Dear Parents,

I hope you all had a great weekend. It was nice talking to you all last week. I have always viewed the education of children with the illustration of a tripod stand in mind. The parents represent one leg, the teacher one, and the child represents the last. In order for the tripod to stand properly, the three legs have to be strong and sturdy. As we look ahead, the roles we play in the lives of these children must continue to linger in our hearts. The conversations we had last week, reminded me of the important role teachers and parents play in the life of the student. As this new week begins, Ms. Peterson and I will go back to our drawing boards, set new goals, begin to implement new strategies, and make use of suggestions garnered from you all. Please, remember we must keep this conversation going through out the school year. Thank you for all the kind gestures bestowed on us through out the conference week. Here is a quick look at our week:

LANGUAGE ARTS  

SPALDING – We will continue with our spelling list this week. Please, review homework as they come home.

List 1: help, hard, race, cover, fire, wire, tire, age, and gold

List 2: read, read, red, fine, cannot, May, may, line, left, ship, and train

List 3: saw, pay, large, near, down, why, bill, want, girls, and girl

 

READING – READING STRATEGY: Our reading strategy this week will be identifying story elements. We will begin The Boxcar Children this week. I am assuming that all scholars have their books by now.

 POETRY: Title: “Caterpillars” is our poem for this month. A copy of the poem was sent home this week. Students will memorize poem, and say it individually by memory beginning this week.

SAYING: “Where there is a will there’s a way.”  We will appreciate it if you use it at home because children retain sayings when they engage in it through meaningful use.

           

GRAMMAR/VOCABULARY – Students will learn what contractions are and how they are formed.

WRITING – As we work with Writing With Ease, students will continue to develop narration, dictation and copy work skills. As the narration and dictation homework goes home every week, we are asking that you help us pay attention to proof reading their work. I really want to suggest that you encourage your scholars to write a sentence every day, and have them look back and correct their mistakes. I really want to create awareness to writing this quarter. It will help your scholars see the reading-writing connection.

LEVELED READERS

Please, encourage your scholars to take their readings seriously. Their reflection logs will go home for the first time this week. There are three pages of reflection and three books. They are expected to log in one book per page. Please, remind them to write the title of the text on the page they work on.

MATH

We will continue with measurement of length. Last week, we differentiated between standard measuring and non-standard measuring units. They also learned that they can measure the length, height, or width of an object. This week, the focus will be measuring units in centimeters and measuring curved lines; we will continue to refer back to measuring units in meters as well. We will spend time using a tape rule to measure their waste and curved surfaces. Please, have them bring tape rule to school if you have one at home (It is not compulsory for them to bring a tape rule). I will introduce using bar models to solve word problems.

SCIENCE

We will review the water cycle this week, and then move on to clouds. We will learn only four types of clouds: Cumulus, cirrus, stratus, and cumulonimbus clouds.

HISTORY

        This week, we will talk about how Chinese people honor members of their family especially their ancestors. We will talk about the Great Wall of China and what inspired Emperor Qin Shiguandhi to build what has become one of the great wonders of the world. If time permits, we will look at the Chinese language and how it has survived the test of time using symbols.

VIRTUE

Perseverance

To maintain a steadfast purpose in a work in spite of difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement.

NEVER give up

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

”Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish” – Johnny Quincy Adams

Announcements

·      Congrats to Robert Hooke the group that won the prestigious Responsibility award!

·      Guided reading will be resume on Tuesdays and Wednesday. On Tuesday, it will be 12:30 – 1:30pm (60mins) On Wednesdays; it will be 11:50am -12:50pm (60 mins). We will also have Math groups on Wednesday mornings starting this week at 8:05-9:05 am.

·      We now have a wish list for our class. A special thank you to Mrs. Lavell for bringing in treats for the group that won our award of responsibility

·      We have a Math test every week. Please, make sure your child is reviewing concepts during homework practice.

Have a great week.

Sincerely,

Ms. Toyin & Ms. Peterson