* Note- anything underlined in the table above or highlighted below is a link *
Key to Abbreviations:
GP- The Gospel Project- Home Edition
HIG- Singapore Math Home Instructor's Guide
TB- Singapore Math Textbook
WB- Singapore Math Workbook
MM- Mental Math (see appendix in HIG)
CCC- Complete, check, correct
AAS- All About Spelling
FLL- First Language Lessons
SF- Sounds First Phonemic Awareness Program (click here and scroll down to Grade 1)
OPG- The Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading
SotW- Story of the World
G&B/A- The Good and The Beautiful, Arthropods
G&B/MB- The Good and The Beautiful, Marine Biology
COMING SOON...
Tuesday, September 28- Grammar Play Date, 3-4pm
Thursday, September 30- Spirit Day/Pizza Lunch/DOGS Day
Friday, October 1- End of 1st Quarter
Thursday, October 7- Co-Teacher training @ 9am (optional)
Tuesday, October 12- Teacher Training- No School for students
**Dear, Loving Parents**
It’s officially Fall, y’all...or so they say! As we enjoy these longed-for cooler days, I pray you'll find time and renewed energy for chores and play on top of your smooth-sailing school days. Put your child's boundless youthful energy to good use on those change-of-season jobs that must be tackled. They may not complete the job perfectly, but the lessons they will learn working alongside you are precious and invaluable!
Math:
This week we will finish up Units 4-5 and complete a cumulative assessment consisting of parts of Review #2 and Review #3. As with our prior math assessment, I will send home the students' ungraded tests for you to review with them the next day, and I will have a copy for myself to grade. Grades will be in Alma by the end of the week.
Heads up: Math will really ramp up soon when we introduce the addition strategy of making a 10. Your child will struggle mightily if they are not already firm and quick in parts of 10. Prepare your child now for success! Practice parts of 10 the next couple of weeks for as long as it takes for them to gain automaticity. Try to arrange your schedule now so that you're confident you'll be able to spend the full math hour with your child each day.
Reading:
It's phonogram assessment time again! The assessment is found in the binder behind the Language Arts tab. First, erase old marker or use a different color. Then re-administer assessment #1 and also administer assessment #2 by writing on the plastic page protector with a wet/dry erase marker. I will check for completion and progress on Tuesday (September 28).
This week we'll work on the vowel pairs EA and IE. We already know EA can say the /ā/ sound, but now we'll discover it's more common sound, /ē/. Add both of the sounds for IE to your phonogram practice, even though we will only cover /ē/ at first.
A reminder for teaching "sight words"- First, identify the letters in the word that are making their expected sounds. For the word friend, those would be almost all of the letters... f, r, n, and d. Then identify the part of the word that is making an unexpected sound. This part may be a true rule breaker/exception, or it may follow a rule we haven't taught yet. Regardless, it is making a sound we would not expect and therefore needs to be memorized. In our example of friend, this would be the letters "ie." We know they can make the /ē/ or /ī/ sounds, but they don't make the sound of /ĕ/ that we hear in friend. So we can sound out most of this word, but we will have to remember that the IE is a ruler breaker, and that this word says "friend."
Speaking of friends, it's almost FROG AND TOAD time!! Get "Frog and Toad All Year," by Arnold Lobel ready as we'll begin this delightful book next week.
Keep reviewing old phonograms as you focus on learning newly introduced ones!
Composition:
I'm noticing some students are forming their letters incorrectly and very inefficiently. Please watch closely when they write, reference the letter formation guidelines in your binder, and make sure to correct any errors. I'm working on correcting those when I see them in class as well.
Spelling:
We will test on Step 4 on Thursday and begin Step 5 on Friday. Please help your child keep their Spelling Journal orderly by labelling (or having them label) the sections "Step 5 words" and "Step 5 sentences." That helps us as we're doing our dictation in class.
History:
This week we venture into Ancient China and revisit the silkworm, which we covered recently in Science as well. Students will discover something very interesting about the conditions in which rice grows!
Questions for discussion: Compare what you know about butterfly cocoons to silkworm cocoons. Why do you think no one has made fabric out of butterfly cocoons? Can you think of a way to help Chin and his father plant rice seedlings without getting their feet so cold?
Journal sentence: China became famous for its silk.
Science:
Look over the insects we've studied so far this quarter: mosquitoes, fireflies, termites, silkworms, and bees. Help your child prepare a SHORT oral narration to share with us in class on Thursday about which insect they found most interesting, what about that insect intrigued them, and why they think God chose to make that insect that way. This can be as short as two sentences! For example: "I think the firefly is the most interesting insect because it makes cold light. God made them light up so they can send messages to each other."
Geography:
Memory Work:
"Persevere" memorization is due on Tuesday, 9/28. Many students have already shared their presentation of the poem and have done a beautiful job!
