We had a great trip to the Arboretum today!  Thanks to the super-star chaperones who joined us!  The kids did a great job listening and learning about trees and their parts.  

Reading:  We spent a lot of our reading time this week enjoying Halloween books.  We are talking about rhyming and syllables.  In reading groups, students are getting books for their book bags and enjoying reading independently.  Keep encouraging your child to point to each word.

Writing:  We talked about all the things we can do when it is time to write words.  We can

-say the words to a friend

-count the words

-stretch the words

-listen and write the sounds we hear

-go back and point and read

Next week we will start a new bend in our narrative writing unit.  

Math:  In math this week we continue to practice putting numbers in order and subitizing.   Subitizing is the ability to 'see' a small amount of objects and know how many there are without counting. For example-when you roll a dice you know how many it is without counting.

Science:  We learned about tree parts and did some classifying of trees.

Halloween: You should have received a sign up for our Halloween Party.  Everyone is invited to attend the parade and party.  If you want to help-please show up any time after 1:00!

Kids should not wear their costumes to school.  However, if there are base pieces that your child can wear that will be worn as part of the costume or under the costume, it is helpful if those pieces are worn to school.  Parade starts at 1:30 and party immediately follows.

Finally-don't forget 50th day of school is November 7th!  Dress like a child from the 1950s on that day!

Halloween is in the Air!

It was great seeing everyone this week for conferences.  It is always exciting to see all the progress the kids have made.  If you left with any questions, please reach out to me and we can figure it out!

Reading:
We will be reading a lot of non fiction books about fall and trees this week.  We will also be reading a lot of fun Halloween books.  We will practice our rhyming and syllables.

Writing:
We are in the midst of our narrative writing unit.  Students are writing stories about events in their lives.  We discuss beginning, middle and end when we write.  If we discussed your child having a hard time coming up with topics during writing, you can help by pointing out all the fun things they do and how they write about those events at school.

Math:
We are working on writing  numbers in order and counting objects in different configurations.

Halloween Schedule:
 Students will get into their costumes at 1:15 and we will have a parade at 1:30.  The parade is an Irving tradition and it is a lot of fun to watch.  Please come see it!  Following the parade we will have a class party.  Be on the look out for more information about this party and how you can help in the next few days.  (Please note that some older grades may have their parties at different times. )

Upcoming Dates
 October 31:  Halloween Parade and Fall Party (see above)
November 7th:  50s Day (50th day of school)  Your child can dress up like it is 1950.  We will have a sock hop, a 50's day snack and learn about life in 1950.
November 8th:  Institute Day- No school
November 23-25:  Thanksgiving Break

I hope you all had a great weekend!

The Fun Run is around the corner!  If you have not already contributed, please consider donating now.  The kids are all excited about getting a trophy for our classroom!
Here is a link with more information.

FUN RUN Information

Reading: 

Students are learning about apples while reading non-fiction books.  We are learning the difference between fiction and non-fiction and also learning about the jobs of author and illustrator.  Route to Reading started this week.  Guided Reading groups also started this week during Daily 5.

Writing: 

Students are writing "teaching books" in Writers Workshop.  We learned about adding pages and staying focused on a our topic.  We are also learning how to stretch our words and say them slowly so we hear all the sounds.

Math:

This week in math we learned about number sentences and practiced numeral formation of zero, one, two and three.  

Apples:

We will be making apple sauce on Friday!  Please send in an apple that we can peel and cook.  Mmmmm....Applesauce!

Upcoming Dates
October 11:  Picture Day- Pictures will be outdoors this year!   Dress your child ready for outside smiling.

October 12: Hispanic Heritage Presentation in the morning for the whole school has been moved to a date in November.
Author Visit from Lori Degman, Mr. Degman's mom, in the afternoon!

October 14:  Fun Run:  This is a big fundraiser for our school.  The kids love running around the field and you are welcome to come and cheer them on for a half hour that morning.  (Times are being finalized.)  Please consider raising money for our PTO.

October 19:  Academic Fair

October 27th:  Morton Arboretum