Book It! Reading Program

So sorry I did not get another reading log for the Book It! Just continue to log books read together each night and they will get 10 minutes per night credit for reading. If you read longer than that you may note it in the log and I will enter time into computer to reflect the amount of time reading each night.   They will get an additional 10 minutes daily for reading in class.  I will give out all certificates on the last day of each month.  Thank you so much for participating in this.  It really does boost their reading self confidence and abilities.  Don't forget to stop and talk about books read together.  Let them make predictions and discuss whether or not those predictions were accurate and why.  Stop also to discuss vocabulary words and meanings.  Often times we assume they know what words mean and they do not.  I also like to have them come up with other words that mean the same thing or how else the word could be used.  This stretches the "thinking" power a bit.  Thank you so much for all that you do with them at home. 

Shades of Meaning Video

We have been working on shades of meaning with verbs.  We read Goldilocks and the Three Bears and talked about Baby Bear crying.  We came up with other words that meant the same thing as cry and then acted them out to show what each word looked like.  Then we tried to put them in order from the softest to the loudest.  This is what we came up with.  We had done some additional work with the word Big when we read the book Too Many Pumpkins and with Autumn Leaves Are Falling we acted out the verbs creeping, stomping, romping, and marching.  I think they are doing a great job with this.  We talked about how knowing different words that mean the same thing will help to make their writing better and increase their understanding of texts read. 

Flat Abbi Grace came to our school from Nashville, TN

Pumpkin Patch Reminders

Pumpkin Patch Reminders

If you have not yet turned in the permission slip for the trip you need to do so ASAP.  They may not go with us if it has not been signed. 

Please send in clean grocery bags. This is what they will carry the pumpkins home in.  We can use as many as you send in.  If you have some extra that is great.  We like to double them up if we can to give extra support when carrying them. 

    

Make sure your child wears something that can get a little dirty or dusty.  We will be sitting on the ground, sliding, petting animals, walking around in a pumpkin patch and a corn maze.  Wearing old shoes might be something to consider.  Also, the girls will want to wear something besides flip flops or sandals. 

Remember to use disposable containers for the lunch you pack.  This is so much easier for us to manage.  Make sure the bag is labeled with your child’s name.  Thank you so much.  We are excited!!

Newsletter 9-30-11

Reminders

Return Picture money as soon as possible. 

Volunteers are needed for Fall Festival!  Please sign up to help support our school.

Donated Gift certificates are needed for the silent auction.  If you have any connections with businesses that would like to donate a gift certificate for goods or services, please send it in to the school.  Thanks!

Scholastic News

Thank you so much to those of you who have sent in the money for scholastic news.  That really helps my pocket!  Also, I am not sure when the book orders will be in but it should be shortly.  The first order sometimes takes the longest.  As soon as they come in I will send them home. 

Reading

I am so proud of the reading and writing progress I am seeing.  Many have mastered the letters and sounds and are working diligently on the first Dolch word list.  I have some great readers already who are taking Accelerated reader tests and doing well.  Keep up the great reading work at home. 

Sight words: and, we, can, go, to, the, like, was, is, I, a, my, red, yellow, blue, my, me and see. 

Math

We are finished with chapters one and two in our math series.  We are taking the assessment that goes along with it today.  So far everyone is making good progress.  The biggest thing is learning to explain their thinking.  That is a hard task for this age group.  Numbers must be written correctly.  Some still are writing them backwards.  If you see this at home have them correct the direction of the number. 

Workshops

1.       Math/literacy/technology- IPADS- WE have used apps on the set of 6 ipads we checked out from computer lab to practice math and literacy skills.  WE LOVE THEM!!!! WE love them so much we are going to keep them for a while!

2.       Literacy- Sight word practice.  We used crayons to write color words on and glued them to a sentence strip.  Let them keep the crowns in their room as a color word resource for writing. 

3.       Literacy- Writing Workshop- We read the book The Biggest Leaf Pile and wrote about the most fun thing we could do in a pile of leaves. 

4.       Math/Literacy- We read the book Ten Apples Up on Top and wrote numbers to 10 on the apples.  Then we glued the apples in order to a character’s head we drew from the book. 

5.       Math- Ten Black Dots- We read the book by Donald Crews and are making our own ten dots can make book.  We are writing our numbers counting the correct number of dots and writing the sight word can correctly.  WE went to 5 this week and next week we go to 10.    

^{Pumpkin Patch Field Trip coming up October 7th!  Remember if you want to volunteer to chaperone you must be cleared by the county.  Please send in the permission slips.}