Newsletter Dec. 5th - 10th

Don't forget if you are looking for another opportunity to come into the classroom, you can sign up anytime- there are LOTS of volunteer openings available! I would LOVE to have a parent to run a games station in the afternoon during math!
Volunteer Schedule for December

 

In Reader's Workshop we're continuing our unit on comprehension (thinking about and understanding reading). Here's what we've learned so far!
Good Readers...

* Think about the beginning, middle, and end of a story
* Retell beginning, middle, and end with a partner
* Think about characters and setting
* Use a sticky to mark an interesting character and tell a friend about it
* Use a sticky to mark an interesting detail or part and tell a friend about it (a funny part, a sad part, a part that reminds me of..., etc.)
* Are "detectives" and use clues to make a smart guess about what the book is about, what might happen next, etc. These are called Predictions.
* Use prior knowledge (what they already know) to make predictions about the story. They predict throughout the story and revise their predictions as they gain new information.

Don't let your little reader forget those strategies we learned about in our last unit. Please continue to encourage them to use picture clues, beginning sounds, ending sounds, word families/ familiar chunks (such as -at, -in, etc.), skip and return, and most importantly... think! Ask "what makes sense" and cross check it with the words first and last sounds.

 

12/8- 12/ 12 

new words: then, all, name, ride, did
Practice Games

 

review words: eat, give, thank, or, going
Practice Games
 

We have just wrapped up our unit on small moments and are now focusing on WORD CHOICE. Using characters like Froggy, Fancy Nancy, and Max, we will explore tons of great models of interesting word choice and use those models to remember...
Good writers:
* Replace boring words with juicy words!
* Collect fancy words from writers  (the books we read and the stories our friends write)
* Try to add juicy words to good stories to make them great!

In Math Workshop, we continue to talk about fact families, addition, and subtraction. We are learning about how to use a number line, count on/ back when adding/ subtracting 1, 2, or 3 and trying some new apps for practicing making numbers.

We are practicing facts such as doubles:

and reviewing sums of 10:

to help us add and subtract fluently (quickly and accurately).
We are also learning that fact families or related facts are also called number bonds.  Number bonds show how three numbers are related (part-part-whole) and can help us solve problems to 10 quickly.

We are beginning our unit on HOLIDAYS AROUND THE WORLD. Being that we live in such a diverse culture, it is especially important for the children to understand how people celebrate in different ways.  Please help your child complete their special homework on writing about their traditions this time of year (due Friday) in place of this week's RAZkids/ IXL.
We will be having a "holidays around the world" themed celebration Friday 12/20 from 2:10-2:55 (approximately)!