Newsletter- Week 8

Skills for the week are a review of the short i sound, as well as -ck ending, and we'll still be working with the rule c before a, k before i  for the hard /c/ sound in one syllable words- 

kid*, pick*, cab, six, catnip, some.

A reminder on spelling tests... I have a very strict 'no talking' policy during tests and carry a red crayola marker when giving the test as a visual reminder that talking is not acceptable.  If a student talks during a test, I make a red dot on the top of their paper, which is a 10 point deduction.  For your information ONLY, these grades are not even recorded, they are just incentive to encourage the students to set personal goals and they also prep them for number grades in second grade, but to them, getting 100% and getting that sticker is a BIG DEAL and I want to keep it that way.   I think the expectation is sinking in, but if you see one, you now know what it is.

Our theme this week is... "NEVER LET THE WORD WIN!"  We will start introducing some very useful word attack strategies to use in our independent reading.  We never want kids to spend so much time decoding words, that they lose the meaning in what they are reading!  The two strategies we will learn this week are...

1. Eagle Eye- If you get stick on a word, use your Eagle Eyes to look at the pictures for clues.

2.  Lips the Fish- Solve words by getting your lips ready to say the first few sounds.

The kids have LOTS of fun with this, as I have beanie babies, wooden puppets, colorful posters and bookmarks for each animal reading helper... (although, I am in desperate need of a kangaroo beanie baby, so if you have one, I could make a trade with your child for another one of my cool beanies that don't play a specific role in my classroom).  

  We are continuing on our "Writing for Readers" unit, which will soon bring lots of laughs as they figure out that I am, in fact, a TERRIBLE speller an can sometimes have ATROCIOUS handwriting.  Together, we will learn how sad it is when an author has amazing ideas, but due to handwriting/ spelling/ etc.  the reader can't read  and understand them.  We will fine tune our editing process, making sure all of our hard work and fabulous use of words to tell stories doesn't go to waste and our reader can read and understand all of the exciting things we have to say! 

    At the end of each unit, I collect their writing in a folder marked with their name and store it where it is accessible to them if needed.  I do this so they have a little more room in their writing folder, but can still go back to old stories if they want to continue to work or get new ideas for something they may have given up on or, as I like to say, "pushed pause" on.  This will make a very meaningful portfolio of their writing grown for you at the end of the year. 

  *IF* (oh, if I could be so lucky) your child is writing at home, here are a few strategies I will be working into the next few weeks of workshop lessons that could help at home, because in writing, 

"When you're DONE, you've only just BEGUN!"

1. Spider Legs- Forgot to add a detail to your finished story?  Get a piece of paper and write your detail, cut it into a strip (leg) and tape it to your 1st draft where it should be inserted, and fold over the edges to keep it nice and neat. *Think about the best place for it to go!*

2.  Bones- Need to add several details to your finished story?  Cut apart your story, glue the 'bones' of your story (each strip) to a separate page, and write more details ('meat") for each 'bone.' *Think about how you can add more 'meat' to the 'bones' by asking yourself: who, what, when, where, why?*

3.  SURGERY (let me know if you think of a cool beanie for this!)- Need to rearrange your story to make sense?  Cut up your story, rearrange your story to make sense, glue it down in a new order on another sheet of paper and use new words to 'stitch' the parts together to make sense. *Think about the order things actually happened!*

New topics to be covered (per the district) this 6-weeks are finding patterns in numbers (skip counting), even/ odd, and addition/ subtraction strategies.  Last week, I introduced our new topics, including a few lessons on clue words that tell what operation is needed to solve word problems.  This skill will be tremendously helpful in 3rd grade standardized testing!  In OUR class, we will review story problems, but as enrichment, the students will be given the ANSWER to a problem, then asked to create a story problem using a specific operation... this is a higher level thinking activity that will challenge the kids, plus they will have so much fun... I can't wait to see what they come up with!  For these lessons, we do need a few supplies:  LOTS of animal crackers, Teddy Grahams (all colors/ flavors), Rainbow Goldfish, Fruit Loops, and Lucky Charms.  If you can help us out with any of these items, we will be so grateful!

This past week, we read a book called "Flat Stanley". Your child can tell you all about Stanley, but I am using him as a spring board to study maps and globes.  More to come on this soon!  

Thanks to all moms, dads, and grandparents that came to share this fun filled day with us!  A special thanks to the Martin family for loading/ toting our food container all over creation to ensure we had great lunches out in the heat!

As always, thank you for everything you do.  What a great group of kids to spend the year with!  If you need anything, email or call.  I have already met with several of you and will meet with the last few this week.  Report cards were sent home Friday, so please sign the BLUE COPY and send it back this week.  I feel like I'm forgetting something, but I'll email if I remember!  Have a great week!

Blessings! 

Charly Stagg