OCTOBER NEWS…

Friday, October 3, 2008

First, I would like to thank everyone that attended Back to School Night.  It was great talking with you about your children and the year ahead!  I also want to thank all of the parents that donated supplies to the classroom.  Your generosity is appreciated and we should have enough tissues, baggies, art supplies, and snacks to last a few months! 

IN READING:  We are focusing on story elements.  Together as a class, the children describe the characters, setting, and main events of a story with ease.  We are continuing our author study of Tomie dePaola.  We read several of his books including: Big Anthony His Story, Strega Nona, and 26 Fairmount Avenue.  We will continue to focus on story elements over the next few weeks and will begin to investigate the main characters in greater depth.  We are also focusing on the introductory lessons in our Open Court phonics program.  I am sure you have noticed a dictation sheet that comes home on a weekly basis.  These are not spelling words.  They are words the children are spelling correctly following specific phonics instruction.  During this time we are also choral reading mini books to practice fluency.  I am very proud of their reading abilities.  They continue to pick appropriate books independently for their reading folders and soon we will begin small guided reading groups.

IN WRITING:  We are almost finished with our memoir mini unit.  The children are enjoying writing about their baby, birthday and vacation memories.  I would like to thank Mrs. Derken and Mrs. Timme for the time they have volunteered to help the class decorate their scrapbooks.  They look fantastic!  In the next few weeks, we will be working on sentence structure and will be moving on to Empowering Writer lessons starting with how to write a good story beginning. 

IN MATH:  We have covered the first two topics in our math series.  The first topic was an exploration of the various topics we will be covering throughout the year including calendar, place value, time, and money.  In topic 2 we investigated addition and subtraction strategies.  For example, the students have learned how to add by counting on, using doubles facts, doubles plus one and doubles plus two facts.  Next week I will be sending home the first set of addition fact cards for the children to practice for homework.  I encourage the children to practice these facts every night.  I will send more fact cards home as we begin to discuss additional addition and subtraction strategies.  Having the ability to recall addition and subtraction facts to 18 quickly, will aid their understanding of future topics.  

UNIT:  We will continue our study of pebbles, sand, and silt for the month of October.  So far the class has learned about different types of rocks (basalt, tuff, and scoria) and we have investigated different sizes of rocks.  The class enjoyed using screens to separate pebbles, gravel, and sand.  We have also separated silt from a sand mixture.  As we explore this topic further, we will be using clay and discussing how things are made from rocks!   I would also like to thank Mrs. Koobatian for sending in the geodes for the class to crack open! 

CLASSROOM COMMUNITY:  We have continued to discuss ways of developing a positive classroom environment.  We have put together one class book entitled, Getting to Know Room 5.  This book is a collection of interviews that the children put together the first week of school to learn a little bit about their new friends in our classroom.  We are also publishing Our Goals for a Great Year, which includes all of the work you sent in to school.  If you haven’t returned your homework from Back to School Night, please complete it ASAP so we can include your goal in our book! 

JUST A REMINDER!!: 

Again, thanks to all of the parents who sent in supplies and tissues for the class.  We have plenty to hold us over for the next few months! Thank you so much!

Dates to Remember

I think that’s it!  If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to call.
                        -Jen Maxwell