December 21st Newsletter

Important Dates

December

          21 – Classroom Holiday Party

          24 – Winter Break Begins

January

          7 - Classes Resume

December Reading Logs

     Your child can return his/her December reading log on January 7^th when we return from the holiday break.  I am sending home January’s log on December 21st so you can begin recording the books they read in January starting January 1^st. 

Cookie Exchange

     Thank you to everyone who took the time to bake cookies and send in food for the cookie exchange.  It was all very delicious.  My children were thrilled with the cookies (and so was I)!

We won’t be having any homework this week due to the holidays.  Enjoy the break!

Please return your child’s green reading book if you haven’t done so already.  Thanks!

Reading

      We will be reading The Kite and How to Make a Kite.

Comprehension Strategies

          The children will be working on reading directions, cause/effect, and monitoring/clarifying.

Vocabulary Words

          The vocabulary words will be weather words and:

 anywhere, beautiful, convinced, easy, news, perfect, raining, weather.

Phonics Skills

          Our phonics lessons will be centered around blending long i words.  We will also review the soft sound of “g” /j/ and “c” /s/.

Grammar Skills

          We will practice using pronouns in sentences.

Spelling Words

The spelling words are:

six, pad, smell, bike, time, smile, prize, like, have, bridesmaid

Have a wonderful holiday 

& a Happy New Year!

December 14th Newsletter

            

 Important Dates

December

          14 – Slipper Day

     21 – Classroom Holiday Party

          24 – Winter Break Begins

January

          7 - Classes Resume

December Reading Logs

Your child can return his/her December reading log on January 7^th when we return from the holiday break.  I am sending home January’s log on December 21st so you can begin  recording the books they read in January starting January 1^st. 

Barnes & Noble Fundraiser

     It sounds like the Barnes & Noble fundraiser was a big success.  I wish I could have been there.  Thank you to everyone that attended or helped out in any way.  Our school district is very fortunate to have such supportive and giving parents.

In math, we have been working on reading graphs – bar, picture, & concrete graphs.  We also played some games in the computer lab to go along with this concept.

Reading

          We will be reading The Kite and How to Make a Kite.

Comprehension Strategies

          The children will be working on reading directions, cause/effect, and monitoring/clarifying.

Vocabulary Words

          The vocabulary words will be weather words and:

 anywhere, beautiful, convinced, easy, news, perfect, raining, weather.

Phonics Skills

          Our phonics lessons will be centered on blending long a words using the VCe (vowel consonant e) pattern.  We will also review the soft sound of “g” /j/ and “c” /s/.

Grammar Skills

          We will practice using and identifying verbs in a sentence.

Spelling Words

Our spelling words for next week are: ran, hat, scar, came, grape, name, cake, only, old

     We won’t be having a student of the week next week since we will be having our holiday party on Friday.

December 7th Newsletter

 Important Dates

December

            21 – Classroom Holiday Party

            24 – Winter Break Begins

January

            7 - Classes Resume

Reading Books

We completed our second reading book this week.  I will be sending it home soon.  Please listen to your child read the stories and help him/her with any unknown words. Practicing reading is very important at this age. Please return the book by Friday, December 21st.  Thanks.

        Author of the Month

  We explored the Chris VanAllsburg website and played some of the games on it. The children enjoyed the memory game and the puzzles. If you would like your child to play some of these games at home, you may go to www.chrisvanallsburg.com 

Math

     Last week during library time, the students were shown a video explaining the Math-a-thon program.  This program is a fund raiser for St. Jude's Hospital in Chicago.  If you would like your child to participate in it, return the form (filled out) to school.  The librarian will send home either a booklet or a CD depending on which one you requested.  Thank you for supporting local charities.

Reading

      We will be reading the following stories: Moving Day and Hermit Crabs.

Comprehension Strategies

     We will be working on comparing and contrasting.

Vocabulary Words

     Our words will be: grow, light, long, more, other, right, small, room, and these

Phonics Skills

The children will be working on digraphs:

 sh, th, ch, wh, tch

We will also be reviewing short vowel sounds.

Grammar Lesson

We will review the use of exclamations and alphabetical order.

Spelling Words

The spelling words are:

sad, let, trip, blue, orange, gray, black, one, by, color

       Our student of the week for the week of December 10-14 will be Maeve.

November 16th Newslette

            

 Important Dates

November

          21, 22, & 23 – No School              

                              -Thanksgiving Break

December

          21 – Classroom Holiday Party

          24 – Winter Break Begins

   Grace will be our “student of the week” for the week of November 26th.

    Thank you for all the nice cards that were sent in for my birthday. I loved the children’s artwork. Their cards are all taped on my back wall. 

The treats were delicious too.  I gained 3 pounds this week, but it was well worth it!  Thanks for being so thoughtful.

         

Since next week is a short week due to the Thanksgiving Break, there won't be a newsletter.  I hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving with your families.

 **Due to Thanksgiving break, we won’t be having a new reading lesson.  We will begin the next reading lesson on Monday, November 26^th. 

Reading

   Next week we will be reading four stories.  The Secret Code is about a blind boy who uses Braille to read.  Zack and His Friends tells the story of four children who put on a play together.  In the story Two Best Friends, two girls learn how hard it is when one of them has to move away.  Our final story is nonfiction and explains How Mail Gets to You.

Comprehension Strategies

     We will be working on the skills of evaluating, comparing/contrasting and retelling/summarizing.

Vocabulary Words

     Our vocabulary words will include sensory words along with words & symbols on signs.  Also the words: best knelt, rest, sign, and snack.

Phonics Skills

     We will be working on /ck/ and reviewing clusters with “l” (black, glad, etc.).  We will also work on short “e” words and silent letters: kn, wr, & gn.

Grammar Lesson

          We will be working on blends at the beginning 

of words.

Spelling Words 

(to be tested on Nov.30)

hop, fit, grin, duck, neck,

clock, lick, go, no, broomstick

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

November 2nd Newsletter

 Important Dates

November

          5 – No School

          6 – Teacher’s Institute – No School

               Election Day

          8 – Picture Retakes

          12 – No School – Veteran's Day

          21, 22, & 23 – No School –Thanksgiving Break

Halloween Party

    Thank you to all of the parents that helped out with the Halloween party and also to the parents that brought in paper products, food, treats, etc.  The party ran very smoothly.  The children had a good time.

Book-It

      If you haven't turned in your October reading calendar yet, please do so by Monday. Thanks.

              Author of the Month

Our author for the month of November will be Leo Lionni.

 

We do not have a student of the week for next week since we will be gone on Monday and Tuesday.

****Remember to change your clocks on Sunday and to also change the battery in your smoke detectors.

Reading

     Next week we will read four stories.  Hilda Hen’s Scary Night is about a brave hen that crosses the farmyard at night. In The Trip, we will read about a mouse family that visits the art museum.  At the Aquarium is a nonfiction selection with beautiful photographs of fish and other marine animals.  Our final story, Why Sun and Moon Live in the Sky is based on an African tale.

Comprehension Strategies

We will be working on categorizing, classifying, questioning and rereading.

Vocabulary Words

       The vocabulary words are:  blue, color, green, also, funny, many, like, some, and  brown

Phonics Skills

We will be using double consonants such as -ll at the end of words.

Grammar Lesson

We will be working on plurals.

Spelling Words

red, win, drum, will, bell, doll, skull, said, here, windmill

Enjoy the long weekend and remember to vote on Tuesday!

October 26th Newsletter

 Important Dates

October 

       26 – Family Halloween Party at Ide

       29 – Conferences 3:45-6:00

       30 – Conferences 3:45-7:00

       31- Classroom Halloween Parties

             1:40 – Parade, 2:00 – Party

November

          5 – No School

          6 – Teacher’s Institute – No School

          8 – Picture Retakes

          12 – No School – Veteran's Day

          21, 22, & 23 – No School –

                             Thanksgiving Break

Jr. Achievement

       Our class just started the Jr. Achievement program last week.  This program will last for 5 weeks and will cover the following topics:  families, needs & wants, jobs, and paying for needs & wants.  Our presenter is Ms. Redlin, a volunteer from the Turtle Wax Corporation.  She will come into our classroom once a week for 30 minutes to teach each lesson.   These lessons coordinate with our social studies curriculum.

Sean will be our “student of the week” for the week of Oct. 29 – Nov. 2.

Reading

            We will be reading four stories.  Pearl's First Prize Plant which is about a little girl who plants a seed and watches it grow.  Our other stories, Ham and Eggs,  Miss Jill's Ice Cream Shop, and Making Ice Cream are about things we like to eat.

Comprehension Strategies

          We will focus on making predictions and inferences and how to read a social studies article.

Vocabulary Words

          Our vocabulary words for the week are:  

all, call, eat, every, first, never, paper, shall, and why.

Phonics Skills

          We will review blending short vowel sounds, double consonants, plurals, final consonants ck, s as (z), and verb endings s, ed, & ing.

Grammar Lesson

          We will be working on when to use “a” or “an.”

Spelling Words

Our spelling words for the week of October 29th are: up, man, crab, off, cliff, stiff, cuff, come, some, stuffing

October 12th Newsletter

 Important Dates

October

            25 – Early Dismissal – 12:00

            26 – Family Halloween Party at Ide

            29 – Conferences 3:45-6:00

            30 – Conferences 3:45-7:00

            31 - Classroom Halloween Parties

November

            5 – No School

            6 – Teacher’s Institute – No School

Halloween Party

        Please come and watch our parade.   It will be outside (weather permitting) in the back of the school.  We will begin at 1:40 on Wednesday, Oct. 31^st, and will parade outside beginning in front of the school and will circle around to the back of the school.   We will then return to our classrooms for our party.  

    The students should bring their costumes to school. We will help them get dressed prior to the parade.  Since the students will have a treat and a drink at the party, no additional candy treats are necessary.

      Fire Safety 

      Jamie Tunk, a firefighter/paramedic, came to our school and talked about fire safety.  We learned about choosing a special meeting place in case of a fire, how to “stop, drop, and roll,” and that we should never go back inside to get something we forgot.  He also showed us the special gear that firemen wear and we talked about how it sounds when firemen speak with their oxygen tanks on. 

Noah will be our “student of the week” during the week of October 15^th.

           

Reading

   During the week of October 15th we will be reading stories about bugs.  In Quit It, Bug!, two children try to have a picnic on a log and a bug wants to go to his home in that log.  In A Surprise for Zig Bug, some bugs think they are swimming in a pool, but it is really a jug.  We also have a Science Link story called Insects.

Comprehension

     We will work on summarizing and story structure.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary words are:

   are, away, does, he, live, pull, they, where, quit, up, zig, zag, bug, and jug

Phonics

We will be working on the sound of /ar/ and blending words with the CV and CVC pattern.

Grammar

We will focus on using common nouns.

Spelling Words

at, yes, slug, arm, hard, scarf, card, are, all, morning

     We will be starting chapter 5 in our math books during the week of October 17.  In this chapter, children will be working on addition fact strategies, such as counting on, doubles (4 + 4 = 8), and doubles plus one (4 + 5 = 9).  Some children understand these concepts very quickly, and others it takes repetition and a lot of practice to master them.