This week check your child’s folder for conference sign up sheets. Your child will have the paper in their folder either Monday or Tuesday. There are limited evening hours and those hours will be given on a must see/ first come basis. If the times I have available are not possible for you, we can schedule a telephone conference but we will be unable to review your child’s work.
I am pretty amazed at how well our students are reading our rapid word charts and how this is translating to better reading in the classroom. If you look at the top of this blog you will see a section called downloadable information. Here you can find our high frequency words that are used in our stories and which your child will be assessed on for the end of the marking period (stories 1-12). You can print out a copy of these words to go over with your child.
In Language Arts we are learning about “ng” , about the story element “plot”, the contraction” ‘ll” and phrasing in our oral reading. We are also working with plural nouns, differentiating between 1 and more than 1. If you would like to read our stories, please look to the right of this page under parent resources and sign in to the Harcourt website. We are currently on book 2 lesson 10. If you need info for our district and school name please email me.
My expectation in writing is that students will write at least 3 sentences on a given topic. They will write neatly with spacing between words and they will sound out words to spell them. They will use capitals and punctuation most of the time and they will begin to vary their word choices (not “I like… I like… I like…).
In Math we have just taken our assessment on Geometry. I was pleasantly surprised at how well most of the students did. We are now starting our unit on story problems. Today we went over a problem: I have 9 toys. Some are blocks and some are marbles. How many of each toy could I have. Show as many combinations as you can. This is a variation of “peas and carrots” which we learned in the 1st marking period. Students needed to come up with 5 of the 8 different combinations we could have. (1 block + 8 marbles = 9 toys, 2 blocks + 7 marbles = 9 toys, 3 blocks + 6 marbles = 9 toys……. 7 blocks + 2 marbles = 9 toys, 8 blocks + 1 marble = 9 toys). We will be learning how to differentiate between addition problems and subtraction problems. Students historically have difficulty understanding when they should add and when they should subtract when solving a story problem.
In Social Studies we are finishing up a unit on laws and rules and responsibilities and will be having our assessment at the end of the week. Upcoming in Social Studies we will be exploring Colonial America with special attention given to the origin of our Thanksgiving tradition. In Science, we are waiting to receive our new kit on Solids and Liquids. In the meantime, we will follow discussions that the students are interested in (i.e.: space, the sun, the seasons etc.).
Questions or comments? Please email or call.
Dave Ostheimer
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