Dear Parents,
Thank you so much for your time last Thursday and Friday; it truly was a pleasure to speak with all of you, to share the progress your children have made, and to gain a deeper understanding of who your child is through the observations you shared.
Through the process of the conferences, many questions came up regarding homework, literacy instruction, and math. I will do my best to address these questions in the weeks to come through our blog posts. If new questions arise, please do not hesitate to send them my way, either via a personal email or in the comments section below.
I also want to take this opportunity to remind you that you can set up a time to discuss your child's progress at any point. Also, if you are making observations about your child struggling with something during homework, please share these observations right away! It is truly a pleasure to partner with you in your child's development, and I look forward to this continued collaboration as the year moves forward.
Thank you so much for your time last Thursday and Friday; it truly was a pleasure to speak with all of you, to share the progress your children have made, and to gain a deeper understanding of who your child is through the observations you shared.
Through the process of the conferences, many questions came up regarding homework, literacy instruction, and math. I will do my best to address these questions in the weeks to come through our blog posts. If new questions arise, please do not hesitate to send them my way, either via a personal email or in the comments section below.
I also want to take this opportunity to remind you that you can set up a time to discuss your child's progress at any point. Also, if you are making observations about your child struggling with something during homework, please share these observations right away! It is truly a pleasure to partner with you in your child's development, and I look forward to this continued collaboration as the year moves forward.
Our trip to the zoo was a great opportunity to build on our understanding of our unit. A big thank you to the parents who accompanied us! Some pictures from the trip are above please forgive the quality; my camera battery died as soon as I started to take pics.
Without further ado, here's an update on what we are learning in class.
LITERACY:
To support their unit studies, the children have been learning how to summarize what they read and how to use books to help gather information about a topic. They finished their posters about the rainforest, and are now researching a biome of their choice. We will use the information gained to write a report of information.
You may have noticed the new Reading Response Journals that have been coming home. These journals are to be used to help support using the reading strategies that we have been learning in the classroom. The children are to self select a just-right-book using the "Five Finger Method," and then complete the journal while they read. It is not a page a night assignment, rather they can complete a little bit on different pages while they read. I have been checking in to monitor that they are reading appropriate books, and offering feedback to the work that they are doing. They are really emerging as independent learners who use a variety of strategies while they read!
MATH
We are continuing our work in multiplication with the focus on recognizing connections between times tables, and strategies to use what we know to help solve unfamiliar problems. We have moved from just using repeated addition into representing the repeated addition and 'groups of' with the multiplication symbol "x."
UNIT OF STUDY
The children are incredibly excited about their biome research projects. You may notice that your child wants to work on the research at home. They are working to learn where the biomes are located, the climate within the biome, the plant and animal life, the resources available from that biome, the problems that the biomes face, and what action is being taken to help resolve those problems. Our big goal is for the children to understand the interconnected nature of the world.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Have a great weekend,
Ms. Erin M. Threlfall
Without further ado, here's an update on what we are learning in class.
LITERACY:
To support their unit studies, the children have been learning how to summarize what they read and how to use books to help gather information about a topic. They finished their posters about the rainforest, and are now researching a biome of their choice. We will use the information gained to write a report of information.
You may have noticed the new Reading Response Journals that have been coming home. These journals are to be used to help support using the reading strategies that we have been learning in the classroom. The children are to self select a just-right-book using the "Five Finger Method," and then complete the journal while they read. It is not a page a night assignment, rather they can complete a little bit on different pages while they read. I have been checking in to monitor that they are reading appropriate books, and offering feedback to the work that they are doing. They are really emerging as independent learners who use a variety of strategies while they read!
MATH
We are continuing our work in multiplication with the focus on recognizing connections between times tables, and strategies to use what we know to help solve unfamiliar problems. We have moved from just using repeated addition into representing the repeated addition and 'groups of' with the multiplication symbol "x."
UNIT OF STUDY
The children are incredibly excited about their biome research projects. You may notice that your child wants to work on the research at home. They are working to learn where the biomes are located, the climate within the biome, the plant and animal life, the resources available from that biome, the problems that the biomes face, and what action is being taken to help resolve those problems. Our big goal is for the children to understand the interconnected nature of the world.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
- Next week is a short week due to Thanksgiving! No school on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Have a great weekend,
Ms. Erin M. Threlfall