Reds and Orange, Apples and Pumpkins

What a great time we had on our walking field trip. The weather was beautiful and the kids had fun learning. The students are making a lunch sack journal about what they experienced during the field trip. You will want to check it out during Parent Teacher Conferences. (It will be in the students' portfolios.) Thanks to each and every parent and grandparent who came with us. You did an awesome job helping the kids have a super time.

Also a big thank you goes to our "Spelling Moms" who came to the classroom while we were on the field trip and corrected the spelling tests for us.

While we are talking about great parent helpers I want to thank all of you who have been coming in and helping in the classroom and for those who have helped by sending in boxes of tissues and baggies and items for the token store. An extra thank you goes out to Brooke Robertson for helping to organize the volunteers and for assembling the lunch sack journals for our class and Mrs. Douglass' class. That truly was going the extra mile to help us.

PUMPKIN DECORATING CONTEST
One of the parents from the school is donating 800 pumpkins to the kids in the school. She will deliver them on Monday October 4th. Students will take the pumpkins home and decorate them at home. NO CARVING THE PUMPKINS as they will spoil. Look for the orange paper giving ideas for decorating. Decorated pumpkins are to be returned to the school on OCTOBER 11TH. They will be judged and prizes will be awarded. (PM Kindergarten classes will bring their decorated pumpkins to school on Oct. 9th.)

READING
I will be finishing up the individual reading assessments this week. I will begin Guided Reading groups on October 18th. That is when I teach the students in small groups. We should be able to help the students make some good progress in their reading skills then.

We will work on Decoding the words - Accuracy, Fluency- reading with expression, speed and smoothness, and Comprehension - understanding what they read. I work with the groups on their own reading level. Each day we focus on different elements of reading based on the needs of these readers.

Math
We are trying to finish up our first block this week. We will continue our learning about the 100's number chart and using it for addition and subtraction. We are working on solidifying our understanding of Fact Families and Turn Around Facts (Commutative Property). When working with the Fact Families kids sometimes do something like this:
3+5=8
5+3=8 These are the Fact Family equations for 3, 5, and 8
8-5=3
8-3=5

8+3=5 This is what some children try but it is not a true fact. This is a great time to teach them the not equal sign ≠

8+3≠5

We will also be having a few more experiences with Data Collection and Graphing, skip counting patterns and writing story problems.

Please, keep working with your child on the math facts cards that I have sent home. I will be sending home another set, adding doubles, very soon. Also thanks for playing the math games with your child. It helps them learn in a fun way and will also help you see what they know and what they still need help with.

Vocabulary
We will be reading a book called "Possum's Harvest Moon". The vocabulary words we will work with are:
autumn
creature
harvest
snug
accomplished
conclude

Please try to use these words at home during the week and see if the students notice them.

SPELLING
This week is a most important week in spelling. Most of the children have learned the patterns of spelling with short vowels. This week we begin with long vowels. The first rule they learn is about the silent e. It is extremely important that they really understand this principle this week. Compare words with and without the silent e with them often during the week. Examples:
hid, becomes hide
hat becomes hate
bit becomes bite
not becomes note
twin becomes twine etc.

This week's keyword is "Pumpkins". Please write it on the top of your child's yellow tracking sheet for them to earn 3 tokens. Thanks for reading the blog and being interested in your child's education.