February 25th Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

 

This week in reading we will be taking a look at realism and fantasy.  We will be creating story maps and comparing and contrasting animal fantasy stories.  We will be discussing what real things the animals do and what things the animals do that are fantasy.  We will also be creating our own animlas doing something real and something that is fantasy.  We will continue reading biographies of famous people and writing short reports about them.  Due to the short week, we will not have new spelling words or a spelling test this week.

 

This week we will continue learning about different shapes, including polygons, spheres, cylinders, rectangular prisms, pyramids, cones, and cubes.  We are going to investigate the characteristics that these shapes display.  The children are going to complete many hands on activities using manipulatives.  Remember to keep practicing addition and subtraction facts to 16 at home, so your child can develop fact power.  We will begin assessing these facts next week.  Look for Home Links 7.3, 7.4, and a subtraction practice sheet to come home this week.
 

Special Points of Interest

• If you haven't turned in the field trip permission slip and money, please turn it in as soon as possible.  It is due this Thursday.
• Read Across America is this Friday afternoon.  If you plan on coming to read with our class, please return the note by this Thursday.
• Due to the short week, we do not have a Star of the Week this week.
• I hope you had a wonderful long weekend with your child!

 

Junior Achievement Teacher

Our classroom is in need of a parent volunteer who would be willing to teach Junior Achievement.  The JA unit is Our Families and it would be taught in either March or April.  This unit is five consecutive days for about a half hour each day.  All of the materials will be given to you.  Please let me know if you are interested!  Thank you!

Spelling, Challenge, and Vocabulary Words

there

an

see

eat

the

 

Challenge Words

investigate

curious

 

Vocabulary Words

knew

kind

house

friends

by

far

curious

idea

February 17th Newsletter

This week in reading we will continue to make inferences about the stories that we read by using the picture and story clues in the books.  Additionally, we will be focusing on the long e sound, spelled ee, ea, and e.  We will be reading biographies of famous people and writing short reports about them.  This week we will be reading stories about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

This week in math we will be analyzing data and creating graphs.  We will also be learning about different shapes, including polygons, spheres, cylinders, rectangular prisms, pyramids, cones, and cubes.  Look for Home Links 6.12, 7.1 and an addition practice sheet to come home this week.

This week we are going to begin our social studies unit “Our Country.”  We will be learning about President’s Day and why we celebrate it.  We will also learn about our country and where it is located on a globe.

 

Special Points of Interest

• Thank you for sending in soup cans!  We are still in need of a few more small washed soup cans you could save for us.
• Early Release this Friday, February 21st - The students will be released at 11:35 a.m.
• No School on Monday, February 24th - Enjoy your long weekend!
• Thank you to the parents who donated items for our Valentine's Day party and to our room moms for planning fun games and activities for the party.  As always, the kids had a blast!
  

Elaina is this week's star of the week!

Spelling Words

                                                

 

mitten

forest

bear

where

what

they

winter

would

when

mouse

 

**We will not have spelling homework this week, but we will have a spelling test on Friday.  The test will not be in sentence form.

February 10th Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

This week in reading we are going to be comparing and contrasting different stories with the story The Mitten by Jan Brett.  We will be focusing on the different aspects of a story, such as characters, setting, problems in the stories, and how they’re resolved.  We will also be working on infrencing in guided reading.  The students will not have a spelling homework packet this week, but we will have new spelling words.  Our chunk of the week will be -ip as in clip.

In math, we are going to continue practicing “What’s My Rule?” problems.  We will also provide experience finding the value of collections of quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies.  We will review time and introduce our math reference book.  We will be playing math games using our math triangles, please reinforce this at home by practicing them at home with your child.  Look for Home Links 6.8, 6.9, 6.11 and a subtraction sheet to come home this week.

A great resource for all subject areas is BrainPopJr.  From Thorson’s homepage, click on Online Resources, then click on the link for BrainPopJr.  Username:  cedarburg  Password:  cedarburg  There are many videos and games that are fun and educational for the children!

Special Points of Interest

• We will be taking our final math MAPS test this Tuesday.
• Valentine's Day classroom parties are this Friday, February 14th at 2:30.  Your child should bring their valentines to school by Thursday, February 13th.
• I hope you had fun at the winter carnival!  It was great to see so many families!
• Read to Succeed Reading Logs are due this Friday, February 14th, if your child is participating
• Scholastic Book Orders are due on Friday, January 17th. Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub Class Activation Code: JBVLX

Ryan is this week's star of the week!

We Need Soup Cans!

Uncle Sam Pencil Can

 

We will be making an Uncle Sam pencil can the week of President's Day.  We would appreciate any small washed soup cans you could save for us.  Please send them to school by Friday, February 14th.  Thank you for your help!

Scholastic Book Order

Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub
One-Time Class Activation Code: JBVLX

Dear Families,

Please remember to place your Reading Club orders by Friday, February 14th.

You can shop and submit your order online or return the printed order form with payment directly to me. No matter how you order, every purchase you make earns FREE Books and educational supplies for our classroom.

The arrival of the book box is always a highlight-thanks for making it happen!

Happy reading,

Mrs. Majinski

Ordering online is fast and easy:

• REGISTER at scholastic.com/readingclub
• ENTER the Class Activation Code at the top of this letter
• CHOOSE from thousands of print titles, value packs, and Storia eBooks
• SUBMIT the order to me by the due date at the top of this letter
• EARN FREE Books for our classroom too!

Spelling, Vocabulary, and Challenge Words

player

train

rain

I

day

Challenge Words

conditions

forecast

Vocabulary Words

extreme

predict

warm

sound

great

know

cold

their

February 3rd Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

This week in reading we will be working on comparing and contrasting.  We will be looking for things in the stories that we read that are alike and different.  We will also be revisiting compound words.  Additionally, we will be focusing on the sound ay and ai as in the words bay and mail.

 

In math, the children will continue to use the Addition/Subtraction Facts Table to solve subtraction problems.  We will also be learning about the centimeter as a unit of measure.  We will learn about fact families using fact triangles.  Fact triangles will be coming home this week with a parent letter explaining how to use them.  Please keep these fact triangles at home for practice.  Look for Home Links 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, and 6.7 to come home this week. 

We will be celebrating the 100th day of school Friday.  We will have fun exploring different activities using the number 100.

Last week we made predictions as to whether the groundhog would see his shadow or not.  Will we have six more weeks of winter or will we have an early spring?

 

Scholastic book orders are due next Friday, February 14th. You can go online to order www.scholastic.com/bookclubs and type in the Online Code: JBVLX, or you can send the order form and money to school with your child

 

Special Points of Interest

• MAPS testing cotninues this week.  We will finish our reading MAPS test on Tuesday and we will begin our Math MAPS test on Thursday.
• Valentine's Day classroom parties are on Friday, February 14th at 2:30
• I hope to see you at the Thorson Winter Carnival is this Saturday, February 8th from 11:00-3:00
• Reminder:  Read to Succeed Reading Logs are due on Friday, February 14th, if your child is participating

Tess is this week's star of the week!