Hello Families!
I cannot believe this is our last week before our winter break. Although it will be nice to be on vacation, I will miss my students terribly:-) Shortly after we return, we will take our NWEA winter test in Reading and Math. I know we are all looking forward to relaxing over the break, but I strongly encourage you to have your child engage in reading and math as well. I will load their reading bags with good fit books and urge you to have them do myon and moby max. These are awesome tools to help prepare them for the upcoming NWEA test. Here are our plans for the week 🙂

Spelling

Words

1. king

2. sing

3. wing

4. ring

5. bring

6. swing

7. our

8. ate

9. new

10. must

Reading: We will continue reading narratives. This week we’ll focus on fables and tall tales. Fables are stories with animals and characters and teach a moral or lesson. Tall tales are stories that exaggerate tremendously. We’ll continue to practice sequencing stories, especially by using a beginning, middle, middle, end chart. They all know how to create these, so it might be helpful if you asked your child to write the story events in order after he/she reads a book to you. Another way to help them show comprehension is to ask them to retell the story verbally using the terms, first, next, after that and finally.

Writing: We are publishing our personal narratives about a time that we were a good friend. We talk a lot about always saying and doing kind things and this writing gave them an opportunity to share a time when they were kind to another person. Look for our published pieces in the hallway soon.

Math: We will have our unit 4 assessment this week. It will include measurement, finding the missing number, addition and subtraction within 20 and the concepts “small, smaller, smallest” etc. At the end of the week, we are learning about two digit numbers and place value. We’ll identify numbers in the tens and ones columns and the values for each of these numbers. For example, in the number 42, the 2 has a value of 2, but the 4 has a value of 40. Khan Academy is a great resource for math reinforcement. Your child can access this through CLEVER on the dearbornschool.org website.

Science: We will continue to study severe weather conditions (blizzards, tornadoes, thunderstorms, floods, etc) and compare and contrast them. We’ll talk about ways to stay safe during these types of weather. Additionally, we’ll continue learning the characteristics of each of the four seasons and what a maple tree looks like in each season.

Monthly Assembly: Last Friday was our first Core Values Assembly. Each month, students will be recognized for excellent behavior (bucket-filling) and academic achievement. Additionally, students who score in the 70% percentile in Reading and Math on the NWEA will be awarded with a certificate. All children who are selected for these awards will receive a certificate and an opportunity to be on stage and in the spotlight 🙂 I will choose one bucket-filler (a child who demonstrates kindness) and a student of the month (a child who works hard and has high performance academically). Last month, I selected Mahir as our student of the month and Amira as our Bucket-filler.

Have a Fantastic Week!