September 13, 2015
Dear Room 3 Families,
We will begin sharing this week. Each child is assigned
a sharing day and each week has a specific theme. Please check
our web page for the weekly theme and to confirm your child’s
day of the week. Children who are assigned a day of the week
when we have a holiday, may share any day that week. Please have
your child bring their sharing item in a bag (does not need to be
excessively taped, stapled or sealed). Have them practice giving
three clues that can help their classmates guess the item. The
clues may be written to help them remember. Make the clues
descriptive and relevant to the item. Clues like “My grandma gave
it me” are not helpful! Sharing is a wonderful opportunity to
develop oral language skills. This week’s theme is Something
Round.
Monday- Aidan, Alexsandra, Austin, Carly, Carlin
Tuesday- Chanakarn, Erica, Evelyn, Jennifer, Jensine
Wednesday- Joaquin, John, Liam, Luke
Thursday- Madison, Matthew, Mia, Nikita, Ruby
Friday- Ryanne, Tyler, William, Zachary
English Language Arts- We have been working on high frequency
words, using our Spelling City program. Because it is self-paced,
quite a few students have been able to move from the first 25
words, to the next group of 25 words. Great job! As we move
through our consonant review, we are also reviewing short vowels.
Punctuation will be our writing focus this week as well as
beginning of the sentence conventions.
We expect RtI (which we call Cougar Time) reading groups to
begin in early October. I will start assessing students some time
this week and will probably take a whole day off to complete the
assessments before the end of the month (I will be at school but
pulling students out for assessment while a sub teaches)
Math- I was really gratified to see that most students have
gotten the hang of Engage NY style math work. This week, we are
focusing on finding the missing factor in additional sentences
(equations). This involves using number bond knowledge,
part+part=whole, as it applies to equations as well as word
problems (I read the problems aloud). You will see some number
dashes and/or sprints that we have done before, coming home
again. This serves as review and reinforcement of number facts
up to 10. Remember, math “fluency” is a key component of first
grade math standards.
Science- The caterpillars should be arriving this week. Each
student will have their own caterpillar and we will track their
growth and metamorphosis. It will be very exciting to watch.
Fall conferences will be from 10/19-10/27 this year. I will send
you a link later in the week for our on line sign up page (via
signupgenius.com). You will be able to choose any open slot. After
signing up, you will receive an email confirmation and you’ll receive
a reminder two days prior to the conference. You may cancel and
pick a new slot at any time (please remember to cancel the old
slot). No need to inform me of changes as I receive daily reports
from signup genius.
Thanks again for your interest in your child’s education!
Regards,
Mrs. Lawson