November is here and the weather is not looking or feeling like fall. So sad that we have already had snow and winter gear. Here is the order that we get dressed at school to help kids be independent
1)We teach the kids to put their mittens in their hats, hats in their sleeves to help prevent lice and to help us from losing items.
2) Please label EVERYTHING!
3) Please wash all gear EVERY Friday as it gets yucky and wet. We have also discovered this helps prevent lice.
READERS WORKSHOP
This week we began a new unit on being a SUPER READER. We are learning to use our super reading powers to help us become better readers. This week we worked on “pointer power” and “reread power”. We are now trying to read the correct words in the book instead of telling the story we know. We are noticing that our pointer power doesn’t match up unless we read the correct words. Yes, a huge leap in reading skills! Reader Man visited our classroom and left a power pointer to help us during reading time. Make sure to ask your child about it.
WRITERS WORKSHOP
We also began a new unit in writer’s workshop. We continue to write true stories about us, but now we are writing them for other people to read. We talked about what makes our stories easy to read and hard to read. And then we sorted our stories. We have been working hard on fixing up the stories that were not easy to read, and are trying to make all of the new stories we write easy to read as well.
Easy to Read Stories Have:
- well drawn pictures with lots of details…the read should be able to tell what we drew without asking us
- labels in the pictures…using as many sounds as we can to make the word easy to read
- sentences that tell the story…words should match the picture
- sentences with a capital at the beginning, finger spaces between words, and punctuation at the end
- sentences that have words written with as many sounds as possible and snap words spelled correctly as we can copy them off the word wall
MATH
We are working on finishing up Unit 1 in our math book. We will take our first math test on Wednesday. I will share these tests with you at conferences next week.
RAINBOW WORDS
Continue to practice these words and return the list when your child can read these words out of order, in a snap 🙂
Game Ideas:
Snap Word Toss: Tape the flashcards (or some of the cards) on the wall or other fun, unbreakable surfaces. Have your child throw a bean bag, stuffed animal, ping-pong ball at the word and read it. If you don’t like the throwing idea, just call out the word, they tap it with their hand.
Smack a Snap Word: Buy a new fly swatter and your child has to smack the sight word you call out. They can also slap and read the word to you.
Build a Snap Word:
*You can use magnetic letters on the fridge.
*Playdough to roll the word (we do this every time I introduce a new list in the classroom).
*Or simply write the word in black, and have your child trace it with a crayon. Then trace again, with another color, and repeat. This will make RAINBOW snap words!
*Shaving Cream spell, trace, read IN THE TUB!
If you haven’t signed up for a conference time yet, please do so soon. I would LOVE to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress so far this school year. Here is a link:
https://signup.com/Group/1245791768099/
IMPORTANT DATES/INFO
Wednesday, Nov. 13 – PTC Meeting at 7pm (see details below)
Friday, Nov. 15 – Early Release Friday 12:15 dismissal
If your child needs a sack lunch or has a change in transportation that day, please email me.
Monday, Nov. 18 – Parent Teacher Conferences
Wednesday, Nov. 20 – Parent Teacher Conferences
Wednesday, Nov. 27 thru Friday, Nov. 29 – Thanksgiving Break
Tuesday, December 3 – Alward Holiday Program at 6:30pm
Mark your calendars for the annual Alward Holiday Program! The Program will be held at Fellowship Reformed Church on Dec. 3. Kindergarten through 2nd grade will perform at 6:30pm and 3rd grade through 5th grade perform at 7:30pm. Please note that our Pre-K students do not participate in this program. More details to come!