"Believing
in
Achieving"

Health Office:
203-245-6452
(Absences before 9:00 am)
School Hours:
8:50 a.m.- 3:25 p.m.

Reading: In reading we have continued to practice our reading strategies. We have also been working on choosing “just right” books for independent reading. The process of choosing a “just right” book is like choosing shoes. Just like shoes can be too small or too big, a book can be too easy or too frustrating. A book should fit like a correctly sized shoe- there should be some tricky words that we can use our strategies to figure out, but too many tricky words makes the book too hard to understand and enjoy. A good rule is the “5 finger rule”. If there are more than 5 tricky words on an average page of text, the book is too difficult for independent reading. Reading experts advise that your child should be able to correctly read 95% or more of the words in the books they are reading independently. If your child is really interested in a much harder book, then that can be a book you read with or to your child.

We are also learning to retell the important events from the fiction books we read.  Students often read through a book without stopping to think about what they have read.  Consequently, your child may not be able to tell you what happened in the story with ease or accuracy.  In class we used sticky notes to mark places where we would stop reading and retell the important events from what we had read.  Stopping to reread parts of a story that are confusing is also an important strategy to improve overall comprehension.

Phonics: In phonics our activities include decoding (blending) words and encoding (spelling) words. Lessons during the last two weeks have focused on the spelling patterns for:

long a (ay, ai, a_e, a at the end of an open syllable)

long e ( ee, ea, e_e, __y, e at the end of an open syllable).

long i (i__e, igh, __y, __ie, i at the end of an open syllable).

Long vowels say their name. These patterns are also being practiced through the weekly spelling list. Help your child notice these spellings in their reading and writing.

Spelling: Spelling lists include 5 words from the R. Sitton list of words used most frequently in writing. These words are often those words that can’t be sounded out. Your child must develop their visual knowledge of these words through practice. The spelling list will also include 5 words that complement our class phonics lessons. These words will all follow a spelling pattern. While the spelling of these 5 words is important, more important is developing your child’s knowledge of the spelling patterns and how they can be used to spell many related words.

* Please help your child to find a safe place to keep and practice their weekly spelling lists.

Writing: Writing lessons have been focused on specific ways to add details to the middle of our stories.  Students have been introduced to 4 techniques: actions, sounds, description of what the character sees, and description of what the character feels.  Recent writing included stories about visiting a pumpkin patch and a Halloween party.  Students were also taught that a complete sentence has two parts- a subject or naming part, and the predicate or action part.  The basic sentence can be expanded by adding words to tell more about the subject or the action.  For example, asking "how" or "where" the action took place are two ways to expand your sentences and make them more descriptive.

Math: In math we completed our second topic. A main focus in this unit was on solving varied addition and subtraction word problems. Students were taught to look for key words and information in the word problem, and to think about whether they needed to add or subtract. Using manipulatives and drawing a quick picture were helpful to better understand more complex questions. Comparison questions still tend to be more difficult. For example, Sarah has 8 crayons. She has 3 pencils. How many more crayons does Sarah have than pencils? Students finished the topic by writing their own story problems to match a given answer, and by working with graphs. We are currently beginning topic 3 which focuses on measurement and geometry.

Social Studies: In social studies we are finishing our study of communities.  We talked about “producers” and “consumers”. Producers can sell goods or provide a service.   We realized that we are busy consumers!  In an art and writing project students created a display of important community members.  A highlight of our communities study was Junior Achievement Day.  Students participated in 5 different activities that illustrated how communities work.  The kids especially enjoyed making their own doughnuts as they tested unit production versus assembly line production.  A huge thank you to Sue Hennessey and Mimi Franz for volunteering their time to make this such a great day!

Snazzy Snack: The class had fun creating its second Snazzy Snack on Halloween.  The Cheesy Spider Webs were delicious!  Thank you to Mrs. Kavanaugh and Mrs. Holland who supplied the ingredients for our October treat.

Schedule of Special Classes

Updated: Wednesday November 26 2008