Homework for the week of October 8th

Math	Complete attached Math Expressions pages: 3-10 (Homework- front and Remembering - back) 311 (Homework- front and Targeted Practice- back)
Spelling	Sight Words this Week:                                                                                              you        we       I       back      came *As the year progresses, we will be creating a list of sight word activities that your child can choose from each week. Your child needs to choose 2 of the 6 activities listed.  In addition, they should also read the sight words to a parent each night. Pick 2 of the choices below: *Write each sight word 3x each. *Use each sight word in a sentence. *Rainbow write your words in 2 colors for each word. *Write your sight words in ABC order. *Write each word neatly. Trace over all the vowels in each word with a blue crayon. *Write a story and use each of your sight words. Underline each word as you use it in the story.
Reading	Read your “Book in a Bag” to Mom or Dad and parents complete the Parent Participation Sheet.  Take time to really work through the questions with your child.  Eventually they will be able to answer most of the questions without much prompting.  Your child should continue to read their “Book in a Bag” several times throughout the week. *Please make sure the “Parent Participation sheet” is filled out and returned on Friday, with the book.
Wilson Fundations	Complete the Wilson Fundations sheet.  (If you have been keeping the cut apart letters, add the diagraphs to your letters.) *Please make sure this sheet is turned in on Friday with all of the other homework.

Reminder:  Please return your assignments completed, including name on all of the homework, in your Homework Folder on Friday morning!  J

Homework for the week of October 1st

Math	Complete attached Math Expressions pages: 3-7 (Homework- front and Targeted Practice - back) 3-8 (Homework- front and Remembering - back)
Spelling	Sight Words this Week:                                                                                              as      his     has     will     an *As the year progresses, we will be creating a list of sight word activities that your child can choose from each week. Your child needs to choose 2 of the 5 activities listed.  In addition, they should also read the sight words to a parent each night. Pick 2 of the choices below: *Write each sight word 3x each. *Use each sight word in a sentence. *Rainbow write your words in 2 colors for each word. *Write your sight words in ABC order. *Write each word neatly. Trace over all the vowels in each word with a blue crayon. *Write a story and use each of your sight words. Underline each word as you use it in the story.
Reading	Read for at least 10 minutes each night.  Write the titles and minutes on the Reading Log on the back of this assignment sheet.
Wilson Fundations	Complete the Wilson Fundations sheet.  (If you have been keeping the cut apart letters, add the diagraphs to your letters.) *Please make sure this sheet is turned in on Friday with all of the other homework.

Newsletter for October 1st

Welcome back!  I trust everyone had a wonderful track out and is ready to get back into the swing of things.

    I really enjoyed meeting with everyone last month for conferences. It really is amazing how involved all of you are in your child’s lives. They are lucky to have such wonderful parents.  Thank you for all of the support you give them and me! * We will meet again in the 3^rd quarter or beginning of 4^th quarter, but please let me know if you ever have questions, concerns, and/or comments and we can most certainly meet when needed!

     For the 2^nd quarter, our specials will be as followed:  Monday is Music, Tuesday is Art, Wednesday and Thursday are both PE, and Friday is Technology. *Students will have a chance to get new library books in the morning before the bell rings.

Important Information:

-                Scholastic book order- October Scholastic book orders will be coming home this Thursday. This of course is completely optional, but it is a great opportunity to order some books for your child. If you are interested, check and order form will be due to me by Friday, October 19^th. If you would like to order online, our class activation code is: G229M.  You can access that at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs.

-                Apple Day- A huge thank you goes out to all the parents who helped make Apple Day a huge success. Thank you for donating items and donating your time. A very special thank you goes to Mrs. Perez, Mrs. Landron, Mrs. Axman, Mrs. Santiago, Mrs. Bakogiannis, and Mrs. McLamb for being such amazing volunteers. Apple Day wouldn’t have been the same without you wonderful ladies!

-                JDRF- This year we will be doing a walk for the “Junior Diabetes Research Foundation” where students will be learning how to prevent this and what we can do to stop it. They will go to PE on Monday and get information to come home. Then on Tuesday, October 16^th, we will be doing a walk from 9:20 to raise money for this cause. See information coming home this week!

Apple Day Sign up

Next Tuesday, September 11th, will be Apple Day. I will be sending out a Sign Up Genius asking for materials and volunteers. Please let me know if you do not recieve an email for this fun and exciting day!

Newsletter Volume 9

In social studies, we started learning about families. We discovered that families can be made up of all different people, and just like individuals, they are all different. We will start sharing our family history projects.  I hope that the kids will have a great time sharing information they learned about their family and I can’t wait to hear the rest of the projects this week.

In math, we started working with “Math Mountains” using subtraction word problems. Since we know the total, that goes at the top, then we know how many were eaten, taken away, lost, etc. so that goes at the bottom. So we get that number in our head and count up to the total. So, if we have the word problem: “I had 7 pennies and spent 3 pennies on a pencil. How many pennies do I have left?” We would get 3 in our head and count up to 7. So it would be 3 in our head- and now count on with our fingers 4, 5, 6, 7. So the answer would be 4 pennies left.

In Wilson Fundations, we started Unit 3 working with digraphs.  Digraphs are two consonants that together make one sound and they only get one tap. We focus on 5 digraphs and they are as followed: “sh, th, wh, ch, and ck”. We know that the digraph “ck” is special because it can only go at the end of the word.

In reading, we focused on the words to, a, was, then, and this. 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 Writing, we worked on adding dialogue to our small moment stories. We can add dialogue to add specific things that people say to add more details to our story.

Important information:

-          Conferences- I will be holding conferences next Wednesday and then on Wednesday, September 26^th.  I have sent conference confirmations to everyone.  If something comes up and you are unable to keep your conference time, please email me at cbethel@wcpss.net or call the school at 890-7333 as soon as possible and we can reschedule. Please make sure to be on time, since conferences are schedule back to back. Thanks and I look forward to meeting with you!

-          Apple Day- Next Tuesday, we will be having an apple day.  It will be a day where everything has apple related activities. I will need materials and volunteers in order to make this day a huge success.  See the “Sign up Genius” coming through email today to sign up.  Thanks so much for your help with this!

-          Track Out Packet- Not sure what to work on during Track Out? I will be sending home a Track Out packet for students to work on during Track Out. This is completely optional, but will keep skills fresh during our time out.  

-          Picture Retakes- RETAKE Picture Day for Track 1 is Tuesday, Sept. 11th. This is for anyone who was absent, forgot picture money on the original day, didn't like original pictures (must bring packet of pictures back).

-          Spirit Week- Starting this Friday will be Banks Road spirit week. The days will be as followed- Friday: wear your school colors or Banks Road t-shirt, Monday: Hat day, Tuesday: Backwards day, and then we will be tracked out for the rest.

Homework for the week of September 4th

Math	Complete attached Math Expressions pages: 3-5 (Homework- front and Targeted Practice - back) 3-6 (Homework- front and Remembering - back)
Reading	Read for at least 10 minutes each night.  Write the title on this sheet. Tuesday_______________________________ Wednesday _____________________________ Thursday ________________________________
Social Studies	Please have your child write down the names of the people who live in their house on the apple sheet.  Don’t forget to have them include themselves.  (Also, please do not have them color, we will do this at school because it is hard to erase when crayon is on top.) *Just a reminder- Family History Projects are due this Friday!

Reminder:  Please return your assignments completed, including name on all of the homework, in your Homework Folder on Friday morning! 

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 Wilson’s Fundations, we finished up Unit 2 where we were tapping out the beginning, middle, and ending sound of a word so we can spell and read the word correctly.  We started a new unit this week. See the yellow sheets coming home on Tuesday for more information about the digraphs we will be learning.

In Daily 5, we continued working on our 5 components during our rotations. We continued meeting for reading groups and this week was the first week we had differentiated word study groups. Ask your child what their sorts were for the group and which Daily 5 component is their favorite.

In writing, we continued working on “Small Moment” stories.  We read the story “A Chair for my Mother” by Vera B. Williams and discussed how she took the small moment of coming home from shopping with her mother to find their apartment on fire.  Vera B. Williams made sure to focus in one moment and included lots of specific details like what type of shoes they just bought and the color of flowers they each liked.

Important information:

- Spirit Day- Make sure to wear your Banks Road t-shirt or school colors (green and blue) every Friday!

-     Family History Project- The sheet I passed out was just a few suggestions.  My goal is for your child to learn something about your family they never knew and for it to be fun.  If you would like to help your child share their information, just write a note in the Home-School Connection.  Projects are due by Friday, September 7^th.