Literacy
We are nearing the end of our first unit in literacy, "Building Good Reading Habits." The class has been building their stamina for during read to self and improving their partner reading skills. We are practicing ways to discuss books with partners and how to "coach" without telling the word.
In writing, we are continuing to work on writing small moment narrative stories. Our focus this week has been bringing the stories to life using talk and action. Everyone is gaining experience in adding details and revising their writing. They are especially happy to turn my "boring" writing into more interesting stories.
This week we also finished our most recent read-aloud, The Chocolate Touch. This was definitely a class favorite and a great example of bring characters to life.
Math
During math we are practicing counting by 10s to 200. Most students are able to count easily to 100 by 10s but many still continue to struggle with the numbers between 100 and 200. We will keep working on this as we learn more about place value. We are also beginning to work on counting by 10s from any number up. For example, we might start counting at 21 and count by 10s to 101. If you have an opportunity to ask your child to count and see how far they can go. Once they understand the pattern, there is almost no limit to how high they can count.
Open House
Thursday, October 20th is Open House. This is an opportunity for your child to show you around our classroom and to show off some of his/her work so far this year. Please see the school newsletter for details about other events that evening.
Book Bags
I will begin sending book bags home with students early next week. The books in the bag should be familiar and your child should be able to read it to someone (or something - like a pet) with very little support. The bags should be returned daily as these are books that will be used during class time. If you child happens to struggle with a word while reading prompt them to use a strategy (e.g. look at the picture, look for parts you know, sound it out). If it is still too difficult, tell him/her the word. The intent of the book bags is not to make reading a struggle or an unpleasant task. It should take less than 10 minutes for your child to read the books in his/her bag each night. I highly encourage you to continue your daily habit of reading to your child for at least 20 minutes each night. Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns about the book bags.
ECO
Our next ECO session is Tuesday, October 18th. We enjoy having parents join us for this outdoor learning time. ECO is from 12:45-2:45.
Reteach
Our next reteach session begins on Monday. Students will meet in small groups four times a week for 30 minutes to focus on a specific goals important for their academic growth. Each child will bring a letter home on Monday explaining his/her learning target for the reteach session. If you have questions, you may contact me or our child's reteach teacher.
