Halloween is this week! Thank you for returning the forms regarding what your child will do for lunch on Halloween. If you would like to make any changes, please let me know! Lunch is from 12:00-12:52 on Thursday and the Halloween Parade is at 1:30.
Here's what we were working on in the classroom last week :
Reading : We continued to talk about ways that the students can tackle tricky words. If using their phonics didn't help them read the word, 1-Bu knows to look at the picture, look at all parts of a word, use meaning to figure out the word, and take a running start (read the beginning of the sentence and say the first sounds of the word). After coming up with a word that we think is right, 1-Bu also knows to double-check that the word matches the letters on the page and makes sense.
Writing : We launched a new writing unit last week, which is focused on writing 'small moment' stories. These are personal narratives (or true stories about things that have happened in students' lives) that are focused on small moments in time. For example, rather than writing a story all about a trip to Disney World, the student would narrow the focus of his/her story and write about the time he/she went on Splash Mountain and got soaked. Narrowing the focus of the students' stories allows us to work on using descriptive language and adding details.
Phonics : We wrapped up unit three last week by learning about when to use ck for the /k/ sound. Ask you child! (Answer : at the end of a word, after a short vowel)
Math : We spent a lot of time working with number stories last week. We started off by learning about why it's important to label the units in a number story (i.e. what the numbers represent). Then, we learned about a 'start, change, end' diagram to use to help organize the important numbers in change-to-more and change-to-less number stories.
Science : Last week we took a closer look at constellations with the Liberty Science educators and created constellations of our own. Back in the classroom, we also took a deeper look at how stars appear to move across the sky.
Social Studies : We went over different types of communities last week (cities, countries, and towns) and discussed the similarities and differences amongst them. We also started talking about community helpers and their roles in communities. We thanked Crossing Guard Jack for work he does keeping us safe in our community (and on our field trip).
Here are some pictures of 1-Bu last week :