NEWS FROM THE JUNGLE

Picture day went very smoothly! All of the children looked so cute and were very excited to show of their clothes, shoes, and hair! All the children were amazed at the size of the photographer’s camera. They also thought it was cool that I was getting my picture taken too!

We finished the NWEA testing! All of the children completed their tests for reading and math. The scores they received are a base line score. That means that it tells us at what level the children are achieving right now and it allows me to better understand what skills I need to be working on with the children when we meet in small groups.

Upcoming Events

10/11 Apple Orchard Field Trip (Please remember to dress for the weather, send a brown bag sack lunch, send a bag for your child to put their apple/pumpkin in)

10/11 Bingo for Books (Information came home Thursday about this)

10/14 Refugee Resource Drive (Last day to donate items)

10/14 Half Day – dismissal 11:45am (Please make sure to send a healthy snack for your child)

10/20 Scholastic Reading Club orders due (These are online only)

10/21 Halloween Harvest Magic Show Assembly

10/17-10/28 Savory Foods Sale

10/28 Costume Parade/Class Party (more details to come)

Agenda for the Week

Letters: This week we focused on the letters Dd and Ww. We talked about the sounds they make, brainstormed things that begin with each letter, and spent time practicing the proper formation of each letter. These letters will show up on next week’s homework for a handwriting review.

Reading/Writing: This week we continued practicing components of our Daily 5 curriculum. The children are building stamina during our rotation for “Read to Self” and “word work.”  We also worked a lot with stretching out our words and listening for the sounds while writing during our Writer’s Workshop time. The children are learning that sentences begin with an uppercase (capital) letter, have finger spaces between words, and end with a period.

This week we participated in our first R.A.N strategy. R.A.N stands for Reading and Analyzing Non-fiction Texts. First, we discussed facts we thought we knew about bats. Then we read two stories about bats. While reading, we confirmed any facts that were correct and wrote down any new facts we learned. We also learned about the parts of a bat and did a small labeling craft. Here is a picture of our hallway with all of our bat information and projects:

Math: We continue to work on representing quantities with dots inside a ten frame. We learned how to properly form the number 8, 9, and 10. We reviewed our procedures for math workshop and our number talks.

We continue to work with numbers 0 – 20 using different manipulatives during Math Workshop/Center time. The children are having fun putting the numbers in order, comparing numbers (larger/smaller), and counting out correct quantities.

I introduced the children to tally marks this week. Many of the children are drawing five tally marks and crossing the sixth one. We will continue to practice tally marks throughout the year.

We also spent time graphing this week in class. We not only did a few paper graphs that were sent home, but we also made graphs in class by voting on our favorite colors, favorite animals, etc.

Social Studies: We continue to read books about being a good friend and following the rules.  We review our classroom rules daily and I always remind the children of what my expectations are for every activity throughout the day. Some of the children are quite strict about the rules and are trying to take over my job as teacher! I try to remind the children to worry about themselves, and I will look after everyone else!

Science: We learned a lot about bats this week as you read about our R.A.N strategy we worked through for reading. We also took time to begin learning about body parts and our five senses. This week we focused on our sense of hearing and our sense of smell.

Housekeeping Items:

We have gym class every Monday and Friday. Please be sure to send your child to school in their gym shoes on these days.

Please send a healthy snack to school with your child.

Please make sure to empty the green folders each night! It is very difficult and time consuming to locate homework or important notes when the folder is full of papers from the day before.

When sending money to school, please be sure to put it in an envelope or baggie with your child’s name on the front.