Saturday, January 29, 2011

What's happening in our room?

Looking ahead at the next few weeks, we have a few things going on:  Monday, Feb. 14 will be the Valentine's Party, Feb. 16 & 17 will be parent teacher conferences.  I hope everyone has received their conference schedule.  Please let me know if the day/time will not work for you.  I will be gone
Feb. 18-Feb. 26 and will not be in a location where I can check emails.  Mrs. Spohr will be my substitute. She always does an excellent job with the children.  Please forward any questions or concerns you may have to her while I am gone.

What are we doing in...

Math?   We are practicing addition, adding 2 to a number.  Identifying pennies and dimes and how much they are worth.  When we add coins we always need to remember to say "cents" and to add the "cent" symbol money when we write it.  Identifying odd and even numbers has been a challenge for some.  This would be great practice at home.  Ask your child...what do even numbers end in? odd numbers?   We are practicing counting by 2's to 20 and counting odd numbers to 19.  Telling time to the hour was introduced as well.  I will continue to send home math homework each Thursday unless it is a test day.

Reading?  We are beginning lesson 15 next week.  Lesson 15 week at a glance: 
Phonics we are introducing the diagraphs qu and wh, and inflectional endings -ed, -ing
Grammar we will introduce using I and me.
Writing will be a personal narrative.
Spelling words for spelling sentences:  quilt, quick, quiz, whiz, which, when, arm, part, house, put
High freqency words can be found on the HFW page.

Social Studies?  We are learning early american travelers, using a history map, how the colonies become free, symbols in our country, and our country's flag.

Spelling?  When h follows c, s, t, or wh the combination stands for a new sound...short vowel sounds are usually spelled with one vowel, little e (sleepy little e and bossy little e).


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Parent Teacher Conferences

Forms with your scheduled time for parent-teacher conferences will be sent home today.  Please review your time and let me know if there is a conflict.
Thank you!

Valentine's Day Party!

The Valentine's Day party is scheduled for Monday, February 14th!  Yes, it is a school day!  Mrs. Behrns will be organizing the party.  If you would like to volunteer please contact me and I will forward her cell phone number to you.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Snow Days!

I hope everyone enjoyed the extra snowy day off! 

This week in reading we will be reviewing reading skills from Themes 1-3 and begin Theme Test 3.   I will also be introducing literature circles.  We will have literature circles during the first 15 minutes of center time each day.  This will be a great addition to our reading schedule.

Sitton Spelling has been going really well.   This week, we will begin spelling dictation tests.  The dictation test will be on the back of the Cloze Word Story test.  The dictation test will be scored separately.  If you have any questions on your child's score, please let me know.

In math, students are learning how to tell time to the hour and how to label a clock face.  We discussed digital times as well.  Understanding even and odd numbers has been confusing for some students.  I reminded students that all even numbers end in 0, 2, 4, 6, & 8 while odd numbers end in 1, 3, 5, 7, & 9.  Each week, I am impressed by the aweseome math abilities of each student.  How exciting!

Enjoy the snow and stay warm!