* Note anything underlined in the table above or in the notes below is a clickable link for your convenience *
Key to Abbreviations:
GP- The Gospel Project- Home Edition
TB- Singapore Math Textbook
WB- Singapore Math Workbook
MM- Mental Math (see appendix in HIG)
CCC- Complete, check, correct
AAS- All About Spelling (click here to print any missing phonogram cards)
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 (click here to print OPG sight words)
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:
Thursday, September 28- Spirit/Pizza/DOGS Day
Tuesday , October 10- Parent/Teacher Conferences (no class for students)
Friday - Sunday, October 13-15- Fortis Fall Campout
Tuesday, October 24- Picture Make Up day
Friday, October 27- Fall Festival (more info to come!)
**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 family time along with your 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 if they are not already firm and quick in parts of 10. Prepare your child now for success! Practice parts of 10 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:
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 rule breaker, and that this word says "friend." Continue to reference the Routine for Teaching Irregular Words/Heart Words handout in your child's binder.
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.
In Spelling we're introducing compound words and VCCV words (VCCV=Vowel, Consonant, Consonant, Vowel; these words are two-syllable words that have two vowels separated by two consonants, such as basket, muffin, picnic, rabbit, etc). OPG does not touch on any multi-syllable words until 2nd grade, so for practice reading compound words, I'm sending home a passage called "The Piglets." Before your child reads this passage, please have them highlight the compound words and help them draw a vertical line in each word to show the two smaller words that make up each syllable. Big words don't have to be scary when we know how to divide and read each syllable! Note that you will have to tell your student the word "are," as it is a heart word we haven't covered yet.
Keep reviewing old phonograms as you focus on learning newly introduced ones!
Handwriting:
I'm noticing some students are forming their letters incorrectly and 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:
A note when checking dictation for Step/Lesson 4- The sentences I will dictate in class are slightly different from those in the Color version teacher manual. They are as follows: He will finish the test. I am in the math contest. The pilgrim went west. We will test on Step 4 on Thursday.
Step 5 (B&W version) / Lessons 4 & 6 (color version) introduce the first two syllable division rules. Students will be gluing a page in their Spelling Journal to use at home to practice compound words. In class next week, we will work more with the VCCV syllable type (see explanation of VCCV in Reading section, above). We will continue to practice with these syllable types in the weeks to come.
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: termites, fireflies, mosquitoes, silkworms, bees, and wasps. Help your child prepare a short oral narration to share with us in class answering 3 questions: 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." Students should memorize their presentation and speak in complete sentences when presenting. Reading the presentation is not allowed.
Oral presentation due date: Thursday, September 28
Geography:
Memory Work:
"Persevere" memorization is due on Tuesday, 9/26.
