Hi Parents,
Another fabulous week over! This year is going by too fast! First of all, I have to invite you to come by the room and check out your child's writing that is posted in the hallway. The children wrote a response to literature all by themselves and I am soooo happy with their progress! Remember to read the class news all the way at the bottom of this post for some important reminders about next week.
Phonics/Grammar: This week we learned more inflectional endings rules.We learned that to make a word ending in ss, z, zz, ch, sh or x plural, you must add -es. We made our word webs, we completed a make-a-word activity, and we played a spelling squares partner game.
Writing: We looked closely at our writing from last week and discussed ways to make those papers even better! We took common mistakes that we all made and discussed them and I modeled ways to correct those mistakes. The children then wrote response to literature papers on the story "Little Owl Redecorates". On Friday, we shared our stories with our peers in "author chair" groups. What a great week!
Math: This week, we learned the measurement concept of weight, using the terms "heavier than" and "lighter than". We also reviewed money and finding ways to show amounts using the fewest coins. We looked at number representation of higher numbers. We also practiced our double digit addition in the context of word problems. We worked in small cooperative groups on the skills of using models to subtract, subtracting using mental math (tile math game), missing addend work (salute!), and using two dimensional shapes to create pictures (geoboard work).
Reading: We continued our author study of Cynthia Rylant. We read the book The Relatives Came and completed a filmstrip retelling organizer. We also read the book Thimbleberry Stories and compared and contrasted characters within the story. We read several chapters out of our book Dolphin Song and wrote detailed sentences telling about the events. We also worked in small groups to read and discuss African folktales.
Social Studies: We learned all about John Henry and his strength and determination. We read a challenging booklet about him, we watched a story on the smartboard, and we completed a biography page telling about his life.
News and Announcements...
Congratulations to Jack Farrell for being chosen as this week's Teacher's Helper! Way to go, Jack!!!
Thank you to Mrs. Byrd for the extra special snack today that correlated with our folktales unit!
Remember that next Thursday is the first grade perfomance at the PTA meeting! Mrs. Mascheri has worked so hard with all of the children! You won't want to miss this event.
Moms, don't forget to pencil us in on the 11th of May! We want to honor how special you are to us with a Mother's Day surprise. Details will be coming next week, but plan for a morning event!
I will be making home phone calls this week and next week. Don't be alarmed, I just really want to touch base with all the families and see if you have any thing you would like to discuss or any questions you may have before the summer creeps up on us!
Dinner Table Conversation Starters...Here are some topics that relate to our classroom that will get your children talking about our school day!!!
*ask your child how Ben reacted to the Five Star Gang kids eating their fish and taking over their shelter, would they have responded the same way in that situation?
*ask your child to teach you the five important parts of a response to literature...there's a catchy little song and hand motion that goes with it
*ask your child to tell you about Cynthia Rylant's childhood and what in her life influenced her writing
*ask your child to teach you how to play Pyramid Make Ten!
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