Weekly Newsletter Volume 8

In math, we concentrated on “Math Mountains” where we work on plugging numbers in to help us figure out story problems and make an equation. At the top of the mountain is the total amount. We know this is the biggest number. The two numbers at the bottom of the mountain are the “partners” when added together give us the total. For example if I have the problem, “I had 9 marbles. Five were green and the rest were orange. How many are orange?” I would use the math mountain to put 9, the total, at the top and 5 at the bottom of the mountain, since I know that is already one of the partners. I would put a box for the other partner since it is the “unknown partner.” Then I would count on from 5 and say 6, 7, 8, and 9 and hold a finger up for every number. Since I said 4 numbers, (6, 7, 8, and 9) my answer would be 4. So I could make an equation of 5+4=9. In Daily 5, we continued working on our 5 components during our rotations. We continued meeting for reading groups. Ask your child which Daily 5 component is their favorite. We also started working on the CAFÉ board. The “C” stands for Comprehension, the “A” is Accuracy, the “F” is fluency, and the “E” is expanding vocabulary. In Letterland, we learned the letters “e, the double ll and the digraph wh.” We worked with the word families –ell, -en, and -et. For the double ll, we only tap out one l. So for the word, “yell”, it has 4 sounds, but we only tap out 3 sounds, first the /y/, then the short /e/, and last one /l/. Our tricky words for the week that have been added to our word wall are “she, do, and we”. This week in Social Studies, we talked about being a good citizen. We talked about how there are many different types of citizens, but a citizen is a person who follows the rules and is a good role model to others. We are working on each of us becoming a “GREAT CLASSROOM CITIZEN!” Important information: -Box tops- Start cutting out Box Tops and sending them in a baggie to school with Miss Bethel 1st grade, Track 1 written on the baggie. We are in a class vs. class competition until October. Let’s raise money for our school 10 cents at a time! -Spirit Week-Mark your calendars! Spirit week is right around the corner. It will start on Friday, September 6th and go through the 13th, but we track out the 10th. Each class will be doing a coin drive, so start collecting your coins! -Scholastic Book Orders- Our first order is due this Thursday! -Spirit Day- Make sure to wear your Banks Road t-shirt or school colors (green and blue) every Friday!

Homework for the week of August 26th

Reading: (DAILY) • A new “Book in a Bag” will be coming home this week. This is a book that is on their level. Your child should continue to read their “Book in a Bag” several times throughout the week, but they can continue to read other books throughout the week. Once your child has completed their time, initial below to show that they have read each night. Monday: 10 minutes Tuesday: 10 minutes Wednesday: 10 minutes Thursday: 10 minutes Letterland: (Daily Activities) Practice the Tricky Words, List A, and New Sentences for Unit 6 See Step by Step Worksheet for more detailed directions! • Monday – Read circled words and sentences (Make sure to practice the review words from previous weeks) • Tuesday – Look Say and cover Activity • Wednesday – Write 5 sentences • Thursday – Practice Spelling Test Math: (due Friday) • Workbook page 3.1 (Homework- front and Targeted Practice- back) • Workbook page 3.2 (Homework- front and Remembering- back)

Weekly Newsletter Volume 7

In math, we continued to work on understanding subtraction word problems and write a subtraction equation. We looked for key verbs like “ate, flew away, lost, and broke” to let us know we are taking away. We took an assessment last week and the students did a great job! In Daily 5, we started our rotations like it will be for the remainder of the school year. Reading groups have been established and all of the groups meet with me last week. Our class has 5 different reading groups, so I can differentiate for each group’s strengths and focus on areas of improvement. Ask your child which color of reading group they are in and who is in their group with them. In Letterland, we learned the letters “o and the digraph sh.” We worked with the word families –op, -ot, and -ock. Our tricky words for the week that have been added to our word wall are “they and went”. This week in Social Studies, we went to the computer lab and researched different community helpers using the website http://teacher.scholastic.com/commclub/index.htm. We learned more about the jobs that different community helpers do. Important information: Clothing drive- The clothing drive is going through this Friday, August 23rd. We are in need to underwear, flip flops, and boy’s clothing. Box tops- Start cutting out Box Tops and sending them in a baggie to school with Miss Bethel 1st grade, Track 1 written on the baggie. We are in a class vs. class competition until October. Let’s raise money for our school 10 cents at a time! Spirit Week-Mark your calendars! Spirit week is right around the corner. It will start on Friday, September 6th and go through the 13th, but we track out the 10th. Each class will be doing a coin drive, so start collecting your coins! Scholastic Book Orders- Our first order forms went home last week. This is a great way to purchase books for your child at a discounted price. I have set it up so you can order everything on line if you would prefer. You go to scholastic.com/bookclubs and our class activation code is G229M. Please let me know if you need help with any of this! Spirit Day- Make sure to wear your Banks Road t-shirt or school colors (green and blue) every Friday! Open House- Thank you to everyone who came out last week to our Open House. I know that was a lot of information to take in at once, so I have posted the PowerPoint presentation to my Blackboard site. You can access it from our school website, then click on staff and find my name and then to the right you will be see a chalkboard with “Bb”. Click on that and look for Ms. Bethel. I have also posted the link to access BlackBoard on the classroom blog.

Homework for the week of August 19th

Reading: (DAILY) • A new “Book in a Bag” will be coming home this week. This is a book that is on their level. Your child should continue to read their “Book in a Bag” several times throughout the week, but they can continue to read other books throughout the week. Once your child has completed their time, initial below to show that they have read each night. Monday: 10 minutes Tuesday: 10 minutes Wednesday: 10 minutes Thursday: 10 minutes Letterland: (Daily Activities) Practice the Tricky Words, List A, and New Sentences for the week See Step by Step Worksheet for more detailed directions! • Monday – Read circled words and sentences (Make sure to practice the review words from previous weeks) • Tuesday – Look Say and cover Activity • Wednesday – Write 5 sentences • Thursday – Practice Spelling Test Math: (due Friday) • Workbook page 2.12 (Homework- front and Remembering- back) • Workbook page 2.14 (Homework- front and Remembering- back)

Weekly newsletter volume 6

In math, we started working on subtraction word problems. We know we have to start off with the bigger number and listen for key words like “rolled away”, “flew away”, “were eaten”, “gave away” and have to take that many away. So if we have the problem, “there were 6 birds and 2 flew away. How many birds are left?” They would start off with 6 circles, and we use circles since they are quick to draw, and cross off 2 and that would leave us with 4 circles. So we would write the equation 6-2=4. Then to show understanding we would need to write, “There are 4 birds left.” In Letterland, we learned the letters “I, w, x, g, and the digraph th.” We worked with the word families –in, -ick, and –ix. Our tricky words for the week that have been added to our word wall are likes, to, this, and he. For the digraph “th”, we learned it has two different sounds. It has the unvoiced th as in words like thick, thin, and thunder. And then it has the voiced th as in words like this, that, and then. Remember digraphs are two letters, but only make one sound. In writing, we worked on adding transitional words for the beginning, middle, and end of our story. For the beginning we use words like first. Then for the middle, we can use words like then, next, and second. For the ending, we can use words like last, finally, at last, and after. This week in Social Studies, we read more about the three different communities of rural, urban, and suburban. Then we compared how the three communities were alike and how they are different. Important information: - Assessments- To keep you better informed at home, I will be sending home assessments on Tuesday from the first few weeks of school for you to view your child’s grades. Please sign and date the attached sheet and return all assessments tomorrow. If I see that assessments are not coming back to school, I will stop sending them home and will ask that you make an appointment for a conference to discuss your child’s grades. - Scholastic Book Orders- Our first Scholastic book order forms are coming home this Wednesday. Scholastic provides a great way for you to build a great library at home at a very affordable price. If you are interested in buy any books, the order form and check (made out to Scholastic book club) will be due on Thursday, August 29th. If you would like to order online- see the attached sheet on how to do it on the computer. - “Book in a Bag”- The “Book in the Bag” for homework is meant to be a book on your child’s level that they can read independently. They can continue to read other books from the library or from home.

Homework for the week of August 12th

Reading: (DAILY) • A new “Book in a Bag” will be coming home this week. This is a book that is on their level. Your child should continue to read their “Book in a Bag” several times throughout the week, but they can continue to read other books throughout the week. Once your child has completed their time, initial below to show that they have read each night. Monday: 10 minutes Tuesday: 10 minutes Wednesday: 10 minutes Thursday: 10 minutes Letterland: (Daily Activities) Practice the Tricky Words, List A, and New Sentences for the week See Step by Step Worksheet for more detailed directions! • Monday – Read circled words and sentences (Make sure to practice the review words from previous weeks) • Tuesday – Look Say and cover Activity • Wednesday – Write 5 sentences • Thursday – Practice Spelling Test Math: (due Friday) • Workbook page 2.9 (Homework- front and Targeted Practice- back) • Workbook page 2.11 (Homework- front and Targeted Practice- back)

Homework for the week of August 5th

Homework for the week of August 5th – August 9th Reading: (DAILY) • Your child will be bringing home their “Book in a Bag.” This is a book that is on their level. Your child should continue to read their “Book in a Bag” several times throughout the week, but they can continue to read other books throughout the week. Once your child has completed their time, initial below to show that they have read each night. Monday: 10 minutes Tuesday: 10 minutes Wednesday:10 minutes Thursday: 10 minutes Letterland: (Daily Activities) Practice the Tricky Words, List A, and New Sentences for the week See Step by Step Worksheet for more detailed directions! • Monday – Read circled words and sentences (Make sure to practice the review words from last week) • Tuesday – Look Say and cover Activity • Wednesday – Write 5 sentences • Thursday – Practice Spelling Test Math: (due Friday) • Workbook page 2.5 (Homework- front and Targeted Practice- back) • Workbook page 2.6 (Homework- front and Remembering- back)

Newsletter volume 5

In math, we began a new unit. We have been working on finding the partners and the total, by counting up all of our circles from our circle drawing and then writing an additional equation. We talked about how the equal sign goes in the equation to show that the addition number sentence is true. So for example 7+2=9, would be a true addition sentence, since 7 plus 2, does equal 9. 8+1=10, would be not equal, since 8 plus 1 equals 9. We also worked on the counting on strategy. This is where we get the bigger number in our head and count on the lower number. For example if we have the problem 6+2, we could get 6 in our head and add two more to it, giving us 6: 7 and 8. This is a much easier and quicker strategy than using the counting all strategy where we count every number, like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and then adding two more 7 and 8. In Letterland, we worked on three more word families this week: -am, -an, and –ack. –Am and –An are glued sounds and they only make 1 sound. Have your child show you how to tap out the word “can.” It has three letters, but we only tap out two sounds. It would be /c/ and then /an/. –Ack is also special because the /ck/ only makes one sound as well. For the word “back”, it would be /b/, /a/, and then /ck/. Our tricky words last week were: and, like, and I. These words will be added to the word wall since they cannot be tapped out. Once we have gone over the words, they are expected to spell these words correctly in their writing and be able to read them. In Daily 5, we learned another component. This week we learned “Word Work” by working with the word families –am, -an, and –ack from Letterland. Monday we cut our words out and sorted them into their respective groups. Tuesday, we sorted the words and spelled them with Wikki Sticks. Wednesday we sorted the words and made them with magnetic letters. Thursday we sort the words and Rainbow Write them and on Friday we glue the words into our notebook in the correct sorts. In writing, we discussed how we hold writing conferences each day. As students are writing, I will come around and conference with one student at a time. I will tell them something they are doing great with and something they need to continue to work on. We also practiced putting periods at the end of complete thoughts. Remember- “Think a thought. Write a thought. Put a period.” This week in Social Studies, we learned about community helpers. We found that these people, teachers, fire fighters, police officers, mailmen, doctors, nurses, and trash men are all important people in each community. Important information: - Picture Day- Remember this Tuesday is picture day. If you want to purchase pictures, please make sure you have the money in your child’s folder Tuesday morning!