Tomorrow Will be September Morn

Class Overview
We have written a couple of books as a class. One is taken from "A My Name is Alice." The children have had to use the first letter of their name in a short story, writing with alliteration. The other book is rhymes the students have made up that become verses of the song " Down By The Bay." They made up the rhymes with their 5th grade buddies. The children have written stories about their summer vacations and about their "First Day of Second Grade."
Some of the students are working very hard and others are struggling at staying on task. If a child continues to talk rather than do their work the are asked to move to "Lonely Street", which means their desk is moved away from the other students. If the problem persists over several days they have been put on a contract. Check the back of their tracking sheet everyday. If I have drawn smiley, straight or frowning faces there then they are on a contract because of their disruptive behavior. Please set up some consequences at home that your child knows about. Removing their favorite plaything or play activity is often a consequence that will help them realize that they need to change their school behavior to continue to enjoy that priviledge. Thanks for your help in this matter.

Spelling
This week the children are working on consonant blends with the letter r such as "cr" as in crash, "tr" as in trash, and "gr" as in grape. A blend is where two or more letters blend together to form a new sound. There are two types of spelling lists that were sent home on Friday.
If your child has a spelling list with words or groups of words circled they need to study all of the circled words. The challenge words will be given to all children. If they study and spell these correctly they get extra credit. If they miss them is does not harm their score.
If your child has 5 spelling words written on the top of their spelling list they are to study those 5 individualized words, the 5 spelling words on the left in the box, the Word Wall Word and the Challenge Words. They will be tested on 5 random words from the big box but if they have studied the spelling principle and the 5 Spelling Words they should be able to spell the words I choose to test them on.

Math
This week we are learning about the 100's Chart and how we can use it as a mathematical tool. We are learning how to represent a number in several ways such as: 11, eleven, 5+6=11, 12-1=11, 5+5+1=11, 1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1=11, etc. We will also be learning how to determine if there are enough cubes in a bag for the class.
Please help your child work on learning their basic math facts at home.

Reading
We are continuing the PALS testing. It should be completed by midweek. This is giving me an opportunity to listen to each child read and assess their skills and needs.

Writing
This week we will begin learning the first of the Six Traits of Writing - Ideas. We will draw a map of our yards and mark an X where we had a treasured experience. We will list these ideas for beginnings to our future writings. We will learn about formulating ideas and recognizing a main idea in others writings. We will also talk about conventions such as capitalization, spelling, punctuation and using our best handwriting.

Vocabulary
Today I read the class the book "Ruby the Copycat." We will learn the meaning of 6 important words in the story. The children will get to put a mark by the word on the chart if they can tell me about hearing it used at home or on t.v., etc. On Friday they will be tested on the meaning of the six words. The first word is coincidence. They will learn the other words tomorrow.

Volunteers
Angie Brown is our Room Mother. Her phone number is 415-9966. She is working hard to put together a calendar of volunteers to help in our classroom. I really appreciate all those who have just shown up to help. Each one of you is sorely needed as this year's class has some special needs of differentiated teaching to meet the needs of all the children. I am grateful to all who are willing to come in and help.
Thanks for ordering books and signing the Highlights signature page. These things help us get free books and materials for our classroom.

Special Item
When you have read this post have your child write the word "Special" on the back of their yellow tracking sheet. I will give them a 3 token for letting me know that you have read the Blog.