Weekly News

IMPORTANT DATES

·      Tuesday, November 6^th: No School, Professional Day for teachers

·      Thursday, November 8^th: Early Release Day, School ends at 12:30, lunch is served.

·      Monday, November 12^th: No School, Veteran’s Day

·      Wednesday, November 14^th: Early Release Day, School ends at 12:30, lunch is served.

·      Wednesday, November 21^st Early Dismissal, School ends at 12:00, Lunch will not be served.

·      Thursday and Friday, November 22& 23^rd: No School, Thanksgiving Holiday

WORD WALL WORDS:        get       best            went      of             you

This week, we continued our exploration of short vowel sounds, learning about words with short e. We also studied the Word Families of ed, et, and est. For example, if we can read “get,” we can change the beginning letter and read more words, like pet, net, and set. We will use Word Families a lot this year to go along with our Word Wall Words and Literacy Centers.

A NOTE ON THE BLOG…

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MATH

This week, we began to look carefully at the number 5. We listed all of the ways to make 5, thought about what happens when we take different amounts away from 5, and described other characteristics of 5. We learned a number of games this week to practice ways to make 5. We discussed that it is important to play these games multiple times to practice these sums to 5. We want children to know these facts and understand these numbers automatically. Once children have a solid understanding of 5, we will move on to 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Then we will focus on strategies for working with numbers beyond 10. While many students have strategies to work with these numbers (counting on fingers, counting objects, number lines, etc.), we really want to build automaticity with these numbers.  We will eventually label addition and subtraction, however, in the beginning  (and beyond) our goal is for children to develop a deep understanding of numbers and the actions, rather than focusing on the rote addition and subtraction facts.

COMMUNITY

This week, we discussed put ups and put downs. We talked about put downs in the form of words and actions that can hurt feelings or make someone sad. On the flip side, we described words and actions that make someone feel happy. We called these rainbow thoughts. We had a very thoughtful discussion about how if you’re already feeling sad and someone says something unkind, that might make you feel worse, or make you respond in an unkind way. This would also make it hard to do your best learning in school because you might be worried about friendships or problems. However, if someone said something kind, helped you, shared with you, or let you go first in a game, that might make you feel better. You might also forget about something that was bothering you, and you might be able to do more learning because you weren’t worried about your friends. (Kids made these comments and connections!) During project time, we made a giant rainbow person that will to remind us to use kind words and actions that will give our friends rainbow thoughts.

SCIENCE

This week we talked about predictions. We talked about how predictions are a “smart guess” based on what we know. WE talked about how sometimes predictions are correct and other times they are not. We made predictions about our pumpkin, predicting how many seeds will be inside, whether it will float or sink, and what it will look like inside. Next week, we will test our predictions and carve our class pumpkin.

FALL CONFERENCES

I will be posting sign-up for parent- teacher conferences next week. In order to gain more information about students, I will begin conferences on the second early release day, rather than the first. I will offer conferences on early release days and other afternoons and evenings.

HALLOWEEN

We will celebrate Halloween and fall during the week of October 29- November 2^nd. Similar to Apple Week, during Fall Festival week we will address literacy, math, science and community through these Halloween Centers. We will not be sharing candy or bringing in costumes, however, children will have the opportunity to draw their costume and talk about costumes.

*Following Trick-or-Treating, please do not send any candy with your child for lunch or snack. These treats should be saved for home to avoid any hurt feelings and to keep the focus on healthy eating at school. Thank you so much for your help with this.

WEATHER

We will go outside for recess every day, unless it is raining or very, very cold. As the weather gets colder, please be sure to send appropriate outdoor clothing. The temperature in our classroom also fluctuates, so it may also be helpful to send your child with layers for in the classroom.

ASK YOUR CHILD…

These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.

·      What are some words in the “et” word family?

·      What are some of the ways to make 5?

·      What letters did you practice in your handwriting book this week?

·      What is one thing you have said or done to someone to give them a rainbow thought?

·      What is one way someone has given you a rainbow thought?