MRS. ANDREA H. DAVIS
Weekly Newsletter
November 20, 2015
THEME: Community
UNIT: Thanksgiving
EXTENSIONS: Pilgrims & Indians
Key Measure: I am thankful.
LANGUAGE ARTS
PHONEMIC AWARENESS AND PHONICS: We have been practicing writing down
the sounds we hear in words. The spelling is not as important as the ability to read
our words back to ourselves. It’s exciting to see improvements in this area
recently.
WRITING: The students practiced writing letters correctly when they traced or
copied words.
LISTENING: We heard the cute book on tape, Franklin’s Thanksgiving. Ask what
surprise the Turtle family had for each other (they each had secretly invited
extra guests for dinner).
READING: We read, or will read these books next week: Clifford's Thanksgiving,
The First Thanksgiving, Little Chief, The Night Before Thanksgiving, Arthur’s
Thanksgiving, Biscuit is Thankful and Daisy’s Crazy Thanksgiving. For the parents
of beginning readers: I hope you are able to point out our first 18 sight words (Ia-the-go-be-he-me-we-if-in-is-it-see-at-and-like-by-my) as you see them in books
you are reading with your child. We are looking for quickness in recognizing the
words, so lots of practice is needed before that will happen. The kids who already
recognize these words can focus on writing sentences using the words and practice
spelling them correctly when writing them. The next 18 words for this quarter are
(do-to-an-can-as-was-of-on-or-for-all-this-have-are-but-she-you-that).
SOCIAL STUDIES
We have talked about how harsh life was for the Pilgrims and the Indians. The
students are acquiring experience distinguishing between needs and wants. The
Pilgrim and Indian children were very thankful to have even the simplest toys.
After we read the book Red Fox and His Canoe, the children thought up their own
Indian names. See if your child can remember any of the classmate’s Indian names.
MATH
We beat out the syllables in our names and in our made up Indian names on a tomtom drum. Example: An/dre/a Da/vis (5 beats). Can your child remember which
child in our class had the most beats in his Indian name? It was Silas with “Native
American.” We put # feathers on an Indian’s headband when our number was
called. We played concentration with Indian symbol cards. We shot equation
arrows at numbered turkeys.
SCIENCE
The students are developing competence observing, describing and identifying
attributes of traditional Thanksgiving food. Each child was asked how to cook a
Thanksgiving turkey. You’ll get to read their funny answers in our Thanksgiving
Book. We learned that the Indians taught the Pilgrims how to hunt and survive in
the wilderness. Indians put fish in the ground when they planted their crops to
make the soil richer. During the short week, we will enjoy a feast consisting of
authentic, old fashioned foods similar to the food eaten at the first Thanksgiving.
We’ll ate dried meat, dried fruits, seeds, corn bread, raisins, popcorn, and a two
liter of Coca-Cola (go figure!). The children will decorate the table for our feast
and we’ll watch the filmstrip, “The Lollipop Dragon's Thanksgiving.” Your child will
see how the Lollipop dragon cooks the turkey for his feast (he torches it with his
flame breath!).
ART
VISUAL: I hope you enjoy the Indian symbols the children draw on their art work.
The kids made or will make Indian hand puppets, teepees with symbols, and Indian
circle designs, and Indian headbands to wear during our feast.
MUSICAL: We have some especially cute Indian songs we have been singing. Ask
your child to teach them to you...
1) "An Indian wears a buckskin suit, tom-tom-tom...",
2) "Five little Indians in a teepee, sleeping quietly as can be..."
MOVEMENT & DRAMATIC PLAY: and 3) “Who’s that struttin’ around lookin’
mighty perky?..."
I wont send a newsletter next week, so let me say this now… I hope you all have a
wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and that you will enjoy reading our Thanksgiving
Thoughts book – should come home on Mon or Tues! We had fun making it. I’m
very thankful for my class and the support you provide!
NO HOMEWORK OVER THE BREAK – REST UP ENJOY – EAT - READ!