November was a great month of learning! Take a look at what we have been working on this past month.
Language Arts News
In our guided reading groups, we have started reading holiday stories. Our focus is on main idea and summarizing. We have also been learning about three ways good readers make connections with what they are reading. We can make text to self, text to text, and text to world connections by answering these questions as we read:
Text to self: What does this remind me of in my life?
Text to text: What does this remind me of in another book I’ve read?
Text to world: What does this remind me of in the real world?
Our class has been working hard in writing. We are learning about how to write a good paragraph. We like to compare writing a paragraph to a hamburger. The topic sentence is the top bun, we have at least three juicy detail sentences in the middle, and the conclusion sentence is the bottom bun. The hamburger really helps us remember how to write paragraphs!
We are on Unit 11 in spelling. Friday, December 4th we will be having our test on this unit. Next week’s spelling words are an assessment and review unit of the past five units. Every sixth unit is a review and assessment unit. All of the past and future spelling words can be found on my website. All in all, students are doing an excellent job on their spelling tests! Keep up the great work!
Math News
Students are on Chapter 4 in our math series: time and graphing. This year, we are telling time to the minute, and in graphing we will be learning about pictographs, bar graphs, and line graphs, as well as graphing ordered pairs!
If your child is having trouble in math, please review concepts at home. A good way to do this is to go over their mistakes on worksheets and/or homework together. (Unless otherwise noted, homework and other worksheets do not need to be handed in again with corrections made.) Also, students need to show all of their work on homework assignments. If needed, please include the other sheet of paper where work can be found and staple it to the homework assignment. Make sure that each problem is numbered on the separate sheet of paper as well.
Social Studies News
In social studies, we are studying Mexico. We have learned about the geography of Mexico and we’ll be soon learning more about the history and culture of Mexico. Be on the lookout for Mexico vocabulary cards. They will be sent home soon and should be studied each night.
In December, we will be learning about winter holidays celebrated around the world. Each of us will receive a Winter Holiday Passport and “travel” to all parts of the world to learn about different winter holidays including Las Posadas, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, and the different ways Christmas is celebrated.
Handwriting
We started cursive! The kids are really excited about this. Students are not required to write in cursive until we finish both capital and lowercase letters. If in class handwriting worksheets are not done well… I will send home another worksheet to be done for homework.
Announcements
- November Reading Logs are due on December 1st.
- Character Can Book Reports are due December 7th.
- Holiday party is on December 22nd from 2 to 3pm. More information will be sent home soon.
The holiday season is upon us! In lieu of a teacher gift, I would appreciate it if anyone who had planned on buying a gift to make a donation to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or a charity of your choice. I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday!
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
P.O. Box 50
Memphis, TN 38101
http://www.stjude.org