September 26-30, 2016

Picture Day is Tuesday, September 27!  If you are ordering pictures, please be sure to send the order form to school by this date!

GROWTH MINDSET
This week in growth mindset, we are going to practice how to give each other constructive criticism.  What is the best thing to say to each other in order to improve each other's work? How can we be kind towards each other, yet help each other grow? We will learn how to start with something positive, saying something nice about each other's work. Next, we'll say something that can be improved and then end our talk with something positive again.  "I really like how your picture and your words match in this story, you could add more words to make your story more interesting, you are such a great story teller!" 

This week:

 READING

This week we will work on some strategies that could help us be a stronger reader. Readers read from from left to right and from top to the bottom, even if the prints on the page are not on a straight line and are printed in an unusual way (inside thinking bubbles, or on broken lines- The author, Mo Willems, has a lot of books like this). We will also talk about what readers do when they get stuck on a word, they don't just skip the word and keep reading.  Instead, they try to sound out the word and see if it makes sense. Lastly, readers use the picture clues to help them figure out a word they don't know.

WRITING

We have been working very hard on thinking about things from our personal lives that we could write about.  Now, this week, we will be learning how to make our writing fancy like a real author and illustrator!  We will work on making our pictures detailed and beautifully colored.  We will make sure all of our sight words are spelled correctly and our handwriting is neat.  We will all be published authors soon!

MATH

We have been practicing how to use the number line/number track to find specific numbers and find out one more or one less.  This week, we will take that knowledge and apply it in addition. It is essential that all students are able to successfully calculate both mentally and with paper and pencil their basic facts. When using the Count On Strategy, the student should be able to look at an addition equation, find the bigger part, then count on the smaller number.  Example:  8+4=___  The student should count “8. 9, 10, 11, 12. 

SCIENCE

This week we will be continuing our discussion on physical changes to materials.  We learned this past week, that adding heat and removing heat cause materials to change. We will be doing more experiments this week to observe those changes first hand!

Thank you all for your help and support, trusting your children with me, and being a partner in their education.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
*Tuesday folders come home.  Please return the folders the next day.

*Snack:  Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.

*PE:  We have PE on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Please make sure your kiddo is wearing tennis shoes (for sure) on these days.

       

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Sept. 27:  Picture Day!

Sept. 28:  Early Release Day.  Dismissal @ 12:00

Oct. 5:  Bike and Walk to School Day

Oct. 10:  Columbus Day- No School

            Parent/Teacher Conferences

Oct. 13:  Science Night @ 6:00-8:00 pm

Oct. 22:  Harvest Festival @ 4:00-7:00 pm

Oct. 26:  Early Release Day.  Dismissal @ 12:00

Nov. 11:  Veteran’s Day Program @ 8:00 am

Nov. 21-25:  Thanksgiving Break- No School

Nov. 30:  Skate Night @ 6:00-8:00 pm

Dec. 1:  Family Art Night @ 6:00-7:30 pm

Dec. 5-9:  Book Fair

Dec. 8:  International Festival @ 6:00-8:00pm

Dec. 15:  Winter Parties/Last Day of 1^st Semester

Dec. 16-Jan 2:  Winter Break

Jan. 3:  1^st Day of 2^nd Semester