Dear Parents, February 6, 2011
It was wonderful seeing so many of you at Parents Day. I hope you enjoyed your time with us. As promised while in the computer lab…here is the website we were working on: http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/ – Enjoy!! Remember, by the end of first grade students should know their facts to 20 by heart – practice Math Lines on the site!
Our reading strategy this week is questioning. A good reader stops while reading and asks themselves questions about the story. The comprehension skill that helps us in understanding what we read is noting details. Paying close attention to the details given in a story will help us remember and understand what happens. Our phonics focus is the long /e/ sound spelled with the CVCe pattern, CV (as is me) and with the vowel pairs ee (feet) and ea (seat). Please take time to point out these spelling patterns when reading with your child. Please don’t “jump in” and tell your child the word – point out the final, silent e and that because of the e, the first vowel uses the long sound. Point out the vowel pair and that in those words, the first vowel uses the long sound and the second vowel is silent (when two vowels go “a walkin, the first one does the “talkin”). Reading will take just a bit longer, but taking the time to “see” the patterns while reading will benefit your child greatly. We will also review the final clusters of ft, lk, and nt. Our spelling words are from unit 28 and all have the long /e/ sound. (Don’t forget about spellingcity.com!) Our grammar focus is on naming words for places and things.
Math this week, finds us working on number patterns. We will focus on 2’s, 5’s, 10’s and 1 more or less and 10 more or less. We will also be reviewing place value (tens and ones) and word problems. In religion, we are learning how Jesus shows God’s Love (through Bible stories) and in social studies we are continuing with our study of natural resources.
Please remind your child to bring their library book to school tomorrow so that they may check out a new one.
Water bottle sales continue on Tuesday and Thursday. Thank you for your support!
Valentine’s Day is next Monday. We will have a party in the afternoon and I am asking that your child bring in a valentine for each child. I have included a list of the children. Please have your child sign their own name on the card and address the card with the names of his or her classmates. Although this takes some time, it will help with penmanship and name recognition.
Have a wonderful week. If you have any questions or concerns please let me know.
Mrs. Manning
