Week 6  September 12-16, 2016


Thank you parents for all that you are doing with your children!  We had 100% of our homework come in and almost all of our readers returned for new readers this week.  This all may seem small, but believe me it is critical to the progress we will make this year . I have added a letter below from Ms. Ellingson who attended the Q&A at the coffee shop last week.  Hopefully this will answer some of your questions.

I had the pleasure of attending the first grade coffee shop conversations last week, and there were many questions regarding Spalding homework. We will be having K-2 Spalding/Singapore Night on Wednesday, September 14^th (from 6-8 pm), which should answer many questions, but until then, I would like to try my best to answer some questions that arose. You will notice a slight change going forward, in that there are three columns instead of two to write in. Many students were simply copying the words and not learning the correct spellings, so we took the spelling words off the Spalding paper that they will write on. These words with markings will go home on a master list every Monday (Tuesday in the case of a holiday) that the parents will hold onto. For the first time through, please read the words aloud to your child and have them write the words (with markings) in the first column. You will do around 10 words a day, Monday-Wednesday, to make a total of 30 words for the week. After the initial reading of the words, please check your child’s work, ensuring that all markings are there and that words are spelled correctly. Please also review their handwriting, reminding them to mind the midpoint and keep letters resting on the base line. After the first column is completed and checked, cover it up with a piece of paper and do the same process over in the second column. If your child is comfortable with the spelling at this point, they may copy the words in their best handwriting into the third column. However, if they need more practice, do the same process again, covering the previous two columns. It may seem like a tedious process, but when done correctly, it works! 30 words a week is a lot to learn but it is definitely doable if the process is done right!

 

Another thing you will notice on the master spelling list each week is a box of phonograms to practice. These 10 phonograms change weekly and are the phonograms being tested on Friday. There is also a copy work sentence almost every day to practice handwriting and finding particular parts of speech that are being covered in grammar. While this not collected as a grade, it is still important to practice. J 

I hope that this clears up any confusion regarding Spalding. We look forward to diving deeper into the curriculum with you at Spalding

Congratulations to Ethan for receiving the responsibility virtue award for the month of August.  We are very proud of you!

 

 

This Week in 1B:

 

Literature: We are continuing Cinderella stories from around the world! This week we will read about Pear Blossom and Yeh-Shen (the Korean and Chinese versions of our classic tale). On Friday we will reflect on our favorite version of the story and decorate a shoe for Cinderella.

Homework: Please bring in Owl at Home this week if you have not done so yet. We will begin reading it next week!

Spalding: We have 30 words as normal this week and will test on Friday! Homework will be the same formatting as last week since it worked well; however, we will make the word break down a little clearer on the master page for which words need to be practiced each night.

Monday: live, live, hill, late, big, bag, beg, bog, bug (10 words)

Tuesday: mother, three, land, cold, hot, hat, child, ice, play, sea, see (11 words)

Wednesday: bird, cool, earth, feed, fur, green, oil, paint, pool (9 words)

 

 

Phonograms to practice: h, m, n, o, u, ai, ea, ee, oi, ur

Writing: In writing, we have copy work and narration exercises from Mary Poppins!

 

 

Grammar: In grammar, we will begin our Question and Answer flow. Students will learn how to use this flow to name the parts of a sentence, with an emphasis on nouns and verbs this week. For example, “Dogs played.” Who played? The dogs (dogs = subject noun) What did the dogs do? They played (played = verb)

 

Poem: “The Pasture” by Robert Frost – Please practice stanza 2. We will recite next week!

We will start off our math week by reviewing everything we have learned about addition so far with some interactive games and new activities. I'm looking forward to seeing how much everyone has learned about addition facts within 10, number bonds, counting, and all other important addition skills. On Wednesday, we will take a cumulative addition test which will allow us to demonstrate what we know and also move on to a very new and exciting unit of subtraction! Many of us have already been so excited about subtraction and have demonstrated our "take away" knowledge so I can't wait to keep learning together.

Math: 

Homework-

Monday: Unit 3 Chapter 3 Test B

Tuesday: Cumulative Units 1-3 Test B

Wednesday: WB 36-37

Thursday: WB 38-39

Friday: WB 40-41 

Science:

This week we will continue to learn about habitats, and the plants and animals that live in them. The class will learn about two different water habitats:  ponds and oceans. The students will study the different ocean zones and learn about how the environment changes in deep water. We will wrap up our habitat unit by completing the world habitat mobile, and discussing similarities and differences between habitat.

 

History:

This week in History we will be learning about ancient history and civilizations from long ago.  Students will become aware of where they fit on the historical time line, and learn about how people from the past learned to exist with things that surrounded them.  They will learn about the basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter, and also realize how we also have those basic needs today.

Ask me about:

Who was the Cinderella from Egypt?
How many oceans and continents are there?
Ask me to add a number plus 2!
Ask me about the great artist I learned about in art.

 

 

Virtue of the month:

 

Citizenship:

We honor rules and laws and respond to authority in obedience.  We give of our time and abilities to serve others.  We uphold liberty and social equality through respect for individual differences and knowledge of our democratic system.


I really hope you know I am here for you.  If you think your child would benefit from morning tutoring just send an email.  I have already spoken to parents who have children with this need, but I am happy to accommodate.  Have a great week!