Happy Valentine's Week!

Scholastic Book Fair

Every child made a wish list of 5 books they'd love to have from the Scholastic Book Fair!  We hope you will visit the book fair before or after your child's parent-teacher conference and ask to see their list!  Buying a book is not only supporting our school, but supporting your child in their reading!  Win Win! The book fair is open from 3:30-7:30 today!

Valentine's Day party

Thank you to our room mothers, Mara and Jackie, for organizing another fun class party!  Another big thank you to all of the families who came and helped out or sent supplies for the party!  The kids had a blast at their last classroom party of the year! 

A look at our learning...

Fundations: we continue to learn about 3 letter short vowel words and 4 letter long vowel words.  We are focusing on how "the silent e at the end of a word tells the first vowel to say it's name."  We are hoping to see the children apply this in their reading and writing as well.  When they are reading at home, point out words that have a silent e at the end and ask them to read the word to you and practice this skill with them.

Another good way to practice is to give them a 3 letter short vowel word and ask them to add on the silent e at the end and tell you what new word they made.

Example:  write the word hat on a piece of paper.  Ask them to "tap out the word" and read it to you.  Then ask them to "write a silent e on the end of hat."  They should then have hate on their paper.  Ask them to read the new word to you.  

Shared Reading: was and my were tricky spelling words this week, but ones we use so often in reading and writing!  We read the big books I was with and I had to look, that featured both words.  We added a small copy of each book to our "read to self' book boxes on Friday.  

We also read the big book Then and Now, to help us better understand non-fiction books and non-fiction text features.  This continues to tie in nicely with our non-fiction writing we are doing during writing workshop.

Next week's spelling words:

go

so

Daily 5: ask your child what books they read during their guided reading groups this week OR ask them what daily 5 center they went to this week and have them explain what they do at that particular center.  Pull out a piece of the kid work that was sent home in this week's Friday Folder (most are from Daily 5 centers) and have them tell you about it.

Writing: we have filled our brains with so many facts about penguins the last 2 weeks!  Today we finally decided it was time to starting writing our fact books!  They are learning how to include at least 3 facts about the topic (penguins) in their stories.  We are also learning how to add headings to our pages and labels to our pictures, just like real non-fiction books do!

Ask your child to tell you 3 facts they have learned about penguins and are going to include in their stories!

Math: check your child's Friday Folder for a fun game called Double Compare.  We play this at school and it is helping us to learn about addition!  I hope you will play it at home with them as well!  They love it!

Seuss Bracket: we have been listening to Dr. Seuss books any chance we get....in the library with Mrs. Fitch, at snack time with Miss Nemechek, etc.  Beginning next week the whole school will vote which book (out of the 8 listed below) is their favorite!  By Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2nd, we will have ONE whole school winner! Check out the awesome bracket we will be using, located by the library. 

Every grade level (K-5, specialists and SPED) chose a book to "promote."  Kindergarten chose Green Eggs and Ham.  By February 24th all of the hallways will be decorated based on the book they are promoting.   We will celebrate this fun with a dress up day on Dr. Seuss birthday.  More information will be coming about this. 

Have a great weekend!

Remember, NO SCHOOL on 

Friday (2/17) or Monday 2/20)!