Monday, December 8, 2014

Winter Author Study

Classroom News

Reading: This week we began our author study on Jan Brett.  Students have really been engaged in her stories.  Some of the stories we have read include, The Hat, Annie and the Wild Animals, and Home for Christmas.  Students really enjoy using the borders to tell the story.  They use the borders to help them make predictions about what will happen next and what is happening at the same time that the author isn’t telling you, but the illustrations are.  Our focus is on retelling stories, describing characters, setting, and major events.  As your child reads at home ask them about these things in their own books.
Math: This week we finished up Chapter 5.  We feel the students did well on their test!  Students did well with their first introduction to algebra! 
Writing: Students have loved working on their information books.  They have been coming up with great information stories telling facts about cats, dogs, sharks, flowers, pumpkins, and even Minecraft!  They love to share their knowledge.
We also began a fun writing activity about Santa being stuck in our chimney!  They are very cute!

What We’re Learning Next Week:

Reading: Students will continue to learn about and study various Jan Brett books.  Coming up we will be reading two stories about some pesky trolls and a few stories she wrote that will get us in the holiday spirit!  We will be working on words and phrases that tell a character’s feelings or emotions, comparing and contrasting characters across various stories, and continuing to practice retelling stories including major events and key details.

Math: We will be starting our new chapter, Chapter 6.  In Chapter 6 students will learn how to use place value to model, read, and write numbers to 120.  We will start by counting by ones to 120, tens to 120, and then understanding how tens and ones work using models to find equivalent forms of numbers.

Writing: Students will continue to write information books and work on adding more details and helping readers picture the details by using comparisons.

Phonemic Awareness:
Students will be learning about the ending -nk and –ng this week.

Example: sunk, thing

Please practice at home using spellingcity.com

Important Information
Please be sure to practice sight words with your child each night.  If you are unsure what list your child is on, ask your child’s teacher.


Important Dates:

12/5: Progress Reports go home

12/10: Early Release
11:45