Have you heard about our caterpillars? Our Life Science unit will take place in the spring, but some 5th graders remembered learning about the life cycle of a monarch butterfly in first grade. They found some very healthy, large, fat monarch caterpillars by the track area on our playground and brought them to our classroom! We were even fortunate enough to WATCH one of the caterpillars split it's skin and see the chrysalis emerge! How exciting for them to see this event in action! We have SIX healthy chrysalis' hanging in our butterfly net in the classroom. The children are very excited to see the butterflies emerge next week or soon after! Teachers call this a 'teachable moment'. Even though we are not going to learn about the life cycle of monarch butterflies until spring, the opportunity to see this gives them prior knowledge. It will be wonderful to see it all over again next spring as a review and to reinforce their learning. Thank you Hamilton El fifth graders! I will post more photos as our 'friends' mature!
Reading Folders
Your child brought home a yellow folder today separate from the Friday Folder. It contains a copy of our first story from our reading series along with two decodable books. Please do not send this back in to school. The folder is for you to keep the many stories and decodable books to review and practice. Children need a lot of practice pointing to the words as they read to learn that we read left to right. They also need to learn that each time we read a word, their finger moves one word as well. Also, when reading to the end of a line, you sweep your finger back to the left and down one line. It also helps you to know that they are reading the correct word, not just memorizing and saying what they think makes sense. I always ask the children to point to the words as we read in small groups until later in the year, when I know that they do not need the support of pointing anymore. When they read to you at home, please ask them to point as they read aloud to you.
Homework
We are starting Word Strips this week. This week we are practicing words that have the short A sound in them. Have your child read one strip of words each night. If they struggle, you may need to do this a few times. Sign the bottom and have your child sign too. After the fifth strip is completed, send the entire paper back to school with your child. A small prize will be given to students next Friday if they have returned the paper. If you do not get it completed by Friday, send it in when you have finished it and I will save a prize for your child. We will do this for the next few weeks as we review a new vowel sound each week.
A math paper is also in today's Friday Folder. Please send that back in the Friday Folder on Monday morning and your child will get a sticker on his/her folder.
Read your story from the special yellow reading folder along with the decodable books. The vocabulary words are on the first page of the copied story for you to review. Keep the story and decodable books in the yellow folder at home. From now on, the new story and decodable books for the week will be sent in your child's Friday Folder.
Book orders
Look in your child's Friday Folder today for a book order. If you choose to order, checks may be made out to me or to Scholastic Book Club. Cash is fine as well. Send in an envelope and label the envelope with your child's name and "book order" written on the front. I will compile the order next weekend and send it out. Books usually come within two weeks after they receive the order. I do not do online ordering. Every dollar spent earns a bonus point for our class, which I use to order books for our classroom library!
Show and Tell
Next week please have your child bring in an item that has RED in it to help celebrate Clifford's birthday! Thanks to Missy Eustice (and her daughter Sydney), who volunteered to bake cupcakes for our class next Friday. If you have forgotten which day is your child's Show and Tell day, email me and I will let you know.
Student of the Week
We will begin next week! Each child will have one turn to be the student of the week. That student brings in photos, fills in a paper so we can learn his/her likes and dislikes, and we make a book for him/her. He/she also fills an Estimation Jar. We then guess how many are in the jar, then count and tally to find out if our guess is correct. The Student of the Week also helps with calendar, is the line leader, lights person, errand runner, and may eat lunch on Friday with Mr. Hoekstra and the other Students of the week from other classes if they choose to! Everyone loves to be the Student of the Week, but remember - we have 24 children in class, so it may be some time before your child has his/her turn. I promise I have never missed anyone in 21 years, so be patient!
Paper Newsletter
Be sure to look for my paper newsletter in today's Friday Folder for a brief synopsis in other subject areas for the week. If you enjoy this blog, please tell other parents from our room, so they can log on too! If you have not entered your email on the blog page, you may want to do that, as you will get a notice each time I post a new blog! It would be a helpful reminder to check in!
Have a great weekend everyone!
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