January 13th Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As I continue to work on reading assessments with the students it sure is exciting to see how much growth they've made since the beginning of the school year!  We have really been working hard in guided reading to think of a word that would make sense, when we are stuck.  We move on from there to check that word, and make sure it also looks right (that the letters in the word match the sounds we hear when we say the word).  These are two things you can support at home with the books that come home for your child to read.  The language sounds like this:  "What word would make sense?" and then "Check it, does that look right too?"

We will continue How-to writing this week.  We will continue our community writing piece on How to Build a Snowman, which is perfect timing with all of the snow we are getting!  The kids will be looking at "How-to Draw a ____" books about animals, robots, and dinosaurs next week in the art center, so look for some fun drawings to come home soon!

This week in math, we will...

• Begin learning about two-dimensional shapes (trapezoid, hexagon, triangle, rectangle, rhombus).
• Draw and discuss attributes of two-dimensional shapes.
• Sort two-dimensional shapes by a variety of attributes (size, color, shape).
• Play a game called "Last Shape In Wins." To play, students will take turns putting one pattern block at a time onto a large rhombus shaped grid. They will compose shapes to make other shapes within the grid.
• Play a game called "Pattern Block Puzzles." We will use pattern blocks to fill in a shape three different ways and discuss the differences and the number of pattern blocks used. 
• Compose shapes with patterns blocks.

This week in science, we will...

• Discuss things we push and things we pull.
• Learn that objects move when a force makes them move. We will do an experiment during which students place a stack of pennies on a strip of paper. They will pull the paper from under the pennies and observe that the pennies do not move. The pennies won't move because there isn't anything that pushed or pulled them.
• Learn how objects move on different surfaces. We will observe that rollerskates move farther on a wooden floor than they do on a carpeted surface because the carpet has more friction than the smooth surface. 

Our field trip to Skateland is this Thursday!  We will be eating lunch in our classroom prior to leaving.  Please send a cold lunch for your child on Thursday!  If you haven't paid for the field trip on Skyward yet, please do so ASAP!

Scholastic book orders are due this Friday, January 17th!  Place an order so we can earn some new great read-alouds for our classroom!  You can go online to order www.scholastic.com/bookclubs and type in the Online Code:  JBVLX

Special Points of Interest

• January 14- MAP Assessment (Start Math)
• January 17- End of 2nd Quarter
• January 20- No School- Professional Development
• January 21- MAP Assessment (Finish Math)
• January 24- Family Wellness Night (5:30-8:00 pm)