January 21, 2010 Update...

Hello Parents and Students,

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week. We are continuing our American Redcross collection for the people of Haiti through Monday, January 25. If you wish to contribute, please send in your donations on or before Monday. I am looking forward to seeing everyone next week for conferences. Remember, we will be on our early release schedule all week long. Dismissal will be exactly two hours earlier than normal. We will also be on a different lunch schedule. We'll be eating lunch from 10:51-11:21. Please read below to see what we've been doing this week in class...

Phonics/Grammar: We learned some short catchy songs and played some games to practice application of vowel combinations in words. We also reviewed the comparative forms of descriptive words and created a book.

Writing: The children watched me model an informational writing piece. They then chose their own book to use as a resource for their paragraph. We used an organizer, then wrote rough drafts. I helped the children revise their writing, then they wrote final copies.

Reading: We worked on a nonfiction book entitled Sharks this week. The children learned reading for understanding strategies, such as stopping at the bold words and looking up the meaning in the glossary. The children also worked on individual chapter books, completed contracts to practice skills, and took AR tests on both books.

Math: We are continuing our work with greater numbers and showing the various ways to represent these numbers, but we are also working in small groups on specific skills that the children may need help with. I've pulled groups to specifically target such skills as addition and subtraction with regrouping, checking subtraction with addition, using Venn diagrams to categorize items, and telling time in various forms.

Social Studies: The children are working on completing a "Biography Poster" on either Jackie Robinson or Martin Luther King, Jr. They will be using nonfiction books as resources to help them locate important information.

Class News...

We are halfway through the nine week period already! Your child should be halfway through their AR goal. Check your child's blue folder for an updated report.

I noticed a significant drop in math facts grades last week as we completed the -7 facts. Please continue to encourage your child to learn these facts. Simple computation errors account for a large number of mistakes in math. Learning math facts is a very easy way for your child to improve in all areas of math. We are on -8 this week. I will be giving one test NEXT friday that will cover -7 and -8 facts.