Classroom Newsletter February 3, 2014

Language Arts

Journal Writing – The words “was” and “with” have been introduced.  We now know I, a, the, is, it, in, to, at, and, are, for, on, of, me, my, he, this, that, his, was, and with.  The children continue to work on writing at least two sentences in their weekly journal entry.  They are able to stretch out a word and hear the beginning and ending sounds as well as strong consonant sounds in the middle of the word.  They are developing an awareness of vowels and often include these in their writing as well.

Genre Study – We have been exploring folktales and learning about the common characteristics of this genre.  Folktales are passed on orally, and there is often more than one version of a folktale.  Folktales are fiction stories, and they often include animals that can talk.  Children like to join in on the repetitive phrases included in many of these folktales.

We have read and compared two different versions of The Mitten  and have done the same with The Gingerbread Man.  We have read The Little Red Hen and practiced retelling the story in order focusing on the major story events.  Retelling is an important skill which is included as one of the Common Core Standards for Language Arts.  As children develop strong comprehension skills it is important for them to remember what has been read, to be able to identify the characters and setting, and to retell the major story events in order.

Guided Reading - At this stage of your child’s reading development, many of the books they bring home to share with you are predictable and easily memorized.  This is to be expected.  Encourage your child to point to each word and look at the words as they read.  When the book is finished, ask your child if they can point out certain words in the story.  Ask them to tell you about their favorite part or what they like about the story.  Please make sure that classroom library books are returned to school as soon as possible.  Paper copies may be kept at home.

Math 

We finished Chapter 7 and have an understanding of solid (3-dimensional) and flat (2-dimensional) shapes.  Solid shapes have faces and edges.  Flat shapes have sides and corners.  We enjoyed making patterns with the pattern block shapes.

Chapter 8 is a lengthy chapter which involves lessons and activities which support the development of a solid understanding of place value and numbers to 100.  We have been practicing skip counting by twos and fives.

Science 

We enjoyed exploring magnets and learning about the magnetic properties of some solids.  We also explored the concept of Sink and Float as we continue to learn more about the properties of materials.  The children enjoy these hands-on activities and have made many interesting predictions and observations.

Valentine Celebration – Friday, February 14th

I have sent home a class list so that your child may work on addressing his/her valentines.  As a reminder, because of the school’s health and wellness policy, candy can not be part of our card exchange and celebration.  Thank you in advance for your cooperation.