Longer DEET, please read :)

Hello Families,

Happy October!

We are into the routine of "doing school" now. I have been meeting with reading groups while the kids work independently on literacy tasks. During math, sometimes the lesson is taught to the whole group, and other times it is differentiated and taught to small groups while the rest of the students work independently on math tasks. We have also started our Friday mystery reader and Thursday volunteers. If Thursdays do not work for you, but you find yourself with a day off and nothing to do, let me know and we would be happy to have you!

Students will start bringing home decodable readers. These are white, copied books with green and red underlining. The words underlined in green are words that match the phonics concept (for this week, the initial sound of t). Words underlined in red are called "red words." Those are sight words that have been taught. Students should be able to read those words automatically with no sounding out. Students have practiced these books in class several times, so by the time they are brought home, students should be able to read them with few to no errors. Students are welcome to color these books and add them to the home library.

In phonics this week, we learned, t and i. The red words taught were: go and like.

We have started our tree unit! We have spent our first week listing questions we want answers to and figuring out what makes something alive (it moves/grows, eats and breathes. Today, we went on a nature walk in the neighborhood to look for signs of life and to observe different trees and leaves. Unfortunately, we also learned that bees and wasps are still alive and well this time of year. :( We learned that doing research can lead to more questions. The kids learned from a text that leaves get air (breathe) through small holes in the leaves. This raised the following question: Are trees alive in the fall/winter when they do not have leaves? Next Thursday we will learn from experts and trees at DU!

In math, we have moved from studying numbers up to 5, to studying numbers to 10. We use a ten frame with cubes on it to answer the following questions: How many on top? How many on bottom? How many in all? How many more to make 10? We are working on addition concepts, but not in equation form yet.

Parent/teacher conferences will be held next week. If you have not signed up for a time yet, please let me know. You do not need to bring your child, but if you need to, that is fine. If you did not specify on the signup genius, I am assuming you will be attending the conference in person. If you would rather have a zoom conference, please let me know.

On Monday, October 31st, we will have a school wide Halloween celebration. Children are allowed to wear their costumes to school, but save the masks and accessories until the parade. The entire school will parade around the block, starting around 1:45 and then there will be celebrations in the classrooms after. If the costume has weapons for accessories, those need to stay at home.

Today, we took our first spelling test! The spelling test included our first 5 sight words of the year: the, is, a, and, of. If the students spelled the word correctly, they colored in the star. If the spelling was incorrect, I modeled the spelling then they re-wrote the word on the side. Then, they colored in the heart to show that they need to memorize this word "by heart". I have included flash cards with these words on them for further practice at home. I will re-test these students next Friday. It takes us about 2 weeks for each group of sight words so the spelling test will occur every other Friday. Copies of the spelling test will be sent home in their binders in the LEAVE AT HOME pocket.

Please reach out with any questions. Thank you!

Important Dates

10/14: Quinn's birthday

10/18: Ben's birthday

10/12-10/13: Conferences (after school)

10/14-10/17: No School

10/31: Halloween parade and parties

As always, please reach out with any questions.

Have a great weekend,

Grace