News from the Jungle
January 27, 2017
No red folders today due to a busy week of assessments and a full and busy half day! Parents please speak with your children about following the rules and knowing when to chit chat with friends. The whole class has been very talkative and having trouble getting their work done in a timely manner.
This week we finished NWEA testing. The children did well and I cannot wait until they take the test again in the spring in order to see how much more they will grow!
It has been a crazy couple of weeks with all of the assessments that we have been trying to complete. The children are working hard to show their growth and making me proud! The children’s reading has improved so much from the last time I assessed their reading levels back in November. I truly believe that readingeggs.com is a valuable resource that is helping to contribute to all the growth I am seeing!
Please put your child on readingeggs.com at home and have them do a couple of lessons each night. This can count on the reading log in the homework for some of the nightly reading!
Mathseeds has been a great tool and the children have really loved working with this program. We are only signed up on a free trial and unfortunately that trial is coming to an end! Today is the last day for Mathseeds. If you loved Mathseeds, send me an email with what you liked about it, how you think it helped your child improve and in what they improved, and if your child liked using this program. I will compile all of the feedback and pass it on to Mr. Short!
Upcoming Events
1/30 PBIS PARTY – School-wide BINGO
Agenda for the Week
Reading/Writing: We wrote about how to build a snowman and used transition words first, next, then, and last to list the steps. We are still working on stretching our sentences to include more details such as describing the noun (using adjectives), telling what the noun is doing (verb), telling where all of it is taking place (setting), and telling the reason why (using the word ‘because’).
Spelling words for next week will be in the homework packet coming home on Monday.
Please continue to have your child practice writing at home. Here is what I am looking for in class:
Uppercase to start the sentence
End punctuation (. ! ?)
Finger spaces between words
Does the sentence make sense? Are the words in the correct order?
Does the picture match the words?
Did you stretch your sentence? (Is there a noun, adjective, and verb?)
Math: We took our +4 math quizzes. Today, I sent home the +5 flashcards. We will take the +5 quiz on Friday, February 3rd.
We began working on missing addend. Missing addend or Missing Part is where they children have one part of the equation and know how many they have all together, but do not know the other part or addend. For example: 2 + __ = 10. We used number lines and ten frames to help us find the answer. We also used the strategy of counting on. We also made up several stories which helped us to understand how to find the missing part.
Here is an example: The class as ten (10) balloons. Some of the balloons are red and some are green. Three (3) of the balloons are red. How many balloons are green? The equation we know is 3 + __ = 10. Then the children would use the number line, ten frame, or the counting on strategy to find the missing part to the equation. Some of the children who understand subtraction are learning how to flip the equation in order to find the missing part by saying 10 – 3 = ___.
Here is the video we watched in class:
Social Studies: Thank you for helping your child complete their timeline project. It was so fun to see all the children as babies!
We will begin our geography unit and take a few months to learn about the world around us, our community, maps, and globes.
Science: We are going to begin learning about the basic needs of living things. This unit will take a few months to complete. While we are learning about the needs of living things, we will research hibernation and migration as an extra project and complete a R.A.N strategy where we pull the evidence (facts) right from the text and practice informational writing with the information we learn.
Housekeeping Items:
Children need a snack each day! Please do not send candy as a snack. The children need a healthy snack each day such as fruit, crackers, cheese, yogurt, granola bars, etc. As a reminder, no juice is allowed in class for snack.
Please make sure reading books are placed back in the green book pouches each night and returned to school every morning.
Please make sure to record the reading that you do with your child each night on the reading log in the homework.
The easiest way to get ahold of me during the day is through my email at dimitrm@dearbornschools.org. If the children are working independently on a task, I can easily check my email and send a quick reply.
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.
