Spelling Words Week of Oct. 29

1.leg
2. beg
3. men
4. hen
5. let
6. get
7. hop
8. hot
9. who
10. some

Week of Oct. 22

Upcoming Events:
J Parent Teacher Conferences Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 (4-7:30)  ---conference slip due no later than October 25
JOct. 30 Early Out (1 hour)
J Nov. 1 Fall Party
Notes:
JOur new word work activities this week include eat your words with rope licorice , writing our words in rainbow colors, boggle jr., and cutting our words into pieces and rebuilding them.
J I have assigned each student who volunteered to provide treats for a class party to the fall party, winter party, or Valentine’s Day.  If you have not received a note to provide treats then your child is scheduled for either our winter party or Valentine’s Day.
JThis week we started a new reading warm-up.  Students completed four questions each day in relation to a specific literacy skill, this week was word analysis.  This warm-up is structured like Iowa Assessments to help teach students test taking strategies.  This week’s strategies were:

*If you are not sure which answer is correct, take your best guess.  Eliminate answer choices you know are wrong.

*Say the name of the picture to yourself.  Listen closely to the word choices.
*Listen carefully to the ending sounds of each word.
*Look at the pictures.  Say the words to yourself.  Listen to the ending sound.
*Listen to all choices before you mark your answer.
Things to Work on:
JRetelling a book with main idea and supporting details.  What happened first, next, then, and last.  Students are learning this strategy with the poster called Jabber the Reteller. 
What we have been up to:
Reading: Our story theme this week is about animals.  We spent time reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears and talking about the beginning, middle, and end of the story.  We worked with the –op, -og, and –ot word families.  If students see words with these letters at home when they are reading they can write them down and bring them in to class to put on our posters. 
Math: In math we started Unit 3.  We spent the week talking about Math Mountains.  Students seem to learn quickly how to find the missing numbers. 
Science: We have finished up our study on plants.  Our new unit is on animals and their habitats.  We are starting with learning about mammals and their characteristics. 

Spelling Words Week of Oct. 22

1.hog
2.log
3.top
4.hot
5.lot
6.hop
7.sand
8.sink
9.one
10.they

Week of Oct. 15

Upcoming Events:
J Parent Teacher Conferences Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 (4-7:30)  ---conference slip due no later than October 25
JOct. 30 Early Out (1 hour)
J Nov. 1 Fall Party
Notes:
JThis week our class has been working on summarizing.  We have really been thinking about the important details in a book.
JOur new word work activities this week were playing a rhyming word game, rolling dice to spelling our spelling words in goofy ways, and pyramid pile up.
Things to Work on:
JMaking connections while reading and activate prior knowledge.
What we have been up to:
Reading: We worked with a lot of word endings this week: -and, -st, -ink, and –nt.  Students have been on a look out for words with these endings.  We were able to read some Halloween poems and talked about October related words.  Some students have chosen to start writing a paragraph about why they like Halloween.
Math: In math we have been working on expanding our problem solving strategies beyond adding or subtracting two numbers.  Students worked with problems that involved adding more than one number: Billy has two bags of apples.  Each bag has 3 apples inside.  How many apples in all?  We also worked on writing basic subtraction problems.
Science: In our study on plants this week we placed pictures of the plant life cycle in order and wrote sequencing words with it: first, next, then, last.  We also talked about how plants survive in cold weather. 

Spelling words week of Oct. 15

Unit 1, Week 5
1. land
2. sand
3. fast
4. list
5. sink
6. ant
7. grass
8. trip
9. help
10. very

Week of Oct. 8

Upcoming Events:

J Parent Teacher Conferences Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 (4-7:30)  ---conference slip due no later than October 25
JOct. 30 Early Out (1 hour)
Notes:
JThis week our class had no overdue library books!!! J
JOur new word work activities this week were writing our spelling words with stencils, sorting words by beginning sounds, and making rocket words (students favorite).
JEach week I will post the current week’s spelling words on the blog.
JBook orders are due next Friday, Oct. 19.
Things to Work on:
JRecognizing literacy elements (characters, setting, problem, solution)
Throughout this year we will study four major components of reading: CAFÉ (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary).  This week we focused on literacy elements under the comprehension component.
What we have been up to:
Reading: We worked with the sounds: gr, tr, and cr.  Students sorted words by these sounds and looked in books for words with these sounds.  We have made a poster of words with these sounds and our list is growing each day.  If you child finds a word with these sounds they can bring it in on a notecard and we can add it to our posters.
Math: We have been very busy learning this week in math. We have learned about nickels and pennies, counting on from the larger number, and working with subtraction story problems.  Students have learned a new math game.  Students roll a die and collect as many pennies as are on the die.  When they have five pennies they trade for a nickel. 
Science: We have continued our study on plants and had a chance to see our plants that we planted start growing.  We looked at a variety of seeds and sorted them in to piles how they were alike.  We also looked at a peach, apple, and kiwi and compared their textures, shapes, and number of seeds.  We have started making posters showing the different ways seeds can travel.

Spelling words Oct. 8-12

Unit 1, Week 4

1.            crib

2.         crab

3.         grab

4.         grass

5.         trap

6.         trip

7.         hit

8.         win

9.         that

10. good

Plants

Upcoming Events:

J Oct. 3 Maddy’s Birthday
JOct. 10 2 hr. early out
J Parent Teacher Conferences Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 (4-7:30)
Notes:
JOur library day is on Tuesday so please make sure your child’s library books are returned by that day.
JWe started some new word work activities today.  One activity involves students writing each spelling word two times and then they cutting them out and playing memory with them.  Another involves them writing each spelling word, then stamping the word, and then decorating the word. 
JThis week is fire safety week, please talk with your children about an escape route in case of a fire.
Things to Work on:
JNumber writing to 120
What we have been up to:
Reading: We worked with the word families –iss, -in, and -it.  Our theme this week was about growing up and what things we are now able to do.  We read a Scholastic magazine about firefighters.    
Math: In unit 2 we have started talking about what the equal sign means: same as. We have been learning that both sides of an equation are the same for it to be equal, example: 5=5 and 2+3=4+1
Science: We read Bean and Plant and talked about the roots, stem, and leaves of a plant.  We planted some seeds in our room to learn more about the parts of a plant. This week we also looked closely at plants that we eat that are roots, stems, and leaves.

Practicum Student from Iowa Lakes Community College

Upcoming Events:

J Oct. 10 2 hr. early out
J Parent Teacher Conferences Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 (4-7:30)
Notes:
JI am starting some new spelling homework next week.  One is to write the vowels of each word in a different color and the other is to write the words with a variety of writing utensils. 
JThis week we will wrap up some of our word work choices.  Some of the choices were to make spelling words with play-dough, paint spelling words with water colors, and make a paper chain. 
JAs we enter fall, germs seem to be more common.  To help keep us healthy I try and wipe down student desktops with Clorox wipes.  I am currently out of wipes.  I would greatly appreciate any donation that you can afford at this time.  Thank you in advance!!!!
JThe lost and found has a large collection of items. Please look around your house and if you are missing an item have your child look at school. 
J A student from Iowa Lakes Community College will be with us on Thursday’s this semester to learn about becoming a teacher.  Here is an excerpt from her:
“Hello!” My name is Kaity Degen.  I am currently attending Iowa Lakes Community College in Estherville.  I am studying Early Childhood Education and plan on transferring to Iowa State University after receiving my two year degree at Iowa Lakes.  I graduated from Emmetsburg last year.  I am enjoying watching and learning about your children!”
Things to Work on:
JTelephone number and address
What we have been up to:
Reading: We worked with the word families –ad, -ap, and –ack this week. 
Math: We finished Unit 1 and started our first lesson in Unit 2.  Students continued to work on learning out to write basic addition number sentences.
Science: We read How a Seed Grows and talked about how a seed needs to start in the soil.  We will continue our study on plants next week by planting a seed and watching it grow.