January 28th - February 1st

Brrr!!We went on a journey into the Arctic to learn about polar bears this week as we read our nonfiction text, Polar Bears by Laura Marsh.  We read other texts to understand that reading additional texts can help us understand a topic better.  We also completed a STEM activity where the students had to create a polar bear habitat and include two living and non-living elements of a polar bear's natural habitat.  

Vocabulary from the book:

Arctic: the area near the North Pole

cub: a baby bear

den: a  hidden hole where a wild animal lives

float: to rest or move in water without sinking

snatch: to grab quickly

Polar Bear STEM

That is a seal in the water and a polar bear in its snow den.

Here are just a few activities you can do at home with your child this weekend: 

• Make a bear “den” in your house by placing a cover over a table. The students know the importance of the polar bear’s den.
• Make a bear snack using one circular apple slice for the head, one banana slice for the nose, two raisins for eyes, and two mini marshmallows for ears.

For access to leveled books and their 20 minute reading time you could use:

Kids A-Z Login Instructions

Step 1: Go to www.kidsa-z.com

Step 2: Enter or choose the teacher's username, jrodgers4

Step 3: Their student number is their username and password

Please practice sight words! Majority of students are doing great with these so if you are practicing at home, thank you! The school year is going by quickly and if they are behind on sight words this will hurt their reading and writing.

Here are a couple websites to help with different strategies to use at home: 

https://www.k12reader.com/sight-word-teaching-strategies/


https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/sight-words-101.html 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsAsYlJSSx-qcUr6D4i-LPBvkV2Suy0iV

Letters and Sight Words of the Week 2018-2019

Date	Letter/Blend/Digraph	Sight Words
August 1	FIRST WEEK
August 6
August 13		I, it, is
August 20		a, as, do
August 27	M and short A	am, and, an
September 4	S	so, see, me
September 10	T	to, the, my
September 17	N	not, on, no
September 24	FALL BREAK
October 1	Short I	at, in, will
October 8	F	he, she, we
October 15	P and Short O	said, saw, was
October 22	C (hard and soft)	can, came, come
October 29	H	his, help, her
November 5	B	big, by, be
November 12	Short U	but, up, us
November 19	THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
November 26	R	ran, run, him
December 3	Short E	when, then, well
December 10	G (hard and soft)	go, give, get
December 17	D	did, had, has
January 7	W/Wh	what, were
January 14	L	like, let, look
January 22	J	put, out, now
January 28	K	must, into, all
February 4	Y	your, you, yes
February 11	V/Z	very, love, of
February 18	FEBRUARY BREAK
February 25	Q	want, went, who
March 4	X	little, have, with
March 11	Bossy R (ar, or, ir, ur, er)	are, for, from
March 18	Long A	ate, make, say
March 25	Long E	please, eat, here
April 1	APRIL BREAK
April 8	Long I	find, fly, why
April 15	Long O	home, going, this
April 22	Long U	new, some, they
April 29	OO	soon, good, too
May 6	OU/OW	down, our, how
May 13	Sh,Th,Ch	there, where
May 20	LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL

At this point the students should be writing their own work in the homework notebooks in pencil using proper letter and number formation. Please do more than one day per page and label each day so I am not having to search all over for it when I go to check it. Thanks!

Other ELA standards that will continue to be covered this Quarter that should be practiced and encouraged during homework:

• Identify all 52 letters
• recognize rhyming words and produce rhyming words
• isolate and produce initial, medial vowel and final sounds in CVC words (consonant vowel consonant, ex: bus, cat, log, etc...)
• Produce all 23 consonant sounds this includes hard and soft c and g
• produce all 5 short vowel sounds
• Read 50 or more sight words
• Read at a level C book independently or higher

Writing this unit students will:

• Students will be able to provide reasons and consequences to persuade their audience
• Students will communicate their opinion to individuals in their classroom and beyond.
• Write detailed sentences that include grade appropriate sight words and phonetically spelled words. 
• Independently begin to capitalize the first word in a sentence AND the pronoun I.
• Recognize and names ending punctuation (period, question mark and exclamation point) AND begins to use them in their writing.
• Write letters for most consonant and short vowel sounds.
• Multiple meaning words are brought back this Quarter, we visited them in Quarter 1. (ex: knowing duck is a bird and learning the verb to duck)

We continued to work with the addition strategy of using a number line and reviewed using circles as a math drawing to solve our addition problems. 

We took our addition to 5 post-test today and we will be moving into subtraction next week.  

Also in quarter 3:

• Count to 100 by ones and tens
• Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group. For example: by using matching and counting strategies.
• Compare two numbers between 1 and 10 presented as written numerals.
• Fluently add and subtract (subtraction coming next week) within 5.

Science Lab was all about rocks on Monday! The students sorted rocks by color and other attributes. The students also got the opportunity to dig for rocks in sand buckets to start their own rock collection! How awesome is that?! 

In this unit, students will: 

• Observe, classify and arrange objects/organisms into groups of living and non-living things. 
• Construct their own explanations about how they can tell the difference between living and nonliving objects. 
• Develop a natural interest in the world around them. 
• Observe, compare, and sort rocks and other earth materials by their physical attributes.

In this unit, students will:

• Describe Martin Luther King Jr. and why he is celebrated (MLK Day)
• Identify Presidents day and describe people celebrated (George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, current President) 
• Identify the following Symbols: Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and White House

Civic Government and Understandings

• Demonstrate an understanding of good citizenship. 
• Explain why rules should be followed.
• Describe examples of positive character traits exhibited by good citizens such as honesty, patriotism, courtesy, respect, pride, and self-control.

In the homework we've been having them practice their street address as this is an important thing for them to memorize but it is also a grade in quarter 4. For the grade they will need to: State the street address, city, state and country in which the student lives.

We will be discussing various ways to prevent the spread of germs. Please encourage good hygiene at home: brushing teeth, washing hands after coughing, sneezing, blowing nose, proper use of a tissue, etc ... 

Upcoming School Events:

Monday, February 4th thru Friday, February 8th, Counselor Appreciation Week

Tuesday, February 5th, 7:30 am, Local School Council meeting

Thursday, February 7th, Class and Spring Pictures

Monday, February 11th thru Friday, February 15th, Teacher Appreciation Week

Tuesday, February 12th, Papa John's Pizza Night

Thursday, February 14th, Progress Reports go home

Monday, February 18th thru Friday, February 22nd,  Winter Break, No School

Monday, February 25th thru Friday, March 1st, Read Across America Week

Tuesday, February 26th, 5:00-8:00 pm, Firehouse Sub Night

Friday, March 1st, 7:00-7:45 am, FBI Breakfast

Friday, March 1st, 6:00 pm, Talent Show