week of February 25, 2019

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Newsletter (week of February 25, 2019)

Writing- So far in our “Building Writers” notebook, we have been working on telling a story in proper sequence using First, Next, Last.  We have been copying that story one sentence at a time and talking about what we have learned in each step.  We have also illustrated a picture to match the story. 

Reading- We have a new story this week and it is: If You Could Go to Antarctica and it is a nonfiction story.  Our essential question is: What would it be like to have an Antarctic adventure?  Our amazing words are: Antarctica, icebergs, continents, penguins, seals, whales.  We will be working on characters in the story along with classifying and categorizing.  We are also reviewing syllables (or parts of a word) like if we would say the word “pickle” the students would clap the syllables and clap 2 times.  We are working on rhyming families too and stressing that they need the same ending to rhyme (bat, cat, fat, rat, hat, sat, etc.)

Math- We have moved into Unit 4, Understanding Addition.  It is going great!  We have an understanding of counting two set of objects together to get a whole number as well as starting to write some number sentences and tell a story about the number sentence.  For example: Mrs. Borden gave out 2 stickers and Mrs. Jones gave out 3 more, how many stickers do we have in all?  2+3=5.  We are writing number sentences on dry erase boards and also using counting manipulatives to show the problem.

Science/Social Studies- We made it to the end of February and are ending it with a little dental health discussion.  We will then be so excited to start March with Dr. Seuss’ birthday, one of our favorite celebrations in school!  We will also be looking forward to winter ending and spring beginning so that we can see all the new life that it brings!

Important Dates:

Monday, February 25- Day 2

*Book Logs are due at the end of the month!*

week of February 18, 2019

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Newsletter (week of February 18, 2019)

Writing- We have just started Narrative Writing and have been copying sentences from another source.  We are talking about how to be a good writer and some of the things that we look for when writing.  We are very good at keeping 2-finger spaces in between the words that we are writing.  We are also using lowercase letters when writing the words and only using capital letters to start our sentences.  We also have been working hard on writing down the letters when sounding out words like when we did writings for the 100^th day.

Reading- We have a new story this week and it is: Goldilocks and the Three Bears and it is a classic fairy tale story.  Our essential question is: How can adventures cause trouble?  Our amazing words are: bears, porridge, cottage, big, middle sized, small.  We will be working on characters in the story along with reviewing authors and illustrators.  When we read aloud any story, we talk about important story elements (characters, setting, cause/effect, problem/solution, and/or plot of the story) and try and relate it to either other stories that we know or life experiences that we have had. 

Math- We wrapped up Unit 3 and have moved into the introduction to Unit 4, Understanding Addition.  We have started talking about counting all of the objects together when we see two groups of objects.  We will also be looking at different ways to make a number.  (5 could be 0 and 5 objects, 1 and 4 objects, 2 and 3 objects)  We will continue to countdown the days left of school and count how many days we have been in school and count orally to 100 by ones and tens.

Science/Social Studies- We explored some different animal habitats when reading our Reading Story, One Little Mouse.  We read about different animals that are still out and about in winter that do not hibernate.  We also reviewed germs and how to keep ourselves healthy along with how to wash our hands.  We have President’s Day coming up and Dental Health to explore as well.  We hope that you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day and we loved exchanging Valentines at our party, thanks so much! J

Important Dates:

Monday, February 18- School IS in session

Tuesday, February 19- NED program

week of February 11, 2019

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Newsletter (week of February 11, 2019)

Writing- The handwriting books are finally home!  They have been used hard and have served us well over the past 100 days and gave us a great foundation to become fantastic writers.  We start “Building Writers” from the same program on Monday.  We will be starting with Narrative Writing and focusing on what makes a sentence and how to stay on topic when given something to write about.  We have also included one clean copy of the letter formations to reference at home as well as fine motor activities that can be done at home to help improve handwriting.  Keep up the great work!

Reading- We have a new story this week and it is: One Little Mouse and it is an animal fantasy story.  Our essential question is: What adventures can animals have?  Our amazing words are: woodland, nest, vale, hollow, comfortable, shadows.  We will be working on sequencing the story as well as other sequencing activities.  We will continue to review all letters (capital and lowercase) along with their sounds and words that begin with each letter.  We will also review blending the sounds of the words in our head before reading it out loud.  Sight word practice is also important so that we can read those words quickly when they come up in our sentences that we are reading in class.  Awesome progress on those skills!

Math- We will continue to work on identifying missing numbers in a set of 3, using numbers 0-20.  For example: 12 _ 14 and we would write 13 in the blank.  We will also work on counting objects and writing the numbers along with comparing the two sets to identify more and few.  We just wanted to let you know that the 100^th day was a hit!  Along with the fabulous 100 day costumes, the class had a special snack, did several themed centers, put the last piece into our 100 day puzzle, read some 100 day books, and thoroughly had a great experience.

Science/Social Studies- We have a lot to look forward to in February!  Our Valentine Party is on Friday and we have the actual holiday on Thursday.  We also have Presidents’ Day coming up shortly after Valentine’s Day.  We also make sure to include some Dental Health this month and stress the importance of taking care of your teeth.

Important Dates:

Monday, February 11- Day 7

Friday, February 15- Spartan Dress Down Day, $1 Donation and Valentine’s Day Parties