September 29

ELA

The past two weeks during Reading we have been focusing on Setting and Sequence of a story. A big part of reading is Comprehension, and one way to help improve Reading Comprehension is to focus on Story Elements such as Setting and Plot (sequence). Last week, students listened to "Fix it Duck" and listed all of the settings which were mentioned in the book. This week, we read the book "Plaidypus Lost" (yes it's PLAID---ask your child how he got his name) and students used pictures and labels to tell the sequence of the story, focusing on the 4 places where Plaidypus was lost.

In writing, students learned about labelling pictures, and how we can become "kid writers"---many students are now taking that risk into becoming independent writers!  Please keep working on ABC recognition and letter sound identification at home as these two skills will help your child in the writing process!

Students also added two new words to our word wall..."the" and "little."  See if your child can spot these words in print at home (magazines, books, pictures on the wall, etc.) 

MATH

We have been continuing with our Math Goal of representing, counting, and writing numbers to 10. Students have been taking apart and putting back sets to create numbers (4 and 5 is 9, 3 and 6 makes 9 too, etc.) and using a ten frame to model numbers. While some students have a solid grasp on number recognition and counting to 10, remember that it is important for us to ALL practice modelling numbers using the 10 frame as this will help when we get into larger numbers and will also help when we begin modelling addition and subtraction. Next week we will be using our number sense to solve problems---you can help your child practice problem solving at home. Give him/her 5 M&M's and say...if I gave you 2 more, how many would you have then? Have them act it out with c

andy to see if he/she is right. Or---try this---tell your child you have 5 M&M's but you need 9---how many more would we need to get 9? 

SCIENCE

The past 2 weeks we have been learning about the Apple Life Cycle. Students created a schema chart listing what they already knew about apples. We then read non-fiction stories about apples to collect information to add to our chart. Students then use pictures to show the life cycle of the apple. Don't be surprised if your child starts asking for an apple for snack just to find the seeds---many of the children were excited to bring their apple seeds home from lunch today to try to plant them! :)

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER

Homework will start October 2---please check your child's folder---homework will be assigned on Tuesdays and Thursdays and will be a Math sheet to correlate with our weekly math lesson.

Baggy books will start the following week (week of October 9)---more information about the read at home program/baggy books will be forthcoming!

October 4-Curriculum Night  5-6:30pm

October 9-Columbus Day/No School

October 19-Study Trip to Garner Farms