What's Going On...

This week we will be working on the letter sound /a/ as in apple, ant, and ax. The children will begin to develop the understanding of decoding simple words, such as, tam, mat, and am. As you are at home working you can show your child these letters and have them begin saying the sounds. You can place the letters m, a, and t on a card and mix them up and have your child say the appropriate sound. This is the beginning skill to decoding words. In addition, please continue to work on letter identification with your child.  I am in the process of assessing the children and you will receive an updated copy of your child's letter and sound knowledge.

In math, we are continuing to work with numbers up to 9.  This past week your child did bring home Chapter 3 homework and their Chapter 2 test.  Please review both of these with your child.  Children should be able to read and write the numbers to 9.  In addition, children should be able to compare the numbers (greater, more, fewer, less).  We will also be learning some new math games on Wednesday and Friday!  I will be posting an update on the games we learned at the end of the week!

Here are a few pictures of some of our learning this past week...

I hope you have a great week!

Learning in 116...

This coming week we will be doing a lot of learning. In reading street we will continue our study on how animals and plants are unique. We will be working on the sound of Ss. Currently the children have learned the sounds m, t, a, and now s. In addition to know the sounds in isolation, we have been working on putting these sounds together to make words. Children should be able to blend (saying the sounds to form the word) and read the following words: mat, tam, sat, and sam. When practicing blending with your child, have your child say the sounds slowly without stopping (mmmmmmaaaaaaat). Furthermore, children should also be able to read the sight words: I, am, have, little, to, a, the, is. In addition, please continue to practice letter identification with your child. Many children are doing extremely well with this skill and some need to continue to practice. I will be sending home your child's October alphabet assessment next week!


In math, we will be finishing Chapter 3 (reading, counting, and writing numbers to 9).  The children will take their Chapter 3 test on Wednesday or Thursday.  The skills your child will be tested over are on the math homework.  In regards to math homework, your child should turn it in on Monday or Tuesday.  We have noticed children who do their homework are doing better on the math tests.  We will begin Chapter 4 the following week.  We will be working on counting and comparing numbers up to 10.

Thank you for all of your support!  The children are doing an awesome job!

We Are Moving On...

This week we will continue to work on letter identification of letters Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, and Jj. The children are doing pretty well with identification, but some still need to continue to work on identification. We will also continue to work with the words "I" and "am". You may want to put these on flash cards and practice them with your child. Please remember to mix up the order or you can hide them throughout your house and have your child go on a hunt or if you have magnetic letters you can have your child practice building the word on the refridgerator (a cookie sheet works well too). In addition, please continue to work on name writing with your child. This is what we will be focusing on during our writing time.

In math, we will continue to work on showing, counting, and writing numbers 0-5.  Students should be able to model, count, and write to 5 by the end of this chapter.  The homework packet has many great worksheets that directly link to our lessons in the classroom and our workbook.  Please make sure you child is completing their homework at home. 

This past Friday, the B group had their first "Fantastic Fun Friday" and the A group will have their's this week. On Fridays, children will experience Phys. Education, Art, or Music class taught by Mrs. Franz or myself (luckily between the two of us we are pretty well off in these areas). While the children are experiencing this type of learning, the other teachers will be assessing children on various skills of the week. This allows for us to make better decisions about how to teach your child. This past week we worked on Art and Science (color mixing). We learned primary colors and explored how colors mix. The children posed a lot of great questions and had some great thinking about what would happen, which allows us to tie into our science curriculum.

I cannot wait to see the A group on Monday.  I have missed them!

Smart Board, Smart Learning...

We have been using our Smart Board to help our learning. This tool we use is like a huge computer monitor you can touch. Just imagine your monitor bigger than a big screen TV that you can touch. This technology is allowing us to help our students learn 21st century skills. This is not the only way your child is learning, but it is allowing us to teach your child using another modality of learning. We are able to tap into the visual, auditory, hands-on, etc. learner. The children love using our Smart Board in literacy, writing, and math. Some of the other technology in the building is our sound system. I wear a microphone which amplifies my voice in an equal setting across the room; therefore, all the children in the room can hear equally my voice. It is amazing how much we are all learning together and at times, the children are learning faster than the adults. If you have not had a chance to come in to the school and check out our Smart Board or the other technology, please feel free to stop in and check it out!

You should check out some of our favorite sites we use on our Smart Board to help us with our letters, sounds, and math:
http://www.literacycenter.net/lessonview_en.php#
http://www1.center.k12.mo.us/edtech/edm/K.htm
http://media.emgames.com/emgames/demosite/demolevel1.html

Letters, Sounds, Oh My...

You may have heard your child coming home singing various songs and chants we do in class. These songs and chants help your child associate letters and their sounds in a catchy way. You can help us at home by asking your child what the sounds of various letters. In addition, you can say a word and ask your child what sound do you hear at the beginning of the word. You can do this in the car, while washing dishes, shopping, etc. because you do not need anything. In addition, letter recognition is important because children need to recognize letters when it comes to writing. Take 5 minutes and show your child a set of letters and ask them to tell you the letter. The best way to do this is to go through the alphabet once and make two piles (ones they know and ones they don't know). Once you go through the pile, take 2 letters from the "don't know" pile and add it to the "know pile" and only go through this pile. Once your child knows all the letters in this pile, choose 2 more from the "don't pile" and add it to the "know pile." Once your child can identify all the letters in the newly formed "know pile" you add 2 more from the "don't know" pile. This process continues until all the letters are known. This process also allows the child not to be frustrated because you are only working on letters they know and 2 unknown letters. Finally, thank you for all of your support at home...the success of your child is a partnership between school and home!