Happy Halloween!

Focus on Curriculum            

November 1, 2013

Handwriting Without Tears:  We reviewed all the capital letters we have learned so far.  We were also introduced to the magic c and all the letters we can write using the letter c such as c, a, d, g, C, and Q.

Jolly Phonics:  This week I introduced the letters b and j.  For the letter b we pretend we are hitting a baseball with a bat and for the letter j we wiggle like a bowl of jello.  Now we know the sounds of the letters: s, a, t, i, p, n, c, k, e, r, h, m, d, g, o, u, l, f, b, and j.  We like to sing songs and do actions for each sound to help us remember them.   Remember to review the sounds we have learned in the letter and sound packet, which shows all the motions and sounds used to make each letter of the alphabet that we will learn this year.  It is for your reference so you can practice with your children as we learn each new letter and the sound of that letter.

Reading:  We read the stories Clifford’s Halloween, The Monster of the Woods, I Need My Monster, Where’s My Mummy?  and The Night Before Halloween.  It begins “ Twas the night before Halloween and all through the house all the creatures were stirring, except for the mouse.  The monsters had gathered to plan and prepare, for the trick-or-treaters who soon would be there.” 

Popcorn Words:  This week we cut out the popcorn words on and at and glued them in our spirals.  We now have twelve words and they are: I, a, it, in, see, big, my, like, up, run, on and at. Our spirals are going home today.  We are going to keep our spirals in the front sleeve of our green folder so we can practice our words at school and at home.  Please remind your child to bring their popcorn word spirals to school everyday.  Please practice the popcorn words with your child at home.   

Math: We continued our counting and numbers units.  We practiced counting to 50.  We did many counting activities that had a Halloween theme.

Writing:  We wrote about what we saw looking at us on Halloween.  We also wrote: At the Halloween party I was a _____________.

Assembly:   We had a special guest firefighter that came to school and spoke to the children about fire safety.

Remember: 

Friday November 1, 2013~~~ Family Halloween Party at Elizabeth Ide from 6:30-8:00 P.M.

A special thank you to the parents who took time out of their busy schedules to volunteer and plan our Halloween party.  All the children were talking about what fun they had on Friday when they came to school

No School Friday November 8^th- Parent/ Teacher Conferences

No School Monday November 11^th- Veterans Day

Do not forgot to place your Scholastic book orders.

Bring Library Books on Mondays and Wednesday * New Library Days

We have gym everyday.  Please remember your gym shoes.

Please check the green folder daily.

Turn in Box Tops to earn money for our school! - The class with the most box tops wins a pizza party at the end of the year.

Trick or Treat!

Focus on Curriculum            

October 25, 2013

Handwriting Without Tears:  We wrote the letters w, x, y and z in our handwriting book.

Jolly Phonics:  This week we learned the letters l and f.  For the letter l we pretend we are licking a lollipop.  To make the sound of the letter f we pretend that we are squeezing the air out of an inflatable fish. We know the sounds of the letters: s, a, t, p, n, c, k, I, e, h, r, m, d, g, o, u, l, and f.  We like to sing songs and do actions for each sound to help us remember them.   Remember to review the sounds we have learned in the letter and sound packet, which shows all the motions and sounds used to make each letter of the alphabet that we will learn this year.  It is for your reference so you can practice with your children as we learn each new letter and the sound of that letter.

Reading:  We started unit two.  This week we concentrated on a story titled I Was So Mad!  We   continued talking about when we ourselves get angry and what good choices we could make during stressful times.  We also read some of our very own small books such as We Go Up!, Fall Leaves, and My Halloween Walk.  We also started reading Halloween books since Halloween is next week.

Popcorn Words:  This week we cut out the popcorn words up and run and glued it in our spirals.  Our spirals are going home today.  We are going to keep our spirals in the front sleeve of our green folder so we can practice our words at school and at home.  Please remind your child to bring their popcorn word spirals to school everyday.   

Math: We continued our counting and numbers units.  We practiced counting to 50.  We completed a count and color activity where the children would roll two dice and count the total number of dots.  After they counted the dots they found that number on their worksheet and colored that particular number.  The children kept rolling until all the numbers were colored.  We did an apple tally activity and created a graph based on our tally information.  We also did a Halloween write the room activity where the children searched the room for different Halloween images and when they found the images they would count the total number of a particular image and write that number.  We completed our Halloween ten-frame book.

Art:  We made a ghost out of construction paper and cotton balls.

Remember: 

Picture Retakes are Wednesday October 30, 2013

Please have the children bring their costumes to school for the Halloween party on Thursday October 31, 2013.

The Halloween parade on Thursday October 31 starts at 1:40 P.M. for the whole school.  You may watch us parade in front of the school or behind the school as we march around the whole building.  We will then go back inside to our classroom for our class party at 2:00 P.M.

Please do not send treats to school.  The party planners will provide sufficient snacks and entertainment for our party.

Friday November 1, 2013~~~ Family Halloween Party at Elizabeth Ide from 6:30-8:00 P.M.

Do not forgot to place your Scholastic book orders.

Bring Library Books on Mondays and Tuesdays

We have gym everyday.  Please remember your gym shoes.

Please check the green folder daily.

Turn in Box Tops to earn money for our school! - The class with the most box tops wins a pizza party at the end of the year.

Fall Leaves!

Focus on Curriculum            

October 18, 2013

Handwriting Without Tears:  We wrote the letters u and v in our handwriting book.

Jolly Phonics:  This week we learned the letters o and u.  For the letter o we pretend we are turning a light switch on and off.  To make the sound of the letter u we pretend that we are opening an umbrella. We know the sounds of the letters: s, a, t, p, n, c, k, I e, h, r, m, d,g, o, and u.  We like to sing songs and do actions for each sound to help us remember them.   Remember to review the sounds we have learned in the letter and sound packet, which shows all the motions and sounds used to make each letter of the alphabet that we will learn this year.  It is for your reference so you can practice with your children as we learn each new letter and the sound of that letter.

Reading:  We started unit two.  This week we concentrated on a story titled When Sophie Gets Angry, Really, Really Angry.  We talked about when we ourselves get angry and what good choices we can make during stressful times.  We also read some fall books.  We read Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf and Apples and Pumpkins.  The children read, colored and wrote in their very own leaf books.  Since this past Monday was Columbus Day we read In 1492 which talked about Christopher Columbus and his discovery of America

Popcorn Words:  This week we cut out the popcorn words like and my and glued it in our spirals.  We did a fall tree project where we unscrambled a sentence that reads, “I like my fall tree.”  We also completed a giant candy corn project that reads, “ I like my candy.”  Our spirals are going home today.  We are going to keep our spirals in the front sleeve of our green folder so we can practice our words at school and at home.  Please remind your child to bring their popcorn word spirals to school everyday.   

Math: We continued our counting and numbers units.  We practiced counting to 50.  We completed our pumpkin patch activity where the students had to put the pumpkins numbered 1-10 in the correct numerical order on the vine. We also did another pumpkin activity in which the children had to correctly number the pumpkins 0-20.  We practiced reading ten-frames up to 20 and did a Monster math activity, where at the end of the lesson each child was given a Monster with a random number printed on the monster.  The children then colored their monster and glued the correct number of googly eyes on their monster

Social Studies:  Our Weekly Readers focused on pumpkins.

Remember: 

Thursday October 24, 2013 is a half-day.  School is dismissed at 12 noon.  If you are picking up your child pick-ups are at 12:10 P.M.  in the office. 

Do not forgot to place your Scholastic book orders.

 Bring Library Books on Mondays and Tuesdays

We have gym everyday.  Please remember your gym shoes.

Please check the green folder daily.

Turn in Box Tops to earn money for our school! - The class with the most box tops wins a pizza party at the end of the year.

Fire Safety Week!

Focus on Curriculum            

October 11, 2013

Handwriting Without Tears:  We wrote the letters k and L in our handwriting book.

Jolly Phonics:  This week we learned the letters d and g.  For the letter d we pretend we are playing the drums.  To make the sound of the letter g we pretend that water is gurgling down the drain. We know the sounds of the letters: s, a, t, p, n, c, k, I e, h, r, m, d, and g.  We like to sing songs and do actions for each sound to help us remember them.   Remember to review the sounds we have learned in the letter and sound packet, which shows all the motions and sounds used to make each letter of the alphabet that we will learn this year.  It is for your reference so you can practice with your children as we learn each new letter and the sound of that letter.

Reading:  We continued our Unit One.  This week we concentrated on a story titled Whistle for Willie.  In the story a young boy tries to call for his dog, but he cannot whistle.  The young boy shows determination and does not quit trying to whistle and finally finds success when he learns how to whistle.  We also read a few firefighter stories since this week is fire prevention week.  We read A Day in the Life of a Firefighter and A Visit to a Fire Station.  We also read our very own books called Fire Truck.

Popcorn Words:  This week we cut out the popcorn word big and glued it in our spirals. We also read another small book called Big.  We did a big and little activity where we talked about opposites and glued objects in the correct category of big or little.  Our spirals are going home today.  We are going to keep our spirals in the front sleeve of our green folder so we can practice our words at school and at home.  Please remind your child to bring their popcorn word spirals to school everyday.   

Math: We continued our counting unit.  We practiced counting to 50.  We completed our math number book that focused on numbers 1-10 and ten frames. We practiced counting with firefighter math activities.  We also read and wrote in our How much Fire Gear books.  We also did a class graph using tallies telling whether or not the students would like to be a firefighter when they grow up.

Social Studies:  Our Weekly Readers focused on a firefighter crew and the teamwork that is involved in being a firefighter.  We talked about fire safety.

Art: We made our very Fire Safety Matchbooks, which has reminders of our fire safety rules.

Remember: 

No School Monday October 14, 2013 Columbus Day

Please remember to send a 1” white three ring binder with you child for our poetry.

Do not forgot to place your Scholastic book orders.

 

 Bring Library Books on Mondays and Tuesdays

We have gym everyday.  Please remember your gym shoes.

Please check the green folder daily.

Turn in Box Tops to earn money for our school! - The class with the most box tops wins a pizza party at the end of the year.

Inching Into Fall!

Focus on Curriculum            

October 4, 2013

Handwriting Without Tears:  We wrote the letters H in our handwriting book.  We also played a frog jump mystery letter game.

Jolly Phonics:  This week we learned the letters r and m.  For the letter r we pretend we are rags the dog and say r,r,r,r.  To make the sound of the letter m we pretend we are hungry and see a yummy meal and we say m,m,m,m,m. We know the sounds of the letters: s, a, t, p, n, c, k, I e,h, r  and m.  We like to sing songs and do actions for each sound to help us remember them.   Remember to review the sounds we have learned in the letter and sound packet, which shows all the motions and sounds used to make each letter of the alphabet that we will learn this year.  It is for your reference so you can practice with your children as we learn each new letter and the sound of that letter.

Reading:  We continued our Unit One.  This week we concentrated on a story titled Friends at School.  We talked about all the fun things we do at school such as learning many new things, projects, playing with friends, sharing, and snack time. We also read the story Diary of a Worm and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Popcorn Words:  This week we cut out the popcorn word see and glued it in our spirals.  We wrote in our small see books.  We also read another small book called I See and Outside.  Our spirals are going home today.  We are going to keep our spirals in the front sleeve of our green folder so we can practice our words at school and at home.  Please remind your child to bring their popcorn word spirals to school everyday.   

Math: We continued our counting unit.  We practiced counting to 50.  We wrote our numbers 9 and 10 this week.  We practiced counting with apple math activities.  The children were introduced to ten frames and tally marks.  One of the children’s favorite activities was called apple write the room.  There were red, yellow, and green apples hidden throughout the room labeled with a letter from A-J and a ten frame number displayed in dots.  For example if a student found the red apple with the letter A and one dot on the apple, the student would then take their red crayon and color in one red dot on their A ten frame.

Social Studies:  Our Weekly Readers focused on autumn and what we can expect during the fall season.

Art: We made our very own hungry caterpillars. 

Remember: 

Please remember to send  a 1” white three ring binder with you child for our poetry.

Do not forgot to place your Scholastic book orders.

No School Monday October 14, 2013 Columbus Day

 Bring Library Books on Mondays and Tuesdays

We have gym everyday.  Please remember your gym shoes.

Please check the green folder daily.

Turn in Box Tops to earn money for our school!-  The class with the most box tops wins a pizza party at the end of the year.