11/1-11/5

In class this week we read about community helpers and made Sparky, the Firehouse Dog. We discussed sounds that we hear in our community and learned about different jobs, thanks to our guidance counselor, Mrs. Carr.

We are continuing to learn about long vowels with sneaky e at the end, and all of the students are really paying attention to the sneaky e! Please continue to read words with and without sneaky e at home. Students must be able to differentiate between the vowel sounds! In a few months time, this task will be simple, but for now it takes a little more thinking. We have also learned the th, sh, wh, and ch sounds. This week we listened to our sing along song, and the students made a t chart on their whiteboards. They then labeled the two columns as ch and long i. They then found and wrote words from the sing along song that fit in each column. After a few minutes they told me which words to circle. This a great phonics activity that we complete almost weekly.

In grammar we are perfecting our knowledge of proper nouns and titles.

We began counting pennies this week, and next week we will count pennies and nickels. Counting money is a developmental task, which some first graders learn, while other students will not master this task until second or even third grade. The best way to help your child is to give him/her money to count.

We are also perfecting our addition and subtraction skills. We are trying to memorize basic facts. We visited the Math Magician website this week, which the students were crazy about!

The class has loved learning about the human body. So far we’ve discussed skin, bones, eyes, ears, muscles, and cartilage. We used q tips to make a skeleton model. The coming week brings more learning about the human body! If any of you parents want to share your knowledge about the human body with us, please e-mail me so that we can set up a time.

I can’t believe we are less than two weeks away from our big move! At the end of the month we will have a sneak peek at GSES. You and your children are invited to attend! You will get to view classrooms and other areas of the school. I can’t wait! There’s so much to do though! YIKES! I get a little worried just thinking about it! So many of you have already offered to help, and don’t worry, I will be taking you up on your offers!!! J Thanks!