In Reading we have moved on from Connections to continue with Summary. We are practicing how readers use summary to remember and retell what they have read. They also use story structure of beginning, middle and end; as well as story elements (characters, setting, problem or goal, events and solution) to help them tell or write a summary. We will be moving on to the thinking strategy of Questioning soon! The students usually find this strategy a bit easier to understand and apply…it’s also fun!
In Writing we are going to be learning about how we write for our readers. Students will be asked to pay attention to things that help a reader or distract a reader from the text. Spelling, punctuation, grammar and handwriting are skills that we will be focusing on through this next unit. We will be using the genre of Fairy Tales to help us jump into some creative writing this month. Piggy backing off an already known story and changing it to make a whole new version is a great way for students to find success in writing a fiction story with a solid beginning, middle and end. This also reinforces what we’ve been learning about in reading, focusing on important story elements.
In Math we are focusing on Geometric shapes as well as addition, subtraction, the number system and problem solving. You will see more traditional flash cards coming home and I hope you take the time to use them with your child. Please continue to use the triangle flash cards as well. We have been working on+0, +1,+2, and Doubles. We will soon be moving on to Near Doubles. Practicing addition facts is a great way to build your child’s computational fluency.
Conferences are coming up. I will be contacting you if you aren’t scheduled yet. I am so excited to meet with you all and share your child’s academic strengths and create some goals to help them continue to grow as learners!
