Math
The students solved number string equations, and they've discovered that looking for facts they know--facts to ten, doubles, or doubles plus or minus one--can be helpful and make solving these equations very efficient. The students took an assessment for this benchmark: Uses known combinations to add several numbers in any order. The rubric and the scored assessment was sent home last week and shows your child's progress to date. This concept will be discussed throughout the year. The goal is for students to become flexible in solving equations.
The children have also been working on solving story problems. For example, if a class has 22 students and the teacher has 16 erasers, are there enough for the class? If not, how many more are needed? This could be solved with addition (16+__=22) or subtraction (22-16=__). Students are sharing their strategies for solving problems like this, and we're having math talks about their ideas. This work also provides practice with the eight math practice standards.
We finished our third investigation which focused on concepts related to counting coins and objects. The students practiced basic subtraction facts, counted objects by 2s, 5s, and 10s, and played a game called Collect 50¢ which involved changing pennies for nickels, nickels for dimes, etc. They also solved problems to determine whether we had enough cubes for the class.
Finally, the students have been practicing subtraction facts within 20. They have sorted their fact cards into "Facts I Know" and "Facts I Need to Practice." The children are writing clues to help remember and solve harder equations. Ask your child to tell you the equations s/he is practicing.
For example 16-8=?
If you know your double a good clue would be: 8+8=?.
To get back to ten a good clue would be: 16-6-2=?
Social Studies - Living History Fair
The students took the Culture assessment, and we began learning about family history by reading a big book, "Where We Came From." We had a very rich discussion about where our ancestors came from! I hope you're hearing lots of questions from your children about this. Our discussion led us into thinking about topics for the Living History Fair presentations. Living History Fair project information went home yesterday! Projects are due in two weeks, Thursday, October 17. Also, don't forget to send $4 for the poster board! Please mark your calendars: Living History Fair will be October 25 from 8:30 to 9:30.
Social Studies - Naper Settlement Field Trip
We'll be heading off to Naper Settlement on Tuesday, October 22 for a full day adventure to learn about local history and how this area of Illinois was settled. A permission slip for this outing came home today. Please sign and return it by Friday, Oct. 18.
Word study and high-frequency sight words
We have compared short vowel and long vowel /a/ and /i/ spelling patterns over the past two weeks. Through our word study activities, your child should know that short vowel sounds are commonly found when the pattern is CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant). They should also know that the “sneaky” silent /e/ at the end of words (CVCe) AND vowel teams (CVVC) make the vowel say its name, AKA its long sound! For long /i/, the pattern can also be (VCC) spelled "igh." The children are expected to differentiate between the spelling patterns and know the rules for each pattern. FOR THE FIRST TIME: THIS WEEK THE CHILDREN WROTE A SENTENCE WITH OUR SIGHT WORDS AND SHARED THIS ON SEESAW. I hope you are noticing your child's growth in word study
NOTE: Due to the short week next week, there will be no word study homework! We will work on aspects of grammar instead!
Reading Workshop
During read aloud, the children have been learning how to identify character traits and to infer the meaning of unknown words. We finished reading Gooney Bird Greene, and the children completed a project that identified what the main character taught about writing stories. We were excited to celebrate finishing our first chapter book read aloud.
During reading workshop, our focus has been on accuracy and decoding long and tricky words, but last week we began talking about reading to notice the author's intentions.
For decoding longer words, the students learned they can take off prefixes and suffixes and flip the middle vowel sound. Meaning is also important when decoding new words. If they read a word and don't know its meaning they must stop to think about what would make sense in the text, then check the letters to help decode the word. We call this inferring the meaning of words. We are also working on retelling as we read with partners. Students have marked pages they want to discuss with sticky notes. This helps them remember important points for their partner conversations. This is challenging for most students, and we will need much more work in this area!
Recognizing the author's intentions when reading is a valuable skill. We discussed how noticing good writing will help us as writers. We also talked about the author's message. Students learned to think, "What does the author want to teach me? What is important? What does the author want me to know?" When you are reading at home with your child please be sure to stop and ask them what the author's message is. Then, make sure they give you evidence from the text to support their thinking.
This week we also began a genre study of folktales to learn about story elements and author's message. We read The Lion and the Mouse, and The Ant and the Grasshopper as a class and wrote the story elements and author's message. Ask your child to tell you about this!
Writers’ Workshop
The students have been hard at work writing small moments. The children worked with a partner to analyze how published authors of books we love, such as Jane Yolen, Julie Brinkloe, Jonathan London, and Donald Crews add detail to their stories so their readers can make mental images. The students discovered that writers add detail by using dialogue, telling "the inside story" such as how they feel and what they think. Writers also add detail by comparing unlike things using similes and metaphors, and by using onomatopoeia. They also use precise language and carefully choose the words they use. Our writers marked our favorite books with sticky notes to remind themselves where great writing exists. The students are learning how to make decisions like a writer and work independently as they try writing "moves" like our favorite mentor authors. They published their favorite personal narrative and will share it with their fellow writers next week.
The students solved number string equations, and they've discovered that looking for facts they know--facts to ten, doubles, or doubles plus or minus one--can be helpful and make solving these equations very efficient. The students took an assessment for this benchmark: Uses known combinations to add several numbers in any order. The rubric and the scored assessment was sent home last week and shows your child's progress to date. This concept will be discussed throughout the year. The goal is for students to become flexible in solving equations.
The children have also been working on solving story problems. For example, if a class has 22 students and the teacher has 16 erasers, are there enough for the class? If not, how many more are needed? This could be solved with addition (16+__=22) or subtraction (22-16=__). Students are sharing their strategies for solving problems like this, and we're having math talks about their ideas. This work also provides practice with the eight math practice standards.
We finished our third investigation which focused on concepts related to counting coins and objects. The students practiced basic subtraction facts, counted objects by 2s, 5s, and 10s, and played a game called Collect 50¢ which involved changing pennies for nickels, nickels for dimes, etc. They also solved problems to determine whether we had enough cubes for the class.
Finally, the students have been practicing subtraction facts within 20. They have sorted their fact cards into "Facts I Know" and "Facts I Need to Practice." The children are writing clues to help remember and solve harder equations. Ask your child to tell you the equations s/he is practicing.
For example 16-8=?
If you know your double a good clue would be: 8+8=?.
To get back to ten a good clue would be: 16-6-2=?
Social Studies - Living History Fair
The students took the Culture assessment, and we began learning about family history by reading a big book, "Where We Came From." We had a very rich discussion about where our ancestors came from! I hope you're hearing lots of questions from your children about this. Our discussion led us into thinking about topics for the Living History Fair presentations. Living History Fair project information went home yesterday! Projects are due in two weeks, Thursday, October 17. Also, don't forget to send $4 for the poster board! Please mark your calendars: Living History Fair will be October 25 from 8:30 to 9:30.
Social Studies - Naper Settlement Field Trip
We'll be heading off to Naper Settlement on Tuesday, October 22 for a full day adventure to learn about local history and how this area of Illinois was settled. A permission slip for this outing came home today. Please sign and return it by Friday, Oct. 18.
Word study and high-frequency sight words
We have compared short vowel and long vowel /a/ and /i/ spelling patterns over the past two weeks. Through our word study activities, your child should know that short vowel sounds are commonly found when the pattern is CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant). They should also know that the “sneaky” silent /e/ at the end of words (CVCe) AND vowel teams (CVVC) make the vowel say its name, AKA its long sound! For long /i/, the pattern can also be (VCC) spelled "igh." The children are expected to differentiate between the spelling patterns and know the rules for each pattern. FOR THE FIRST TIME: THIS WEEK THE CHILDREN WROTE A SENTENCE WITH OUR SIGHT WORDS AND SHARED THIS ON SEESAW. I hope you are noticing your child's growth in word study
NOTE: Due to the short week next week, there will be no word study homework! We will work on aspects of grammar instead!
Reading Workshop
During read aloud, the children have been learning how to identify character traits and to infer the meaning of unknown words. We finished reading Gooney Bird Greene, and the children completed a project that identified what the main character taught about writing stories. We were excited to celebrate finishing our first chapter book read aloud.
During reading workshop, our focus has been on accuracy and decoding long and tricky words, but last week we began talking about reading to notice the author's intentions.
For decoding longer words, the students learned they can take off prefixes and suffixes and flip the middle vowel sound. Meaning is also important when decoding new words. If they read a word and don't know its meaning they must stop to think about what would make sense in the text, then check the letters to help decode the word. We call this inferring the meaning of words. We are also working on retelling as we read with partners. Students have marked pages they want to discuss with sticky notes. This helps them remember important points for their partner conversations. This is challenging for most students, and we will need much more work in this area!
Recognizing the author's intentions when reading is a valuable skill. We discussed how noticing good writing will help us as writers. We also talked about the author's message. Students learned to think, "What does the author want to teach me? What is important? What does the author want me to know?" When you are reading at home with your child please be sure to stop and ask them what the author's message is. Then, make sure they give you evidence from the text to support their thinking.
This week we also began a genre study of folktales to learn about story elements and author's message. We read The Lion and the Mouse, and The Ant and the Grasshopper as a class and wrote the story elements and author's message. Ask your child to tell you about this!
Writers’ Workshop
The students have been hard at work writing small moments. The children worked with a partner to analyze how published authors of books we love, such as Jane Yolen, Julie Brinkloe, Jonathan London, and Donald Crews add detail to their stories so their readers can make mental images. The students discovered that writers add detail by using dialogue, telling "the inside story" such as how they feel and what they think. Writers also add detail by comparing unlike things using similes and metaphors, and by using onomatopoeia. They also use precise language and carefully choose the words they use. Our writers marked our favorite books with sticky notes to remind themselves where great writing exists. The students are learning how to make decisions like a writer and work independently as they try writing "moves" like our favorite mentor authors. They published their favorite personal narrative and will share it with their fellow writers next week.