Our routines are finally established in our classroom and we are now ready to have volunteers come into our classroom!  So…….if anyone would like to volunteer in our classroom during Daily 5 or Math Workshop, I would love to have you come in and work with the students.  There are many different options and whatever fits your schedule would be great.  Some of the options are listed below:

*We do math every day, but we only do Math Workshop 3 times a week and that is where I would need your help if you would like to volunteer your time.   Math Workshop is usually  on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9:45-10:45.  You could come in every week on the same day and same time or you could come in when you have some free time.  If you decide to come in when you are available, just send me a note the day before so that I have time to prepare something for you to work on with the students.  If you would like to come in every week on a specific day, please let me know what day would work best for you and I will send a note back confirming your day and time.

*Another option would be that you could come in during Daily 5 Workshop (Reading Time).  We do Daily 5 every day.  On Monday and Wednesdays we do Daily 5 from 12:00-1:00 and Tuesday and Thursday from 11:25-12:25.  You could come in every week on the same day and same time or you could come in when you have some free time.  If you decide to come in when you are available, just send me a note the day before so that I have time to prepare something for you to work on with the students.  If you would like to come in every week on a specific day, please let me know what day would work best for you and I will send a note back confirming your day and time.

*Also, if you can’t volunteer in the classroom, I completely understand.  I am a working mom and I am unable to volunteer in my child’s classroom because I am with your wonderful children at that time.  However, this doesn’t mean that I can’t help out.  Whenever the teacher needs something cut out, stapled, etc. I volunteer by doing things like that at home.  If you are interested in something like that, please send me a note and when I have something like that I will contact you.  I promise I will not send a lot of things home for you to do because I know you are very busy, too.

If you decide that you would like to volunteer, please understand that you would be unable to bring any other children with you.  I’m sorry about that but it would be a distraction for the students and every bit of learning time is crucial.  Thanks for understanding.  I’m looking forward to having you in the classroom if you are available.

Spelling Pattern- Long O and Short O

CVC o-e and CVC o

Sharks-op family

bop, cop, hop, mop, pop, sop, top, stop

Dolphins

fox, lock, poke, pip, cone, hop, hope, joke, box, bone

Penguins

remote, awoke, drove, spoke, alone, wrote, whole,

expose, enclose, suppose

Spelling Test will be on Friday of this week.

Spelling Pattern-Long I and Short I

CVC i-e and CVC i

Sharks-ig family

big, dig, fig, gig, jig, pig, rig, wig

Dolphins

did, fin, fine, pick, hike, rip, ripe, pipe, mix, bike

Penguins

alike, ripe, line, ride, invite, time, trip, win

Academic Words:  family, community

Just a friendly reminder tomorrow is a 1/2 day!  Dismissal will be at 11:10.  Enjoy your afternoon with your kids:)

This year the elementary classes will only be checking out library books every other Thursday.  I wish we could go ever week like we have in the past, but the middle school classes also need time to check out books.

So….please have your child bring their library books back to school tomorrow so that they can check out new ones. Thank you:)

Raz-Kids is a program that McCollough Elementary has to pay for but it is money well spent!  It is money well spent because your child has books available to them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!  I sent home letters on Friday about how to go on Raz-Kids at home.  Also, I have taped the information inside of your child’s homework folder.  Please have your child read 20 minutes from Raz-Kids every night and then color in the piece on their reading calendar.  The time can include the comprehension quizzes they are required to take at the end of each book.  I have started your child 2 levels below what they actually are working on in school so that they can practice their fluency and comprehension skills.  As they pass the comprehension questions, the program will automatically move them to the next level.  If your child has completed all the books in that level but it doesn’t move them, that means they have not passed the comprehension quizzes and need to redo those books.

This is an awesome program to use because it will help improve your child’s reading.  Students who advance in reading levels are the ones who practice daily at school and at home.  You can activate the program on a computer, ipad, iphone, or an android phone.  If you don’t have any of these devices available, maybe you could take a trip to the public library once or twice a week to use the computers there.  Thank you so much for being an active parent in your child’s education.  With both of us helping your child, they will succeed!

Happy Reading:)

The spelling test will be on Friday of this week.

Spelling Pattern-Long a and short a

Sharks-et family

bet, get, jet, let, met, pet, set, vet

Dolphins-CVC a-e and CVC a

cap, cape, mad, made, back, ham, bake, tape, ate, late

Penguins-CVC a-e and CVC a

care, lake, awake, pancake, homemade, snowflake, late, pan

Academic Words:  reading, math

The spelling test will be on Thursday of this week due to the fact that we will be having a math test on Friday.  Please remember that the test will only have some of these words on it and I will be giving them similar words to spell on the test.  Example:  If you can spell went then you can spell tent.

Focus:  Sharks-short a

Dolphins and Penguins Short e, o and u

Sharks-an family

an, ban, can, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, van

Dolphins

dog, pet, hut, tub, jet, went, bun, job, tell, rub

Penguins

shot,  drop, lock, much, rush, trunk, just, agreement, student, present

Congratulation to Nour, Youssef, Ali, and Aya for answering the bonus question on the homework last night!  I wish more students would have at least tried to answer it because that is how you become better at math.  If you tried last night but did not quite get it right, that is fine.  Thanks for trying your best and never giving up!

The bonus question was-What number is larger 492 or 385.  Explain your answer.

Here is the correct answer:  The number 492 is greater than 385 because I looked in the hundreds place and 400 is bigger than 300.  Therefore, 492 is larger than 385.   Anything that is close would be acceptable but students must tell me that they looked in the hundreds place and what number is bigger.

Look for the next challenge question in the future and have a fantastic weekend!

I sent home the spelling words on Monday and your child circled the group that they have been placed in based on the test they took in class last week.  Please remember that the students will not be getting the exact same words that are typed on the spelling sheet.  Some of the words will be the same, but I will be changing them a little bit to see if they understand the spelling pattern.  Once again, I believe that any child can memorize a word but that they truly know how to spell it if they can spell words that are similar.  An example is  I gave them the word way, if they know how to spell way then they should be able to spell sway because all they had to do is add an “s” in front of the word.

Students will have spelling homework on Thursday evening and a test on Friday.  If they have misplaced the spelling words, they will still be able to complete their homework and study for their test because I have posted them right under here:)  Your child is only responsible for the words in their group.  Happy Spelling!

Focus:  Short a and i

SHARKS

at, bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat

Dolphins

has, sat, will, fix, him, bad, if, six, way, had

Penguins

mash, pack, tack, plan, gram, lick,  middle, milk, limp, kick