Week of Sept.25

Last week was good... but this week is going to be even better!! :) 

We have a busy week filled with Resources, an Early Release Day on Wednesday and a Library visit from Mrs.Noah Thomas on Thursday. (It's the rescheduled date from when we missed her over the Hurricane Break.) Our Resources are MONDAY- Media, TUESDAY- P.E., WEDNESDAY- Art, THURSDAY- Music and FRIDAY- P.E. Friday is also Favorite Color Day!! Wear as much of your favorite color as possible, but don't forget your sneakers for P.E. :) Catalia is bringing in Fun Friday Snacks for the Class.  

And... on Tuesday Brendon is joining the 6-Year-Old-Club! Make sure to tell him HAPPY BIRTHDAY when you see him. :) 

MATH

The students are doing great in Math!. Continue to practice counting groups and asking your child to color (or hold if using pieces) parts of the group. These two part directions are extremely important for our future lessons! Also, practice writing and recognizing numbers. I noticed quite a few backwards numbers last week.

This week we will play a missing numbers game called "BEEP!" all week using a number line. Let me quickly try to explain the game so that you can play it with your child.  (The number line can go 0-20 and 20-0, so practice both. Currently ours is 0-5 and 5-0.)Showcase a number line and cover up one of the numbers with a piece of paper. The number that is covered you will say beep when pointing at. Ex. 0, 1, beep 3, 4, 5. The missing number is 2. Another Ex. 5, 4, 3, 2, beep, 0. The missing number is 1. 

**On Thursday the students will take a Mid-Module test that goes over everything we've learned thus far in Module 1. 

WRITING

We are still working on characters and settings. If you notice your child's drawings lack details- tell them they are missing details and ask them what they need to draw. If they don't know, then give them specifics. :) I noticed a lot of missing necks, noses and ears on characters. The students do a great job telling me details for specific settings, now we just have to get it on paper. :) 

Then work on telling stories about the pictures they draw. Together in class we are writing simple sentences using the sight words and color words we know. For Ex. the playground picture had the words I like to play. The beach picture had the words I can swim (swim was spelled sim. haha It may be strange to you, but the students only write what they know and hear. And well, we haven't learned about blends or digraphs yet!) 

SAXON/ SIGHT WORDS

We are discussing letter Hh. Make sure your child makes the letter sound like it sounds in the video. Quite a few students say "huh" and I can't accept that as correct. 

**If there is a particular letter sound your child is having trouble with, check out the other Jack Hartmann videos! :) They are the best!!

We are learning about the breve! The students are doing great at repeating the rule~ Vowels followed by a consonant get a breve and the vowel makes the short sound.  (*We haven't learned about long sounds, however the students know that vowels make two sounds each.) Also, since we are coding words, we are also using our sounds to figure out the words. :) Currently Saxon is only coding words that have the vowel o. I want to challenge the students that know the other vowel sounds and I have been using all the vowels when we practice. 

Here is a Youtube video that uses all the short vowel sounds, however it doesn't put a breve above the vowels. It only has them in a red font.

Our Sight Words for the week are blue, yellow, me & no. Practice having your child read them off the slideshow below. 

READING

Last week the students enjoyed the fable The Lion and the Mouse. Well they are sure to LOVE listening to the fables; The Dog and His Reflection & The Hare and the Tortoise!! To read your child either fable click on the title above, they are both linked to Google Docs. 

We are discussing the characters, settings, the lesson the fable teaches them and then discussing the events in the story. I model retelling the events in the order that they happened using the words beginning, middle and end. After I model, I call on multiple students to retell the story. 

**On Friday the students will take a End of  Module test that goes over everything we've read in the Module. All the nursery rhymes and the fable The Lion and the Mouse. 

Example questions that WILL be on the test: What is Little Miss Muffet scared of? What pictures shows what happens at the beginning of The Lion and the Mouse? Which picture shows the meaning of the word "gnaws?" Where do Jack and Jill go to fetch a pail of water?