Such a short week....

I loved having Monday off, but Wednesday snuck up on me so quickly! I hope everyone had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend. We began our weekend enjoying a family movie night complete with a 'carpet picnic' with popcorn and other goodies. We ended the weekend with a trip to the water park which was a perfect way to say goodbye to the summer. Bring on the cool weather and pumpkin everything! Now onto our class 'business'.....

Language Arts

Reading

This week in reading, our comprehension focus is understanding how the illustrations in books relate to the words that are written. We have been practicing sharing out which part of the story is illustrated on the page we have just read. For example when we were reading "Mrs. Smith's Incredible Storybook" we shared out that one of the illustrations showed the part of the story when Mrs. Smith closed the book and all of the characters whooshed back into the book. Of course, we continue to work on print concepts (title, front cover, back cover, title page), identifying rhyming words, and understanding why we read fiction (for fun) and non-fiction texts (to learn). 

Letterland/Foundational Skills

We are continuing to address our phonics objectives (identifying letters/sounds and understanding how they work together) with our Letterland program. We are finishing up our introduction to our Letterland friends this week (we met Yellow Yo-yo Man and Zig Zig Zebra yesterday) and will begin a more indepth exploration of our friends and their sounds later on in the week. 

Writing

In writing, we are continuing to focus communicating our ideas/thoughts with a combination of pictures, labeling, and sentences. 

Sight Words

Our new sight words is week are: This, is, my

Ask your child what the gestures are for these words and challenge them to identify these words in books and other real world examples.

Math

In math this week, we have been talking about how two groups of numbers can be equal even if they arranged in different ways. For example, a group of 8 can be arranged in a line or scattered, yet both groups are equal. We used our knowledge of one-to-one correspondence (touch counting) to count each group, ensuring that indeed they were groups of 8. Lastly, we talked about how to keep track of items that we are counting (especially if it is scattered). We decided that making a mark (we used a pencil) on the item that we counted helps us to keep track of what item we counted (and not accidentally double-count). 

Homework

Homework will be going home for the first time on Friday. You will find a large yellow envelope with a parent letter on the front that explains how our class homework will work for the remainder of the year. Inside the envelope, you will find the weekly homework assignments/materials. Please know that your child's reading homework is a direct reflection of their specific assessment data, and is intended to support your child in mastering quarterly goals. The homework envelope is should be returned the following Friday with the completed work inside. Please email me should you have any questions

What Does This Paper With Assessment Information Mean?
On Friday, you will find a form sharing some of your child's assessment data from "mClass" in your child's Friday folder. "mClass" is one of the resources we use to collect data during 'Staggered Entry' at the beginning of August.
Some of this data includes:
-Letter Naming Fluency (how many letters can a student correctly identify in a minute)
-First Letter Sound Fluency (identify the first sound in a word such as moon)
-Reading Behaviors (using one to one correspondance while reading, identify the title, maintain the language pattern when reading, use the picture support to help with unknown words)
I have previously sent home the results of other data taken during this time, which should be reflected in the form going home on Friday. Please call or email me should you have any questions or concerns. 

Good Fit Bags
Now that we have started homework, your child will need a 'Good Fit Bag'. What is a 'Good Fit Bag', you ask? It is a sturdy bag that students will use to store books that are on their reading level for the duration of the year. I find that the medium sized reusable shopping bags work well, and can stand up to the wear and tear of the year. To get the kids excited, you may want to have them decorate their bags (it is totally up to you). Please turn in the bags by next Friday, September 13th. 

Thank You

Thank you to Mrs.Riggs and Ms. Kozlowski for sending in goodies for our custodians for 'Custodian Appreciation Week'. You still have time to send in a snack if you want, as we are giving our goodie basket to them on Friday.

A BIG thank you to Ms.Tribble (ripping out our math pages), Mrs. Clem (putting together our homework), and Mrs. Melton (putting together our class directory) for helping out our class. I literally could not do it without you:-) 

Don't Forget

-This Friday: Spirit Day and our Coin Drive begins
-This Saturday: 'Beautification Day' from 9am-12pm. Come out and help make Banks Road look it's best! Any student/family who helps out will earn a 'Compass Coin' for their class

-Next Week: Spirit Week (see the previous post for each day's special activity)