1/11-1/15

We had another fun, learning-filled week at school. We are trying to get back into the swing of school work after being off for two weeks, just to be followed by another day and a half out for weather reasons. J

In phonics this week we have been reading words that end in nk and ng, such as thank, link, sunk, rang, and swing. We also learned about compound words, like doghouse and bedtime. When we read compound words we always try to find the small words first. We are also still working on the vowel sounds of y (as in fly and baby). At our word work center this week we read words that ended in y and sorted them by the sound that y made in them.

We are continuing to study nouns and verbs in grammar. Before Christmas break we went on a noun search. We looked through magazines for pictures of persons, places, things, and animals. We then cut out those pictures and glued them onto a paper with those headings. This week we added –s to verbs when appropriate, like in the following sentence. The bird feeds the baby. We also learned about synonyms, or words that have almost the same meaning. We looked in our Reading Street book to this week’s story and found synonyms in the story for words that I called out to the class. See the example below.

We continue to analyze stories so that we can better comprehend them. We look for connections between the story and ourselves. Also, we look for the characters, setting, and plot. We also look for the main idea of a story and for the beginning, middle, and ending, like we did in the example below for a read aloud story this week. Try asking your child about story elements after completing a story.

In math we are still adding and subtracting, but we are also learning to tell time!!! Please work on this at home with your child. By now students should know the difference between a digital and an analog clock, as well as the difference between the two hands. We have been telling time to the hour and half hour (on analog clocks). We will have a test on telling time at the end of next week.

Our unit of study this week and next week revolves around matter. We are learning about the states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. Be looking for States of Matter homework coming home on Tuesday. I have some fun activities planned for the upcoming week.

Thank you for all of your support. I am immensely blessed by you all!