Happy Thanksgiving!

Focus on Curriculum            

November 22, 2013

Handwriting Without Tears:  We wrote in our handwriting book.  We wrote the letters S, A, I, T and J.        

Jolly Phonics:  This week I introduced the letters ee (vowel combination) and or together. We reviewed when two vowels go walking the first vowel does the talking; saying its name, and the second vowel is quite.  Next week we will learn the letter Z.  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, j, ai, oa, ie, ee, and or.  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 Thanksgiving stories.  Two of the children’s favorite stories we read were  Turkey Trouble and A Turkey for Thanksgiving.   We also read our very own small books The Tale of a Turkey and Thanksgiving Dinner.

Popcorn Words:  This week we cut out the popcorn words is, can and but and glued them in our spirals.  Next week we will learn to and too.  We now have twenty words and they are: I, a, it, in, see, big, my, like, up, run, on, at, we, me, am, did, not, is, can and but. 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 fall and Thanksgiving theme.  

Writing:  We wrote what we are thankful for because of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

Social Studies: We read and discussed our Weekly Reader that talked about our upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

I wish everyone and their friends and family a very Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!

Remember: 

Report cards go home Tuesday November 26^th.  Please check your child’s folder.  Please sign and return the report card envelope.

No School- Wednesday November 27^th – Sunday December 1st- Thanksgiving Holiday!

School resumes Monday December 2^nd.

Do not forgot to place your Scholastic book orders.

Six Flags Great America reading program information went home this week!

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.

Turkeys and Snow!

Focus on Curriculum            

November 15, 2013

Handwriting Without Tears:  We wrote in our handwriting book             

Jolly Phonics:  This week I introduced the letters oa and ie (vowel combination) together.  For oa we say “oh” and ie we pretend we are saluting saying, “aye aye captain”.   We learned when two vowels go walking the first vowel does the talking; saying its name, and the second vowel is quite.  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, j, ai, oa, and ie.  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 Noisy Nora, Ten Fat Turkeys, and It’s Thanksgiving!   We also read our very own small book I am Helping that focused on two of our popcorn words.

Popcorn Words:  This week we cut out the popcorn words am, did and not and glued them in our spirals.  We now have seventeen words and they are: I, a, it, in, see, big, my, like, up, run, on, at, we, me, am, did, and not. 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 fall theme.  We also practiced counting using ten-frames in our Turkey Teens book.

Writing:  We wrote the sentence, A goat ate my pumpkin pie!   It reinforced the oa and ie sounds and also reinforced that a sentence begins with a capital and ends with a punctuation mark.  In this case it was an exclamation mark showing their excitement.  We then had a chance to color our picture and share it with our classmates on the elmo projector in our classroom.

Social Studies: We talked about Veterans Day this past Monday and how it is in honor of those who have served our country.  We also completed our own Veteran’s Day book.  Lastly, we read and discussed our Weekly Reader that talked about turkeys and our upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

Remember: 

Half day Wednesday November 20^th.  School is dismissed at 12 noon.  If you are picking up your child, pickup will be in the office at 12:10 P.M.

Do not forgot to place your Scholastic book orders.

Six Flags Great America reading program information went home this week!

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.

Welcome November!

Focus on Curriculum            

November 7, 2013

Handwriting Without Tears:  We reviewed all the magic c capital letters C, O, Q and G.

Jolly Phonics:  This week I introduced the letters ai (vowel combination) together.  We pretend we cannot hear well and say “Aye.”  We learned when two vowels go walking the first one does the talking, says its name and the second one is quite.  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, j and ai.  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 story Pumpkin Pumpkin and talked about the process that a pumpkin goes through all the way from seed to pumpkin.  We also read the story Counting Monkeys that the children really liked because the book was interactive and asked the children for help throughout the book.  We also read our very own small book We Like School that focused on two of our popcorn words.

Popcorn Words:  This week we cut out the popcorn words we and me 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, at, we and me. 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 fall theme.

Writing:  We also had a mixed up Thanksgiving sentence about a turkey chasing us.  We had a chance to unscramble the sentence and when in was complete it read A turkey is chasing me!  We reinforced that a sentence begins with a capital and ends with a punctuation mark.  In this case it was an exclamation mark.  We then had a chance to color our picture and share it with our classmates on the elmo projector in our classroom.

Social Studies: We also talked about Veterans Day this upcoming Monday and how it is in honor of those who have served our country.

Remember: 

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.