Post 19

IMPORTANT DATES:

Monday, February 20 - Friday, February 24 - NO SCHOOL - February Vacation - Have a great week!  

REMINDERS: 

Wow words: Please continue to help your child gather new words each week through their reading and your conversations at home and bring them in on Wow Word Wednesday. Here are links to an online dictionary (Merriam Webster for kids - Word Central) and our wow word worksheet in case you need a new one. This is an ongoing reminder for the year. Please make acquiring new words part of your home routine.

CURRICULUM UPDATE:

In reading we: 

• Practiced our James Marshall reader's theaters and some groups presented in front of the class.
• Practiced determining importance by stopping and jotting the most important part of each chapter of our book after reading.

At home, talk with your child about his/her reading. Ask him/her about the most important part of the section or chapter that they read. If they begin telling you everything that happened, help them to pick out which part is the most important. 

Next week, we will finish presenting our reader's theaters and will read books about friendship.    

In Fundations (Word Study) we: 

• Finished our work in unit 7, in which we learned about open syllables, when y acts as a vowel, how to combine open syllables with closed syllables and v-e syllables in multisyllabic words.  

At home, please refer to the Unit 7 family letter to learn how you can support our word study work at home. Also, look though the fundations/word study section on my website. There, you will find all of the first and second grade trick words. If your child needs practice with these words, please practice through activities such as playing bingo, memory or through reviewing them on flashcards. Here is a link to a great website with different sight word games that you might like to try. 

Next week, we will begin working in unit 8, in which we focus on the r-controlled syllable, with ar and or sounds.   

In writing/social studies: 

• We started a special writing project on Mexico. We each chose a topic and began researching our topic in books. 

At home, talk with your child about his/her topic about Mexico. S/he may want to do some research at home to supplement reading at school.      

Next week, we will continue our work on our Mexico writing project by taking notes on our topics, beginning to plan chapters and starting to write. 

In math:

• We continued our work in our project-based unit, Ages and Timelines. 
• We used an open number line to support subtraction.
• We discussed the relationship between addition and subtraction. 

At home, look for ways to integrate subtraction into your conversations and help your child share his/her strategies for solving the problems. 

Next week, we will continue our work on the ages and timelines unit and will begin using our own family information.

In social/emotional learning:

• We read Stand in My Shoes.
• We discussed empathy.

Have a wonderful week!  

Post 18

IMPORTANT DATES:

Thursday, February 9 - The 100th day of school!! Please help your child gather 100 items in a small paper bag and write clues for these items. Also, your child may choose to dress up in a way that represents 100 in some way. Please see the sheet sent home in your child's folder for more detailed instructions. 

Tuesday, February 14 - Valentine's Day - We will be exchanging Valentine cards on this day. If your child chooses to bring in cards, please make sure s/he has one for every child in the class. As per the NPS Wellness policy, candy is not allowed and will not be handed out. You may choose to send in valentines with other types of trinkets, such as stickers, pencils, erasers, etc. A class list of names will be sent home early next week in your child's folder.

Monday, February 20 - Friday, February 24 - NO SCHOOL - February Vacation  

REMINDERS: 

Wow words: Please continue to help your child gather new words each week through their reading and your conversations at home and bring them in on Wow Word Wednesday. Here are links to an online dictionary (Merriam Webster for kids - Word Central) and our wow word worksheet in case you need a new one. This is an ongoing reminder for the year. Please make acquiring new words part of your home routine.

CURRICULUM UPDATE:

In reading we: 

• Continued reading James Marshall books.
• Compared The James Marshall version of The Three Little Pigs to the traditional version and wrote about whether or not we would recommend the James Marshall version.
• Practiced reading different types of punctuation to help improve our reading fluency.

At home, listen to your child read. We have been practicing reading like you talk and have talked about how to read different types of punctuation. Compliment your child when you notice his/her reading punctuation appropriately and model when you are noticing that they are skipping the punctuation so that they can imitate your reading.     

In Fundations (Word Study) we: 

• Continued our work in unit 7, in which we will learn about open syllables, when y acts as a vowel, how to combine open syllables with closed syllables and v-e syllables in multisyllabic words.
• Trick words: city, every, family  

At home, please refer to the Unit 7 family letter to learn how you can support our word study work at home. Also, look though the fundations/word study section on my website. There, you will find all of the first and second grade trick words. If your child needs practice with these words, please practice through activities such as playing bingo, memory or through reviewing them on flashcards. Here is a link to a great website with different sight word games that you might like to try. 

Next week, we will continue our work in unit 7.   

In writing: 

• We continued writing and publishing informational books. 
• We talked about capitalizing names, words at the beginning of sentences, months, days of the week and other proper nouns.
• We worked on editing with a partner.

 At home, ask your child about his/her book.     

Next week, we will continue our work on writing informational books and will continue sharing our published pieces. 

In math:

• We finished our geometry unit.
• We began our project-based unit on ages and timelines. 

At home, look for ways to integrate subtraction into your conversations and help your child share his/her strategies for solving the problems. 

Next week, we will continue our work on the ages and timelines unit, in which we will use an open number line to support subtraction work.  

In Social Studies we:

• Continued learning about what comes from Mexico.
• Learned about life in urban and rural Mexico.

At home, talk with your child about his/her learning about Mexico. You can further their learning about Mexico by exploring facets of Mexican culture, such as eating Mexican food, listening to Mexican music, or exploring Mexican art as a family.   

Enjoy the weekend!