Dear Families,

I hope you had a nice weekend.  It will be nice to have 5 days of school this week, because the children definitely thrive off that consistency.  Here's what's going on in the classroom...

In Fundations, we will be focusing on the digraphs sh, wh, ch, and th.  Last week, we learned how to tap these digraphs with one finger because they make 1 sound.  Ask your child to show you how to tap out a word with these digraphs (example: ship, chat, thud).  We also have learned 4 new trick words which we will be building, reading and writing throughout the week (as, has, to, into)

In reading groups, we will be reading 2 fiction stories this week and practicing how to retell a story using first, next, then and last.

In math, we are finishing up Topic 2-fluently adding and subtracting within 10.  We have practiced using a part-part-whole mat, the number line, counting on, using doubles, and the tens frame.  Topic 3 will focus on addition facts to 20 and using efficient strategies.

In writer's workshop we continue to write small moment stories.  The children are getting really good at writing across a 3 page booklet!

Thank you to all the families who have donated wikki stix to the classroom. I can't wait to have the children build words using them!

I placed our October scholastic order on Friday, so hopefully we will get the books by this Friday:)

Here is a great picture that Mrs. Groden took in library class.  The children were exploring with the castle blocks and made this great creation!  They begged Mrs. Groden to take a picture of it before they knocked it down:)

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me at hherring@email.medfield.net

Heather

Dear Families,

I hope you have had a nice week. We have been working hard in Room 24 to continue learning routines that will set the groundwork for the rest of the year.  One thing we have been focusing on is a whole body listening look.  A whole body listening look is when we are being a good listener with our eyes, ears, brains and shoulders (which are pointing at the person speaking).  These things are considered "on" (and green on our visual) while our arms, legs, and mouths are "off" (red on our visual).  This is a great conversation piece that you could discuss with your child to support the learning environment in our classroom.  Thank you for your help with this!

Here are some things we have been focusing on the past 2 weeks...

We continue to work on the Daily 5 (Read to Self, Read to Someone, and Work on Writing).  The children are doing great with this and we are now introducing word work stations.

In Fundations, we continue to practice tapping CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words, building them with letter tiles and writing them on whiteboards.  We have also introduced 6 new "Trick Words" (a, and, the, is, his, of) Trick words are words that the children need to know in a snap and can't be tapped out. These will be the words that we focus our word work on throughout the week.  They are also words that can be practiced at home (reading and writing them).

In Writer's Workshop, we continue to write small moment stories about either things we like to do or something that's happened to us.  We have learned to plan a story by touching the pages, sketching a picture to hold our thoughts and then go back and do the writing.  We have also learned that when we are unsure how to spell a word, we can tap it out, use the Trick Word Wall and if neither of those work, write the sounds we hear, underline the word,  and continue writing.  This way, we get our thoughts on the paper and know we will go back and figure out how to spell the word we were unsure of.

In math, we have worked hard on addition and subtraction story problems.  We have learned to show our thinking by using "pictures, numbers, and words".  By this I mean, drawing their picture to match the story, writing an equation and labeling the answer.


A few things...

*  Next week I will be introducing Raz Kids.  We will be up and running by the end of the week and I will send home the log in cards.

*  Poem notebooks will also come home next Thursday.  We have learned enough poems to start singing at home:)

*  donations- thank you for the extra paper towels and tissues that have been donated.  If you are looking to donate to the classroom we would love these items:

-wikki stix-we will use these to build words during word work

-colored copy paper-we will use this during writer's workshop to put a cover on our stories

Thank you again for all your support.  If you have any questions or concerns feel free to email me at hherring@email.medfield.net

Heather