September 16th, 2011
Dear Families,
I can’t believe how fast the first three weeks of school went by.
We spent much of this time getting to know one another and
getting back into the routine of school. It was great to hear of all
of the fun things everyone was able to do over the summer.
Hopefully you have heard form your student what fun things are
happening in our classroom, but here are some things we will be
doing in the upcoming weeks.
Reading
Last week I administered the DRA (Diagnostic Reading Assessment)
to each student. This assessment looks at student’s fluency, word
accuracy and written comprehension. In reading workshop we are
continuing to working on reading “just right” books. As we read we
focus on “reading is thinking” strategies to help us better
understand the books we are reading.
We are also using these strategies as we read and chat about our
Read Aloud book Shiloh. Please continue to help your child
remember to fill out his/her reading log and return them to school
on Mondays.
Writing
In writing we have been working on writing paragraphs. When
students are writing I am looking for several things; indentation,
one idea in the paragraph, topic sentence, supporting sentences,
and a concluding sentence. This will lead us into writing personal
narratives later in the month. Parent Journals will continue to go
home on Friday’s and will be due back on Monday.
Math
We finished up Topic 20, and will be moving on to Topic 1.
Topic 1 focuses on Numeration. Some main ideas we will be learning
about in this topic are place value, comparing numbers, ordering
numbers, counting money, and making change. The Topic 1
homework booklet went home last week. Students are only
expected to do one page from each lesson.
Social Studies
In Social Studies, we will continue our unit on geography and maps.
We have talked about the states that surround Ohio, cities in
Ohio, and then we will talk about the community in which the
students live. We will also start to look at world outside of the
United States. We will learn about the hemispheres, equator,
prime meridian, continents, oceans, and neighboring countries. By
the end of the week there will be Make Believe Map project going
home.
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, September 20th Picture Day!
Tuesday, October 3rd OAA Reading
Friday, October 7th Tiger Trot (wear comfortable shoes
and dress for the weather)
Thanks,
Aaron