Spring is Here!

March 22, 2013

Focus on Curriculum

Jolly Phonics: We have completed all our jolly phonics sounds.  Now we know the sounds of the letters and letter combinations: s, a, t, i, p, n, c, k, e, r, h, m, d, g, o, u, l, f, b, j, oa, oa, ie, ee, or,oo, ch, sh, ng, th, ou, qu, ue, oi, er, ar, z, w, v, y, and z. Please try and practice with your letter cards at home.  Please ask your child to say the letter names and sounds.  All students have a bag of cards with letters, pictures, and words. They should try to match the letters, pictures, and words. You may choose to make it a game such as Memory, Rummy or Go Fish. Use your imagination!  Keep the cards in a special place at home so they can use them again and again.  The cards can stay at home.

Word Family’s:  This week we reviewed our short i word families.  We worked on the it, in, ip and ing word families.  We also talked about words ending in ig.  After Spring Break we will work with our short e word families ed and en.

Popcorn Words: This week we reviewed and worked with all 63 popcorn words we have been working with all year.  Please practice the popcorn words, we are getting quite a few and they are getting more difficult.  Next week we will start learning four words per week.

Reading:  Our reading theme this week was a continuation of our farm theme.  We read books focusing on spring since this past Wednesday was the first day of Spring.  Even our Weekly Reader was titled Spring is Here!  We discussed the signs of spring such as hearing the sounds of birds in the morning, the sight of robins, longer days of daylight, playing outside, going to the park, green grass and trees, and colorful flowers.

  

Writing:  We wrote about our star student of the week.  We also wrote a sentence telling each students favorite book that we shared with the class.  The students were very excited to share their favorite book.  There was a picture of a flower on each student’s work, which they colored and their work will be displayed at school.

Math:  We focused on addition and subtraction.  We used counters and ten frames to help write addition and subtraction number sentences.  We even did an addition number sentence that focused on spring.  For example:  If I had 3 blue flowers and 2 orange flowers how many flowers do I have all together?  The students then filled in the number sentence 3 + 2 = 5 and then the students drew a picture to go with their number sentence.  The students also graphed how many of each color of flowers were in our story. We wrote our numbers one through twenty.  Please practice writing numbers and counting at home.

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Have a Very Happy and Safe Spring Break!

REMEMBER

No School- Spring Break March 25, 2013-April 1, 2013. School resumes Tuesday April 2, 2013.

Please remember to return the pictures from Lifetouch if you are not purchasing pictures or please bring in a check if you have decided to purchase pictures.

Please practice the popcorn words with your child.

Bring your library books on Wednesdays!

Wear your gym shoes Thursdays and Fridays!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

                                                        
                                                        March 15, 2013

Focus on Curriculum

Jolly Phonics: We have completed all our jolly phonics sounds.  We learned the last two letter combinations this week, er and ar.  Now we know the sounds of the letters and letter combinations: s, a, t, i, p, n, c, k, e, r, h, m, d, g, o, u, l, f, b, j, oa, oa, ie, ee, or,oo, ch, sh, ng, th, ou, qu, ue, oi, er, ar, z, w, v, y, and z. Please try and practice with your letter cards at home.  Please ask your child to say the letter names and sounds. All students have a bag of cards with letters, pictures, and words. They should try to match the letters, pictures, and words. You may choose to make it a game such as Memory, Rummy or Go Fish. Use your imagination!  Keep the cards in a special place at home so they can use them again and again.  The cards can stay at home.  Our final sets of letter cards went home this week.

Word Family’s:  This week we worked on short i word families.  We worked on the ip and ing word families.  We start with one of the word family endings: ip or ing, and then we add different letters to the beginning of the endings to make new words.  For example, for the ip word family we formed the words (rip, tip, drip, etc.)  We even talked about the ig family.

Popcorn Words: Our three new popcorn words this week were; soon, went and come.  Please practice the popcorn words, we are getting quite a few and they are getting more difficult.  Next week we will start learning four words per week.

Reading:  Our reading theme this week was about farms.  We read the story The Story of Half- Chicken.  The chicken in the story only has one leg and wing but he is still a strong chicken who is determined to help his friends in time of need.  When half-chicken needs help his friends are very happy to help him because they remember what a great friend he was when each of them needed help.  We also read Cows in the Kitchen.

Writing:  We wrote about our star student of the week.  We also wrote a sentence using our popcorn word went.   The students were given the beginning of the sentence I went and then they had the chance to write where they went.  I was very proud of how well the children remembered to spell some of our popcorn words and used their own kid spelling by sounding out words if they did not know how to spell a particular word.

Math:  We focused on subtracting numbers, from numbers up to ten. Please practice reading and writing numbers 1 through 20.  Please continue to practice addition facts that add up to ten along with subtracting numbers up to ten.

Social Studies- To connect with our farm theme we read Ice Cream:  From Cows to Kids.  The story explained that we get our milk from cows and that when milk is mixed with sugar and then frozen we get ice cream.  We also read our weekly reader about St. Patrick’s Day, which is coming up this Sunday.

REMEMBER

Tuesday March 19th 2013 is a half-day and only the morning class will attend.  School is from 9:00 A.M-12:00P.M.  If your child is a pick-up, pick-ups will be in the office at 12:10 P.M.

 

Please remember to return the pictures from Lifetouch if you are not purchasing pictures or please bring in a check if you have decided to purchase pictures.

Please practice the popcorn words with your child.

Bring your library books on Wednesdays!

Wear your gym shoes Thursdays and Fridays!

Dr. Seuss Week!

                                                      

                                                        March 8, 2013

Focus on Curriculum

Jolly Phonics: We have completed all our jolly phonics sounds.  We learned the last two letter combinations this week, er and ar.  Now we know the sounds of the letters and letter combinations: s, a, t, i, p, n, c, k, e, r, h, m, d, g, o, u, l, f, b, j, oa, oa, ie, ee, or,oo, ch, sh, ng, th, ou, qu, ue, oi, er, ar, z, w, v, y, and z. Please try and practice with your letter cards at home.  Please ask your child to say the letter names and sounds. All students have a bag of cards with letters, pictures, and words. They should try to match the letters, pictures, and words. You may choose to make it a game such as Memory, Rummy or Go Fish. Use your imagination!  Keep the cards in a special place at home so they can use them again and again.  The cards can stay at home. 

Word Family’s: We worked on the it and in word families.  We start with one of the word family endings: it or in, and then we add different letters to the beginning of the endings to make new words.  For example, for the it word family we formed the words (hit, pit, sit, kit, fit etc.).

Popcorn Words: Our three new popcorn words this week were; this, that and new.  Please practice the popcorn words, we are getting quite a few and they are getting more difficult.

Reading:  This week we celebrated Dr. Seuss all week long since his birthday was March 2^nd.  We read many of his classics along with a few new books.  We read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Oh the Thinks You Can Think!, The Cat In The Hat, Wacky Wednesday, Horton Hears A Who!, Fox in Socks, and Green Eggs and Ham.

Writing:  We wrote about the Dr. Seuss book Wacky Wednesday and illustrated wacky pictures that we shared with our classmates.

Math:  We focused on subtracting numbers, from numbers up to ten and continued to practice addition facts that add up to ten.  We used colored goldfish crackers with these activities that went along with one of our stories One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Please practice reading and writing numbers 1 through 20.  Please continue to practice addition facts that add up to ten along with subtracting numbers up to ten.

 

We had a lot of fun celebrating Dr. Seuss week all week long!

REMEMBER

Please practice the popcorn words with your child.

Bring your library books on Wednesdays!

Wear your gym shoes Thursdays and Fridays!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

 March 1, 2013

Focus on Curriculum

Jolly Phonics: We have completed all our jolly phonics sounds.  We learned the last two letter combinations this week, er and ar.  Now we know the sounds of the letters and letter combinations: s, a, t, i, p, n, c, k, e, r, h, m, d, g, o, u, l, f, b, j, oa, oa, ie, ee, or,oo, ch, sh, ng, th, ou, qu, ue, oi, er, ar, z, w, v, y, and z. Please try and practice with your letter cards at home.  Please ask your child to say the letter names and sounds. All students have a bag of cards with letters, pictures, and words. They should try to match the letters, pictures, and words. You may choose to make it a game such as Memory, Rummy or Go Fish. Use your imagination!  Keep the cards in a special place at home so they can use them again and again.  The cards can stay at home.  Our final sets of letter cards went home this week.

Word Family’s:  This week we reviewed our short a word families.  We worked on the an, at, ap and am word families.  We start with one of the word family endings: an, at, ap or am, and then we add different letters to the beginning of the endings to make new words.  For example, for the ap word family we formed the words (cap, map, trap, clap, nap, etc.).  Next week we will be working on the it and in word families.

Popcorn Words: Our four new popcorn words this week were; four, said, and nine.  Please practice the popcorn words, we are getting quite a few and they are getting more difficult.

Reading:  This week we finished our Wheels Go Around theme.  We read the story Mr. Gumpy’s Motor Car. When Mr. Gumpy decides to go for a ride in his bright-red car, everyone wants to come along -- a rabbit, a cat, a dog, a sheep, chickens, a calf, a goat, and a boy and girl. Then it starts to rain, and the car becomes stuck in the mud.  None of Mr. Gumpy’s passengers want to help. In the end, however, they all have to help.  It was a good lesson on teamwork.  We also read a small book called The Snowman, which the children brought home this week.  The story was about all the components that make up a snowman.  We underlined all of the popcorn words we have had so far as we read our books.

Writing:  We wrote about our star student of the week.  We also wrote a sentence using our popcorn word said.  A few examples of our sentences that we wrote were; I said hello.  I said goodbye. and I said good morning.

Math:  We focused on subtracting numbers, from numbers up to ten. Please practice reading and writing numbers 1 through 20.  Please continue to practice addition facts that add up to ten along with subtracting numbers up to ten.

Social Studies- Since February is dental health month we read our Weekly Reader.  The students really enjoyed guessing different animals teeth in the reader.  We learned what the different animals use their teeth for.  We also talked about what foods are good for our teeth and what foods, if we have too much, are harmful for our teeth. 

REMEMBER

Please check your child’s folder this Friday.  A St. Patrick’s Day and Dr. Seuss project went home this week.  There is also a form explaining the different books and fun activities that we will be doing next week in celebration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday.

Please practice the popcorn words with your child.

Bring your library books on Wednesdays!

Wear your gym shoes Thursdays and Fridays!