September 24th-October 5th

Fall is in the air!

Let's hope fall weather is upon us! We survived the heat last week and I'm so thankful temps are cooling off the building! Students were troopers and we did try our best to get to cooler areas in the building and get through curriculum.   

Here is a look at the next two weeks:

Reading:

Overall, great job with our new spelling/vocab program.  The majority of the class did well on the spelling and vocab tests.  Students were able to learn our new online resource (Spelling City) and have figured out how to navigate through the options.  You should have received a pink half sheet indicating your child's scores on the tests. I walked around to make sure they were accurate. For future reference, you are always able to log on to your child's account on Spelling City to check out scores and activities completed. Directions were listed on the half sheet. Students can do any activity assigned to them on Spelling City that corresponds with the lesson we are on. They should complete the entire activity though, for it to count as finished.  In other words, starting "Hang Mouse" but then stopping midway will not register as complete. Every lesson the students will complete a Google Classroom Meaning Sentences activity. The sentences will be due (turned in electronically) by Friday, Oct. 5. For the last round of sentences, there were a number of students that didn't have this activity completed by last Friday. Students had to stay in at recess to complete the sentences. Please continue to check those assignment notebooks for due activities:) 

Our next list is the Lesson 2 Math Place Value/Geometry words. Below is the list for your reference. Remember that we will spend two weeks on this list.   We will require that students complete at least four activities on Spelling City before the test.  Please make sure your child is ready before the test on October 5.

We just finished characterization and tested on that skill last week.  The students learned that authors reveal characters through traits, actions. dialogue and motivations.  Students did well overall on the assessment!  Our next focus skill is comparing and contrasting.  We will read our next story in Storytown and interact with the text to compare and contrast characters, setting, and other events.  We will use venn diagrams as a graphic organizer to show what we know about comparing and contrasting.  The students will be assessed on this skill by Friday, 10/5.

In grammar, our next skill is subject and predicate. We will focus on the fact that each complete sentence needs to have a subject and predicate. We will also study fragments and how to turn a fragment into a complete sentence. Lastly we will learn about run-on sentences and how to edit run on sentences.

Book Talks- we will spend some class time modeling the book talks and discussing expectations this week. This week your child will bring home a competed sample of a Book Talk. We will connect SEL (social emotional learning) and Language Art by reading a book called Odd Velvet. I will then model the Book Talk note taking sheet. Please put this sample Book Talk in a safe place so it can be used as a reference in October. Students should have a mystery book picked out by now.  If they don't I will remind them when we go to book check out this week to check out a mystery book. Please make sure the book that's chosen is a "good fit" book.  See the poster below in helping to know what a good fit book is.  Play close attention to the "K" descriptor.  If your child doesn't know 4 or more words on any random page, the book is probably too hard and should not be reading it independently. Ask your child about our 5 finger rule!

Math: 

We are just about to the end of our first unit. Last week, we learned about points, line segments and lines. This week we will finish the unit by studying rays, angles, quadrilaterals and finding perimeters of squares and rectangles.  To prepare for the test, we will always review in class, with both a study guide and review games. The test is projected to be on Friday, September 28. I'm attaching another math review opportunity here for those that would like a second review option (not mandatory). This review should be printed or answers can go on a blank piece of paper. Students that fully complete this review will earn an emoji dollar! 

Unit 1 Additional Math Review

Finally, please be sure your child is going on to Reflex Math on the computer a few times per week at home. It makes a BIG difference. We play in school during math stations as well, but they don't always get the green full circle, which is the goal!  Thank you! 

Social Studies: 

We finished our first unit (Map Skills). Students did very well on this assessment last week. You should have seen this go home! Creative Cartographers Map Project is due Monday, tomorrow. Since this is a project, we expect quality/neat work. Please check over your child's work, using the rubric and checklist to check off requirements! Check for proper spelling and capitalization please! Students will be sharing out some of their favorite items from their map projects with the class on Monday.

Science:

We will be kicking off our first Life Science Unit involving plant and animal adaptations. Students will learn all about plant and animal adaptations and towards the end of next week the focus will be on bird beak adaptations.  Students will do a very fun and engaging simulation pretending to be birds to test out the various beak adaptations to best capture their prey.  We will represent various bird beaks and prey with gummy worms, Swedish fish, raisins and red kidney beans.  WE WILL NOT BE EATING ANY OF THIS.  I don't believe we have allergies in the class to these particular foods but a note will be going home asking your permission for the food items to be handled (not eaten) with specific ingredients listed in each item.  Please sign the note and return it as soon as possible. You should be receiving it by the end of this week.

Social Skills:
During the last few weeks, we learned and practiced a variety of social and emotional skills!  Our recent skill was all about showing empathy. Through websites, stories, and videos the students have mastered this skill. Our next focus skills for SEL is about listening with attention.



Important Dates:
Mon., 9/24: Creative Cartographers Map Project due
Fri., 9/28: Unit 1 Math Test
Tues., 10/2 Picture Retakes
Fri., 10/5: Mid-trimester reports go home. Please review, sign and return report card envelopes
Fri., 10/5: Spelling/Vocab Tests on the Lesson 2 Math words, Google Classroom Meaningful Sentences due ("turned in" on computers)
Fri., 10/5 Discovery Science