Arctic Animals- Week 1

                                             

We have had a super busy week getting back into the swing of things! This week, we started learning about arctic animals.  Here are some of the important things we learned...

Our centers this week included reading group with Mrs. Silvey, reading books assigned to us on RAZkids, finding and writing arctic animals, playing digraph games and writing words with digraphs, writing all about polar bears, and completing an arctic food chain. 

Our Writing lessons this week focused on writing and drawing stories that have lots of details.  We practiced proper capitalization, then reread our stories to add more.  

During Phonics this week, we reviewed the /j/ and /k/ sounds and practiced the power words no, go, so, and like. We read a story called Kim's Dog Jack and wrote about it.  We also worked on reviewing power words, medial sounds, and digraphs. A new hard skill we have been practicing is when to use c, when to use k and when to use ck. See if your child can remember the rules. When I learned this rule, my brain exploded! 

In Reading, we read the books Going Places and Walking Through the Jungle and practiced making predictions using "I Wonder" statements. We reviewed important sight words and learned new vocabulary: assemble,  contraption, participate, and startled. We also worked on comparing and contrasting two books. 

 We started working on writing, counting, and composing teen numbers during Math. Ask your child to write teen numbers for you! 

We started a new Science unit titled "Make It Go".  In the coming weeks, we will learn about the role of an engineer, compare and contrast natural vs. manmade items, learn about a push and a pull, and build our own galimotos! 

In this week’s Second Steps lesson, we showed what we've learned about kindness and the power of kind acts to help people feel good. We drew ourselves doing a kind act for someone at school. Ask your child to show or tell you about their drawing of doing a kind act for someone at school. Encourage them to draw a picture of themselves doing a kind act at home too. 

Looking ahead...

No School- Professional Development- 1/17 
No School in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr- 1/20
STEAM Day 1/29
Field Trip to Florissant Civic Center to see The Ugly Duckling 2/3 (more info coming soon)

100th Day of School 2/5

Reed Family Activity Night 2/11 (more info coming soon)

Valentine's Day celebration 2/14 (more info coming soon)

No School- President's Day- 2/17

Independent Reading 

Science- looking at the differences between things that are engineered vs. natural

Writing about our winter breaks

Drawing about a time when we were kind or someone was kind to us

More Science- drawing a toy we have that remind us of a galimoto (a toy you can engineer out of recycled materials)

Writing

Reading Response Journals- sharing your favorite part of Going Places and wonderings you had

Centers

Math- finally moving onto teen numbers!

Phonics- practicing when to use -ck

More centers

Grow time- decoding words with Connect 5

Counseling with Ms. Peterson

Interactive Writing- Writing facts about polar bears while also practicing "they" and "have"

Last day of centers

Gingerbread Unit

                                                     

We had a fun week chasing around our sneaky Gingerbread Baby! Here are some of the important things we learned...

Our centers this week included reading books on RAZkids, sorting and coloring gingerbread digraph pictures, playing I Spy with holiday CVC words, finding and writing gingerbread power words, making gingerbread babies of our own using a Gingerbread Glyph, and writing various story elements from Jan Brett's Gingerbread Baby.

We learned about digraphs (ch, sh, th, wh) during Phonics. We talked about about how even though a digraph has two letters, it only makes one sound. We did a lot of reading and writing with digraphs. Ask your child to teach you! We also worked on more uppercase letters, middle sounds, and sentence structure and learned the power words: had, on, not, and got.

In Reading, we listened to the story Found and discussed it using "I Wonder" statements.  We worked on building comprehension and engagement, and established a purpose for reading.  We read independently and self-monitored to check for accuracy and understanding.  Our vocabulary words this week included peer, delighted, nuisance, and drenched.

In this week’s Second Steps lesson, we practiced two kind acts: asking, “Would you like to share?” and “Would you like a hug?”. Encourage your child to offer to share items at home. For example, have them help you make a snack and then offer to share it with other family members. Encourage them to offer hugs to family members or friends when they are tired or sad or need encouragement.

We wrapped up our Math unit on flat and solid shapes.  When we return from break, we will begin working on teen numbers. 

We lost and FOUND our Gingerbread Baby! Make sure you watch the fun video of them! huge thanks to Dr. Schreiner, Dr. Sides, and Nurse Engelmeyer for their helping in catching him! 

We had such a fun time at our Winter party!  Thank you to everyone who helped plan and organize! We are so grateful! 

Looking ahead...

Winter Break 12/21-1/6

School Resumes 1/7

Have a safe and wonderful winter break! Happy Holidays! 

Phonics

Social Studies- Learning about all the winter holidays 

Writing

Choice time fun

Practicing our chunks/diagraphs

LOST!!!! 

Making our own lost posters to hang around the school

Phonics

More centers

Chair Yoga- bringing a little peace and tranquility into our otherwise wild week

More Choice Time fun

Centers

Writing

Testing our gingerbread rafts

Thank you for a wonderful Holiday Party!