What can I say...we are already coming to the close of January. It seems that we just came back from Winter break! Report cards will be coming home this week and I have reminded students now is the time to begin working hard to start off the new nine weeks with great grades. Please ask your child what they are learning in the classroom and if they have any assignments due. Getting behind is hard to come back from easily and sometimes students have a way of letting things snowball and get far behind before they know it.
Reading
This week our focus will be on following directions in written text. Students will learn what they need to look for when reading in order to keep up with directions written within a text. Their story will be James Forten in the textbook.
Students will also be reviewing Main Idea and Details. This ties in well with our report writing that they are working on right now.
You should also still see their vocabulary study guide and reading log coming home nightly for them to study through the week.
Language
This week students will look at different types of text structures: sequence, main idea/detail, compare/contrast, question/answer, narrative/point of view and decide which text structure will works best with their topic and how they want to present their report. Students will begin writing their rough draft this week at home using the information they gathered last week.
Students have spelling words this week. The focus is words ending with the "el" sound as in sprinkle. The "el" sound can be spelled el or le.
Side Note
A special thank you to parents who supported the class by ordering books from the scholastic book order. This not only gives students books at a great price, but we can also earn free books for our classroom through student's orders. Also, a big thanks to parents supporting the school magazine fundraiser right now! This will help the school earn money to help buy technology for the classrooms.
Last but not least...Valentine's Day will be coming up before you know it. Students may bring in Valentine cards to pass out to their friends. However, I do tell students if they bring a Valentine for 1 person they need to bring one for everybody in the class. I don't mind if students bring candy to pass out with their Valentines either as long as there is enough for everyone and it is story bought and sealed. We will not be having a party- just a short time at the end of the day to exchange Valentines! If students want to bring a Valentine for just a couple of friends, then they will need to pass those out on their own time before or after school-not in class as part of our class exchange.
Again, thank you for all that you do and please if you have questions feel free to ask!
Until next time,
R. O'Steen
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