Weekly Update
January 8th-12th
Hi Parents!
It was so great to see everyone's smiling faces again. I loved hearing about everyone's break and seeing how much they've grown! (Crazy what you can see after three weeks!) Everyone got right back into the swing of things this semester, remembering all of their routines and SOAR behavior. I am looking forward to our second semester, all of the events that will take place and the growth we will see in each student.
I was totally surprised this afternoon with my birthday celebration with the class <3 It warmed my heart so much. Thank you for thinking of me and being a part of making my birthday and the holiday a little more cheerful. Every card I received brought me so much joy and being able to celebrate it as I came back this week with this extraordinary group of 'little' humans reminds so much of why I love being a teacher. It's always the kids.
Some key notes for next week:
Please make sure you read the letter about the 100th day of school project due on January 26th. The letter went home in your child's blue Thursday folder yesterday.
Math:
In math, we will begin discussing subtraction. This can be a little tricky just coming from addition, so we will definitely watch the sign and will discuss that for subtraction, the bigger number always has to come first and the answer to a subtraction problem is called the difference. Just like with addition, we will talk about different strategies we can use to help us solve subtraction problems: Draw a picture, use objects, use a number line, and use our fingers. Students will get to play "Flip and Find the Difference" with a partner. Each student gets to flip over a playing card and they will write the number sentence that goes with it (making sure they write the bigger number first.) Then students will use a strategy to solve. Students will also get to play "Bears in a Cave." Students will start with a certain number of bears, flip over a card and take that many bears out of the cave. They will then write the number sentence to match and choose a strategy to solve. Students will also get to play subtraction tic tac toe and do a snowman subtraction math craft.
Home practice: Give students subtraction number sentences/equations and word problems (Ex- The snowman had 9 buttons and 3 fell off. How many buttons are left?) and have them practice using different strategies to solve. Have students work on finding and remembering all the combinations of 10 and number less than 10 .Students can continue practicing counting by 10's to 100, counting backwards from 20-0, and working on counting by 1's from 0-40 (If they know how to count to 40, students can count higher and skip counting by 2's, 5's etc.)
In writing, we will review subjective pronouns. We will also respond to our big book and shared reading through writing in our journals.
Home practice:
Have students practice sounding out words and writing down the sounds they hear on paper and draw pictures with details and label their pictures. Students can also practice writing a sentence about their picture using finger spaces between words and punctuation at the end..
In reading, we will work on the letters and sounds of z and k and short e and short u.
We will also work on reading some decodable books. During or whole group reading, we will listen to/read the stories, An Orange in January, Ron with Red, Farms Around the World, and Farmer's Market.
Home practice: When reading books at home talk about the books. Talk about how we/ characters are feeling or what you're thinking about as you read. What did you find interesting?
In phonics, we will work on the letters z, k, and short e and short u and what sounds they make and how to write the lowercase letters. Please see the phonics parent letters below which will give some additional information.
Our high frequency words this week are: this, that, there. Please continue to practice HFW nightly.
Review: a, the, can, I, for, to, play, see, like, have, you, who, what, where, so, want, look, go, come, said, saw, be, he, she, me, we, black, blue, brown, yellow, are, with, little, find, no, they, help, jump, was, will, went, one, two, three, four
Home practice: Have students practice writing upper and lowercase letters and practice sounds. Students can also find things around the house that begin with these letters. Present the different letters and have them point to the corresponding letter/sound. Letter sound resource video
Social Studies:
We will extend our learning about maps and globes. We will talk about map keys and connect this to our previous symbols unit. We will also discuss the importance of naming a map and how it can help the reader know what they are looking at just like a title of a book. We will explain how we identify land and water on maps and on globes and discuss that maps and globes show a view from above and show features in a smaller size. Additionally, we will learn about our cardinal directions: north, south, east, and west. We will apply knowledge of cardinal directions to a map and determine what direction we would need to get somewhere or go from one place to another. We will also answer questions about a neighborhood map. Together as a class, we will create a map of our classroom as a view from above.
Please start working with students on memorizing their home address including city, state, and country.
Here are the standards:
SSKG2 Explain that a map is a drawing of a place and a globe is a model of Earth.
a. Differentiate land and water features on simple maps and globes.
b. Explain that maps and globes show a view from above.
c. Explain that maps and globes show features in a smaller size.
SSKG3 State the street address, city, state, and country in which the student lives.
IB Unit:
We will continue our 3rd IB unit.
Transdisciplinary theme: Where we are in place and time
Central Idea: Discoveries are made through exploration.
Lines of Inquiry:
* Patterns around the world (day/night chronological vocabulary ) (change)
*Explorations of journeys and personal history. (perspective)
* Tools we use to determine location and understanding our relation to it. (connection)
* Traditions and holidays around the world (connection, perspective)
Key Concepts: Perspective, Change, Connection
Related Concepts: Cycles, Subjective, Relationships, Systems
Transdisciplinary skills:
* Thinking: analysis, dialectical thought, synthesis
* Social: cooperation, adopting a variety of group roles
* Communication: all
* Self-Management: spatial awareness, organization, time management
* Research: formulating questions, planning, recording data, presenting research data
Attitudes: curiosity, commitment
Learner Profile: Communicator, Open-minded, Inquirer
Home practice: Have students practice saying the central idea, discuss the learner profiles and the attitudes of and how students can display these throughout the day.
Final reminders...
- Stay warm and dry!
Have a great weekend!