Week in Review--Dental Health

Math:

-We added a new choice to “Math by Myself” this week practicing subtraction. The student takes two dice and rolls them. The yellow dice has numbers 1-6 on it and the purple dice has 1 & 2 on all of the sides. After rolling the dice, the student writes the number that rolled up on the yellow dice at the beginning of the subtraction problem and the number on the purple dice in the second spot. The student then can use manipulatives, a number line or their brains to solve the problem and write the answer!

-We also continued to talk about decomposing numbers 1-9 in more than one way. We talked about how you can draw a picture to help you find various ways to make different numbers. We will continue to practice this skill next week.

Reading:

-We had TWO sight words this week-- “she, all”.

-The CAFÉ strategy we worked on this week was the strategy.

“Read with Expression”

This strategy teaches the reader to read the story as the author would read it. Paying attention to punctuation, font size and various other text features helps the reader decide how to express themselves while reading. It is important to also be aware of what is happening in the story to know if the reader should pause at certain points, whisper the words, sound frightened and so forth. Reading with expression comes with more and more practice of reading.

How can you help your child with this strategy at home?

1.     When reading a passage, have your child stop and back up and reread it again by changing their tone of voice or expression with the words.

2.     When reading with your child have him/her repeat a phrase after you to practice various types of expression.

3.     Read, read, read out loud to your child. The more they hear what a “good reader” sounds like the more likely they are to pick it up when they are reading independently.

Writing:

-We continued to practice writing “How To” books this week. We talked about how the “How To” book can be teaching someone steps to do something, but it can also be teaching someone something about a topic you know a lot about. For example, we learned about penguins in January. We could write an entire book about the things we learned about penguins! We are experts in MANY things and how fun to write about them to teach others!

Field Trip:

We went on a field trip over to McCutcheon High School for their ABC's of Ag day! It was a GREAT day! We saw many farm animals like a horse (who was pregnant!), a cow, piglets, goats, llama and much more! We also completed a craft, planted a seed that we took home to watch grow and enjoyed some tasty milk and cookies!






















































Content:

We had a short but great week! This week we learned all about Dental Health and how to keep our teeth healthy and clean. We started the week off by making a chart of foods that are good for your teeth and ones that are not good. We then colored a sad tooth by drawing those foods that make our teeth unhealthy and then colored pictures on a happy tooth with healthy foods! We read several books about animals that had sore teeth, a trip to the dentist, the tooth fairy and many more! We had a special guest visit our classroom that works for a dentist. She cleans kids teeth and teaches them about how to keep them healthy. She showed us how to properly brush our teeth and tongue and how to floss! We finished the week off by practicing to floss on a set of mega-blocks (large Legos) with play-doh caught between the grooves and brushed a dirty brown tooth clean with a toothbrush and white paint! What a fun week!

Other:

We also love our new "What to do when I'm finished?" chart. During content time some students finish the activity before others and instead of sitting at their seat....they can choose an option from the chart! It's been quite a hit for the last few weeks! Best part is they are squeezing in extra learning practice with letters, numbers and words!

Poem of the Week--My Little Sister

Week in Review--Valentines AND Presidents

Writing:

 

-We started the week off by reviewing and saying goodbye to our Unit 2 on writing a true story (they are still able to practice this during writer’s workshop if they choose to do so) and hello to our new Unit 3 all about writing a “how to” or informational writing piece. We brainstormed a list of things we consider ourselves to be “experts” in. A few of the ideas were brushing our teeth, making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, riding a bike and washing the dishes. We then took one of those ideas and created a class “how to” book together using the words –first, next, then, last, finally- to help us with our writing and keeping the steps in order. This type of writing is now a choice during Writer’s Workshop!

Math:

-We continued to focus on subtraction this week. We reviewed how to use maninpulatives, a number line, our fingers and lastly our mind! The students have two opportunities to practice subtraction problems during Daily 5 Math. There are options in the Math by Myself  and Math with Someone choices to practice math flash cards using one or more of those ways to solve a subtraction problem. I also sent home a bag filled with the same subtractions problems for the students to practice at home!

-Another standard we practiced this week was comparing two objects/items based on their length and weight. We looked at various pictures and discussed which one was “longer vs shorter” or “heavier vs lighter”.

Reading:

-We had TWO sight words this week-- “said, good”.

-The CAFÉ strategy we worked on this week was the strategy.

“Back up and Reread”

Many times when reading a story, adults get to a point where they realize they do not understand what they are reading. Somewhere during their reading, they lost concentration and therefore the meaning of the story. When this happens, as adults we realize we have lost comprehension and we stop, back- up, and reread.  Children are no different than we are.   They need to be taught the strategies good readers use to be successful. 

How can you he p your chi d with this strategy at ho!e"

1.   Model this strategy for your child. When reading with your child, stop to check for understanding. "If your child has difficulty answering the “who and what”, remind your child to back up and reread. Tell your child to read slowly and think about what is being read. After doing this, stop and check for understanding again. Remember, modeling is one of the most effective teaching strategies.

2.   Remind your child that using the two strategies, check for understanding and back up and reread together will help with remembering and understanding the story. 

3.   Often it is easier to understand the text when you read it slowly.  Encourage your child to read slowly, follow th text with finger if it helps, and truly think about the meaning of the words & story.

Content:
We had a full week back to school, with the exception of one two hour delay day. Yay! It felt good to finally get back into our normal daily routine and have the entire day for learning and fun! This week we learned about Valentine’s Day, love, friendship and we also mixed in some learning about presidents. We wrote a class valentine to our school asking them to be our valentine. We then created our very own valentine bumble bees to go along with the letter. We then switched our focus to learning about presidents past and present. We started our learning off by talking about the role of the President and who he is. We talked about our current president, as well as focused on two former presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We made a class Popplet detailing what we already knew and what we had learned throughout the week.

Practice at home:

Have you been working on your WRITE-O? Be sure that you are sitting down WITH your child to complete the writings. Do not tell him/her how to spell words, rather help them streeeeeetch the words out and write down the sounds they hear! This is how they are learning to become independent writers. The only words that MUST be spelled correctly are sight words!