November 30, 2009
December, 2009
READING
This week the children will be reading a story called "The Giant of Barletta." This is another incredible story which includes realism as well as fantasy. The new vocabulary words are: mysterious, pedestal, square, weakling, statue, and giant. Please review these words at home with your children. Again, the children will be bringing home a reading slip for reading the story with someone in the family. Enjoy reading with your child, and please sign the paper and return it to school the next day.
Next week the story will be reading "Raising Dragons." The new vocabulary words will be: appetite, chores, harvested, hitch, plowed, sown, and tended. Have fun reading this enjoyable story at home with your child.
The last week in December we will be concentrating on assessments and skill review. We will not be reading a new story that week.
The children continue to work on WRITING SKILLS in class. We have finished our Narrative unit for now, and our next style of writing will be Expository. The children will be generating ideas for our essays in class. However, anytime that your child has a chance to write about something in his/her life, please encourage him/her to take a notebook and just WRITE!
MATH
The children are busy working on measurement. The standard measures of length, weight, capacity, and temperature have been taught, and we will have a quiz this week on those skills. Next we will investigate the Metric System. Please encourage your child to use measuring tools at home...measuring cups, spoons, rulers, yardsticks, etc. The vocabulary words are challenging, and hands-on activities help greatly with concept understanding. There will be daily homework as usual, and there will also be some weekend homework .
SPELLING
Our spelling words this week are the vowel + r combination. The words are: girl, clear, her, turn, dark, work, smart, word, hurt, serve, north, third, tornado, and scurried. Sentences will be due on Thursday, and the test will be on Friday.
Next week the spelling list will cover words with the /k/, /j/, and /kw/ sounds. The words are: large, gym, skin, quick, picnic, judge, park, jeans, crack, orange, squeeze, courage, and insect. Sentences are due on the usual day of Thursday. Your children's sentences are becoming wonderfully creative and detailed! Please encourage them to keep up the great work!
The last week of December may not have a spelling list because of the assessments and skill review. I will let you know later if there is a list.
SOCIAL STUDIES
Our Native American unit is coming along well, and the children are enjoying the books, class discussions, and videos. We have studied the Plains region and will be moving on to the Eastern Woodlands, Southwest, Northwest Coast, and the Far North. So much to learn.......The children will be creating a group poster with designs and hand-made artifacts from the various regions. This is an exciting project for the kids. A final test will be the last day of school before vacation - Friday, December 18.
Have a wonderful few weeks, and stay warm!!
Wishing all of you a peaceful and enjoyable holiday season.
Sincerely,
Kathy O'Shaughnessy