Learning Experiences

Reading- We learned about how stories are structures this week by learning about characters and setting. We also briefly touched on problem and solution. We continued practicing our long and short vowel sounds as well as our digraph sounds. We are focusing on using all we know about sounds to blend sounds together to read words as well as break a word into individual sounds to spell words.

Writing-We read non fiction books to get ideas for our own teaching books. We are working on drawing realistic pictures, labels, and telling facts. We are learning the difference between tell “true stories” and telling “facts and information”.

Math-We reviewed much of our previous content and also did lots of games (that were really assessments). This kids also explored weight with pan balances and connected the balanced pans (when things weight the same amount) to the equals symbol.

Science and Social Studies- Our cool tool was teacher’s choice this week. We worked on “follow rules you know”. We enjoyed a mystery science video about why airplanes can’t fly in space.

Reading- We learned about how stories are structures this week by learning about characters. We continued practicing our long and short vowel sounds as well as our digraph sounds. We are focusing on using all we know about sounds to blend sounds together to read words as well as break a word into individual sounds to spell words.

Writing-We began our information writing unit. We are learning to write “teaching books” that teach facts and information to others. We continue to work on drawing our story, labeling, and

Math-We continued working on addition this week. We played games to practice addition and writing number models. We began to explore how shapes can be made from other shapes.

Science and Social Studies- Our cool tool was about being responsible. we talked about careers we would like to have in the future and how school helps us learn things we need to know for our future careers. We enjoyed a mystery science video about why the ocean is salty.

Reading- We continued practicing our long and short vowel sounds as well as our digraph sounds. We are focusing on using all we know about sounds to blend sounds together to read words as well as break a word into individual sounds to spell words. We have been practicing these skills orally through sound games all year and now we are connecting it to real reading and real spelling. It is an exciting time!

Writing-We continued free choice writing this week. We also wrote a silly story where we imagined we had 100 of something and what we would do.

Math-We continued working on addition this week. We worked on number writing and children who are ready are making long number scrolls that go past 100! We also played some games related to the number 100 for the 100th day of school!

Science and Social Studies- Our cool tool was about asking for help. We enjoyed a mystery science video about the invention of football.

Reading- We learned about long and short vowel sounds this week and that vowels can say the short sound we already learned and their name. We continued practicing the digraph sounds we learned last week (sh, th, wh, ck, ch). We also worked on using “tapping” to help us say each sound and blend them together to read words. We are working on reading simple consonant-vowel-consonant words like mop or rug. We continued practicing reading sight words and playing games in which we break sounds in words apart and put them together in various ways.

Writing- We wrapped up our personal narrative unit this week and wrote our very best personal narrative as our writing assessment. Then we took some time to write whatever type of writing we wanted like pretend stories!

Math-We hit teens hard this week as well as introducing the symbols + and =. We have worked on the concepts behind these symbols for a long time and are now tying the kids knowledge to the symbol.

Science and Social Studies- Our cool tool was about getting adults attention appropriately. We enjoyed a mystery science video about what happens when we get the hiccups. We also read about Dr. King and the civil rights movement.

The reading sack includes all the books your child has read and practiced during our small group reading instruction. These are books your child can read independently with only a few challenging words or parts. Your child should be very comfortable reading these books by the time they bring them home. You will notice that most of the books will be the same with one or two books rotating in or out each week.
Rereading books is an important part of improving as a reader. Rereading helps children memorize sight words, practice reading fluently, build confidence, and focus on remembering and retelling the book.

What to Do with the Reading Sack
Your child will bring the reading sack home Tuesdays and Thursdays. The books and the sack MUST be returned the following day so we can use the books during our small group reading time. These books are school property and if they are lost at home I will not be able to send more books home with your child. Please use these books as part of your 15 minutes of daily reading and record on the reading log.

You can have your child practice the books independently or read them aloud to you or both. If your child gets stuck on a word or makes a mistake, try the following questions/prompts to help them figure out the word independently:
Did that make sense?
Is that a sight word?
Can you tap it?
Look at the picture.
Say the beginning sound.
Go back to the beginning of the sentence and reread.
Try to prompt your child before telling them the word to build independence.

After reading, discuss the book with your child. Practice making connections by asking, “What did this book make you think of?”, or “Do you have any connections to the book?”. Then ask your child to retell the story events to you in order. If your child is unable to remember what they have read, please have them reread the story and try again to retell.

Happy Reading!

Reading- We continued working on letter formation of capital letters. I am starting to hold the kids accountable for letter formation and neat handwriting since we have had lots of practice now. We also worked on using “tapping” to help us say each sound and blend them together to read words. We are working on reading simple consonant-vowel-consonant words like mop or rug. We continued practicing reading sight words and playing games in which we break sounds in words apart and put them together in various ways. We also worked on making predictions before reading.

Writing- We are going to wrap up our personal narrative unit this month. We are working making sure our writing includes a neat picture with details, labels and a sentence that matches the picture. Writing words and sentences is a big leap for the kids and they are working hard to master this skill.

Math- We continued to practice shape names and attributes by finding shapes around the school. We worked hard on teen numbers this week by counting, recognizing numerals and building our teen numbers with a group of ten and extra ones.

Science and Social Studies- Our cool tool was about kindness. We enjoyed a mystery science video about how glass is made. We also read about wants and needs. We learned about winter and made our winter mural in the classroom.