All About the Mail!

We had a short but busy week learning about the mail and the Post Office! Here are some of the important things we learned...

Our centers this week included various blends and digraphs games, activities that focused on blends, writing letters to our friends, learning about the Post Office and how the mail starts in one place and ends in another, finding blends around our classroom and writing them, writing power words, and reading books on RAZKids! 

 In Phonics, we revisited the "wh" and"ch" digraphs. We revisited the power words she, said, and off from last week, and learned the new words where, what, and from.  LOTS of tricky words this week! Please keep sounding out words and writing with your child at home. 

During Reading, we learned about various baby animals by listening to expository nonfiction books. We discussed what we wondered and shared what we learned and practiced making connections. We listened to a poem and discussed the repetition of the words and the beat in the poem while acting it out. 

We continued to work on subtraction during Math.  Please keep practicing with your child at home. 

 During our writing time, we have been working hard on adding more details to our writing to help our stories make sense to the reader. We are also practicing using punctuation (capital letters and ending marks) and making sure we use finger spaces between words. These skills help us become clearer, more confident writers. Thank you for supporting this work at home by encouraging your child to add details, spaces, and punctuation when they write!

We also continued our conversations about Black History Month, why it is important, and learned about important individuals who have made meaningful contributions to our world. The students asked thoughtful questions and engaged in great discussions as we explored fairness, kindness, and celebrating the achievements of others.

Looking ahead...

Donuts with Grown-Ups 2/26 and 2/27 (see the RSA newsletter for more info!)

Early Release Day 3/6

Parent Teacher Conferences 3/10 and 3/11- Don't forget to sign up!

Early Release Day 3/12

Spring Break 3/13-3/22

Career Day Speaker 3/24

Difference Makers 3/24

Have a great weekend!

Jena

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

We had a short but busy week getting ready for Valentine's Day! Here are some of the important things we learned...

Our centers this week included finding and writing blends, writing about people and things we love, building words with blends and digraphs, reading and writing power words, and writing valentines to people we love. 

In reading, we continued to focus on strengthening our informational reading skills. We read nonfiction texts to learn new information, practiced asking and answering questions, and identified key ideas and important details. We also learned how to use text features such as headings, photographs, and captions to better understand what we read. 

We continued to work on adding details to our nonfiction stories during writing.  We are working on using punctuation, capitalization,  and adding more sentences to make our writing better. 

In this week’s Second Steps lesson, we learned how to state a problem without blame or name calling. We practiced identifying problems in given scenarios, listening to the teacher state the problem, and then repeating the statement.  Children may be tempted to blame others when they’re upset about something. Encourage your child to avoid blame by describing what happened without focusing on who is at fault.

We continued to practice subtracting in Math.  This has proven to be very tricky for us.  Please help you child at home by encouraging them to use their fingers, cross out pictures, count down, etc. Thanks for your help! 

We learned about Black History Month during Social Studies and why it is important to honor and celebrate the contributions of Black leaders throughout history. We focused on Rosa Parks and talked about how her courage and choices helped create change. We had thoughtful conversations about fairness, kindness, and standing up for what is right. 

We had fun at our Valentine party! Pictures coming soon!

Looking ahead...

No School- Professional Development 2/13
No School- President's Day 2/16

Don't forget to send a letter in for your child over the next couple of weeks for our Post Office Unit. 

Have a great, long weekend! See you Tuesday!

Jena