Officer Marc, a River Edge police officer, came to talk to the students about Halloween safety on Thursday. I hope the students followed Officer Marc's safety tips while they were trick-or-treating! (It was an extra special visit for 1-Bu, because they found out that Officer Marc will be back in our classroom even more this year as our Adopt-a-Cop, a program that the police department runs with first graders in River Edge.)
Don't forget that there are only two days of school for students this week - Monday and Wednesday.
Reading : This week, we will continue to learn about various strategies to figure out tricky words. (Beginning to sound familiar? We're purposely taking our time to learn these strategies.) Last week we learned about Hugo the Huge-Mouth Hippo, who helps us 'get our mouth ready' to read words by saying the first sound, and Slither the Sound-it-Out Snake, who tells us to go sound-by-sound through a tricky word. Of course, all of these strategies are only helpful if they help you come up with a word that makes sense. I reiterate this over and over to students, as making meaning is the most important part of reading (rather than perfectly sounding out every single word).
Phonics : Your child now has an alphabet chart and a word wall in the reading section of his/her binder. Each week, the students will add the new sight words that we've learned. These are words that the students should be able to read automatically. They are also words that I expect the students to spell correctly when they are in the classroom because they are up on the word wall (which should be constantly used as a reference).
Writing : Last week, we added the final step to the writing process (even though we also discussed that a piece is never truly done - it can always change). Re-reading one's writing (the final step) is an absolutely crucial habit that I want to instill in your child this year. Students (and adults) tend to finish writing the words in a piece, and then want to push it aside. However, when students re-read, they go back and make sure that their pieces make sense and are 'easy-to-read.'
At the end of last week, and continuing into this week, we went into detail about what small moment pieces entail. They are not a story all about an entire vacation or about all the things you did in one day. They are about a sliver of your day, or the most interesting thing that happened.
Math : This week, we will start unit 3. You should have received the unit 3 family letter last week. We'll begin the unit by discussing patterns and odd/even numbers. Keep telling time to the hour, and counting nickels and pennies at home!
Science : On Monday, we'll being our next science unit - all about bats and sound. First, we'll learn about sound, and then we'll learn about bats and how they use sound to survive.
Misc. Notes : Mrs. Blake, the school guidance counselor will be in our classroom on Wednesday to do a bullying prevention lesson. The school has adopted a school-wide bullying prevention program that was started last week and will continue on for the rest of the school year.
Enjoy your week!