Week in Review, August 21-25, 2023

  

For more weekly pictures, click here. 

Have you ever written about a small moment in your life? This week, in Writing, students learned about the writing cycle. First, we planned our beginning, middle and end by sketching across our pages. Then, we talked about what makes a good lead or introduction. For a quick review video, click here. One strategy is to start with a question. Another is having a great hook. We are really pushing ourselves to write a hook that will make the reader keep reading. Students also learned one of Ms. Parra's favorite words: onomatopoeia. Everyone enjoyed writing the "Flying Markers" story together. Make sure to ask about that. We also finished our No Excuse Word assessment and took our Primary Spelling Inventory Assessment (PSI).

Writing Pre-Assessments were sent home this last week. Pre-Assessments are sent home as a tool and as a way you can support your child's writing at home. The highlighted column is the end of unit benchmark. Most have not reached this benchmark as we haven't taught the unit. Post-Assessments will be shared during our October Conference. If you noticed our child scored low in one of the rows, we encourage you to read the weekly writing section, in this Blog, and have a conversation about what they are doing in writing. You can always practice at home too!

In Reading, we read The Best Place to Read and worked to build our "Reading Stamina." Ask your child what reading stamina is and how many minutes the class was able to get. Also, ask your child about their Reading Contract. What are they supposed to do during independent reading time? Home practice information will be coming home September 4th.

Phonics lessons began this week and the students did fabulous. Our systematic curriculum helps students decode words more effectively, improving their reading and spelling skills. Every other day students use their iPad for a "blending board" to spell. They liked this activity. 

In Math, we continued with Unit 1. The students sorted tools into categories in a way that made sense to them. We learned the words "sort" and "category." Then we polled the class and used the data. First, we organized the categorical data and then learned how we can represent the data so that others understand. The students really enjoyed these math activities and some even created their own surveys to collect data. Watch this sorting video as a review and grab some collections from around the house to sort. You can also watch this representing data video as a review and ask your child to create a survey for the family (come up with a question, conduct the survey, and represent the answers in a graph).

In Social Studies, We read Your Name is a Song and Chrysanthemum. The students are very curious about each other's name meaning. We will continue to read more name inquiry papers through next week. We went to the STEAM lab together and built a spy robot as a community. The students built the robot, connected it to an iPad via Bluetooth and programmed the motion sensor to detect motion and run the code. On Friday, we had our first counseling lesson with Ms. Selvie. Students learned about being inclusive. Our teacher led Second Step lesson, this week, focused on distraction. We learned some strategies we can tap into when we are feeling distracted. Ask your child about something they might try.

Upcoming Events:

*Join the Class WhatsApp Group.

*We need one more room parent. Please think about volunteering. 

*No more milk jugs needed. Thank you!

• August 28-
• Happy Birthday Liam! Liam will be sharing a donut. No PM snack needed. 
• AIMS Web testing (math) at 10:10. Go to bed early (the night before), eat a good breakfast, and send in a healthy AM snack.
• August 29-Swim for PE. Bring your blue swim bag.
• August 30-AIMS Web testing (reading) at 2:10. Go to bed early (the night before), eat a good breakfast, and send in a healthy AM snack.
• September 1-No School! Singapore Polling Day!
• September 4
• EAA starts today!
• Reading homework starts. Please watch for the homework binder coming home in your child's backpack.
• September 6-Last Swim for PE.
• September 11-No School! Faculty Inservice Day!