Short Vowel Song...

We have been reviewing our short vowels and this is one of our favorite songs we have learned.  It is from Tanny McGregor who works at the district office and who has written two books on comprehension strategies.  We hope that Tanny will visit us one day!

Plant Growing...

Book Fair...

We will go to the book fair on May 1 and May 2 at 11:30!

The Grandparent Breakfast is scheduled for May 7.  If you are a student on the "A" day your are welcome to join us during that time.

May...Already...

I cannot believe May is upon us.  This year is flying by and the children are learning so much!  I am impressed with many of them and how much they have accomplished.  I am looking forward to spending May together and learning a lot more.

In Reading Street we will discuss different ways people travel.  We will talk about different modes of transportation and how animals can be used to help with transportation.  We will read "On the Move."  This will allow us to delve into Social Studies this week because we will talk about all different types of people.  In addition, we will learn two new sight words: where, come.  Please continue to practice what, was, said because these three words were difficult for many of the children.  In writing we are working on information pieces regarding plants.  The children planted seeds this past week and are observing the plant lifecycle.  The children are writing about what the see and other pieces of information about plants.

In math, we are moving into the world of 3-dimensional shapes.  The children are required to identify cube, cylinder, cone, and sphere.  In addition, the children will work on sorting shapes.  The children will be able to work with both 2-D and 3-D shapes and explore all the shapes.  We also found this great video/song to help the children learn the 3-D shapes.

Working on Writing...

Rolling On...

In reading this week we will be continuing on with Unit 5 and delving into the question "What kind of transportation helps people do their jobs?" We will explore this question with the book "Trucks Roll." In addition, we will work on the comprehension strategy of comparing and contrasting. We will also review sequencing, characters, setting, and main idea. The children are doing a great job with their comprehension; therefore, we will work with some higher level questioning to deepen our understanding. We do have three new sight words this week. We will be learning: what, was, and said. I am amazed on how well the children are doing with their sight words. They are able to recognize and recall them very quickly. Thank you for your practice at home with this skill. I did notice during my assessment last week some children are having difficulty with their fluency of letters and sounds. We want the children to be able to see a letter and say its name and sound instantanously. The goal at the end of the year is 40 letters in a minute and 28 sounds in a minute. The letter names is the biggest concern. The best way to practice is to go through the alphabet 3-4 days a week for 5 minutes.


The children are doing a great job with the shapes; however, rectangle seems to be the shape which the children are confused on.  They know how to describe and they can identify various sizes of rectangles, but the children are having difficulty remembering the name.  We will work on hexagon on Monday and Tuesday.  We will also continue to review all the shapes.  The children are enjoying exploring how shapes work and what you can make with various shapes.

Shapes...

We have been working on identifying and describing shapes.  The children are doing a great job identifying and describing the shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, and hexagon).  Identifying the shapes is the easiest part; however, describing is the challenging piece.  Yesterday we were working with rectangles and here are a few pictures of how the children described the rectangle.

Back to Learning...

I hope everyone had a fantastic spring break and enjoyed the fantastic weather.  Also, if you traveled I hope you had a safe and fun time with your journey.  I would love to hear about your entire break.  We have ended the 3rd quarter and the 4th quarter is beginning.  Report cards came home right before we left for break on Wednesday or Thursday.  If you have any questions regarding the report card, please feel free to ask.

This week we will continue with Unit 5 and discuss the question "What kind of transportation helps us in an emergency?"  We will be reading the story "Mayday, Mayday."  We will be using this read aloud to be discussing cause and effect.  This will allow the children to have a deeper understanding of the story and build their comprehension strategies.  We will be reviewing all the high frequency words we have learned and concentrating on the words: yellow, green, and blue.  It is imperative to continue to practice all of our sight words and to be practicing all of our sounds.  We will be having our next DIBELS assessment in the middle of May.  I know this seems to be somewhat in the distance, but it will be here before we know it.  The children should be fluent in all areas of reading (letter names, letter sounds, and hearing sounds in words).  We will use these scores for report cards and determining your child's next steps.  We are asking for you to practice for about 5-10 minutes nightly.  We will be sending home practice sheets at the end of each week.  Please look for these in your child's folder and it should only take less than 3 minutes to practice.

In math, we will continue to work on geometry.  The children are doing a great job on identifying and describing shapes.  The children have to be able to identify square, circle, triangle, rectangle, and hexagon.  In addition, the children need to be able to understand 2 dimensional (I refer to this as something that is flat).  One of the best ways to practice identifying and describing shapes is to just play with the shapes.  We want the children to explore how shapes work and how they can work together.

Zoo Fun...

The weather has been beautiful this weekend and yesterday we went to the zoo.  I am looking forward to hearing what the children did on their Spring Break on Monday and Tuesday!  I cannot wait to see them!

Cincinnati Zoo (she was distracted by one of the monkeys)!

Fun on Break...

Here is a glimpse of what has been happening during my Spring Break!  I hope you all have been having fun.  I would love to know what you have been doing!

 A visit to the Newport Aquarium!

 

Checking out the penguins at the Newport Aquarium!

 

 Reading Time!

 

Reading Time!



Opening Day...

Happy Opening Day to the Cincinnati Reds!  I am looking forward to a great season!