaii for our AIR Program on November 7, 2019. This week we will learn about the Natural Resources, Sea Life, and Outdoor Activities that help to make Hawaii such an amazing state. We have started painting the Hawaiian flag. Ask your child to tell you about this flag. How many stripes? Why are there that many stripes? What other country is recognized with this flag? With Science this week we will investigate the weather. In Friday’s folder be on the lookout for a weekend activity that your child will be asking for your help. Last Friday we were invited back to Art to work with Mrs. Chalson and Mrs. Winchell on the backdrop for our performance. Check out this wonderful teamwork. Aloha! This week our Essential Question is: What makes a pet special? Can you imagine a dog or a dinosaur coming to school? We will be reading two great stories that will help us to figure out if this is a good or bad decision. Our phonics focus is “L” blends. This can be a challenging sound.
Our spelling words are: clip, flip, slip, flag, black, plan. Our sight words are: be, come - - with exposure to: good, pull. We will continue to focus on adjectives with our writing - - making our sentences even better by putting in those great words. Has your child mentioned Hawaii yet? We will be participating in an Artist-in-Residence program that will involve drumming, dancing, and singing. Our class has chosen Hawaii as our focus. Mark your calendars for Thursday, November 7th. More information to come home shortly. On Friday we will be heading down to the Michaelmas Fair with our Fourth Grade Reading Buddies. This is an annual fundraiser for the third graders. They will be selling homemade gifts – ranging from 25 cents up to a dollar or two. If you would like your child to participate, please send in some coins or a few dollars for them to shop with. This week with our Wonders program we will focus on: What is it like where you live? We will be reading and writing about this all week long. Our phonics focus is the short vowel Ii. We have new sight words and new spelling words. Be on the lookout in your child’s folder on Monday for these practice sheets:
pin, win, hit, sit, miss, kiss, out, up Although your child will only be responsible for the sight words: out, up - - they will be exposed to two other words: down, very. We will practice them all week long. Speaking of Spelling – what a great job everyone did on their first Spelling Test. Thank you for working with your child to help them master these words. With our Everyday Mathematics program we will be exploring combinations to 10 and 20, working with Rekenreks ,Tally Marks, and Number Bonds. Did your child tell you about Doug and Mystery Science? Our investigation involved determining the relationship between the shape of the beak and the different foods that birds eat. Getting into groups your children experimented with a long pointy beak (like a Hummingbird or Warbler) and a wide flat beak (like a duck). Working in groups, sharing materials, and following the correct procedures can be difficulty for First Graders. Admittedly, we have a few bumpy moments – but these moments provided us with the opportunity to talk about what happened, try to correct the problems for next time, and learn from our experiences. (A great teaching moment!!!) Another fun group activity that occurred this week was the Cardboard Challenge. A huge thank you to the Integrated Arts team for making this possible. Mrs. Buckley and I enjoyed watching the interactions and the creativity that occurred. The Evacuation Drill went very smoothly. Your children were amazing! Not only did they follow the directions that were being given throughout the drill but when we arrived at the Community Church they were very respectful and responsible sitting in the pews. We were so proud of them! |
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