Dear Parents:

Don't forget that school begins at 8:05 now. This time change took effect last week. We have had a few stragglers and we begin our day when the bell rings at 8:05.

Last Friday, our math explorations were a lot of fun! I wanted to share a couple of pictures with you to show our class in action! In this picture, Ethan, Matthieu, and Hayden work on weighing sets of objects to make them balance.

In the next picture, Livvi, Ellie, Charlie, and Anna work on estimating and finding the area of a surface.

Here is a look at what is going on in our class this week.

Reading/Language Arts: We are working on words with the long o sound spelled oa as in "boat" and ow as in "snow". Our comprehension focus when reading will be on the author's purpose for the story and point of view - the viewpoint from which a story is told to the reader. We will also practice making inferences by using clues from what we are reading and what we already know to help us understand the story. We will be reading stories in the genres of realistic fiction and folktales. We will be working more on those sometimes troublesome words - homophones. The word wall words this week are mouse, our, over, pretty, surprise, and three. The robust vocabulary words this week are bulged, jostled, argue, command, labored, and wary.

Writer's Workshop: Ask your children about the "hamburger" we think about when writing! The top bun is the topic sentence - telling the reader what the story is about. The lettuce, ketchup, pickles, etc. are the juicy details about the topic. The bottom bun (looking similar to the top bun) finishes the story with a "close-in" closing. When your child is writing at home, remind him/her to reread the beginning of the story to help write a "close-in" closing.

Math: We will be working on addition of 2-digit numbers. We will also be introducing, making up, and solving number stories involving relations, addition, and subtraction.

Science/SS: This week our focus will be the phases of the moon, and the stars and constellations in our solar system.

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Chris Chen (12:00)
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Ailsa Hudson and Liz Jack (2:05)
• Friday - Math Game - Michelle Clopet (9:00)
  
• Friday - Parent Reader - Meghan Schneider (2:15)

Other Reminders:

Please be sure to practice reading, spelling, and writing the vocabulary words on the word rings every day. Return the word card rings EVERY Thursday.

Please be sure to have your child work on the reading folder assignment each day and return it completed on Mondays. Some children are forgetting to return the folder on time. Don't forget that rereading helps to build fluency! Your child should reread the book each night to increase their fluency and to help work on voice inflection.

Math Night will be January 20 at 7:00 p.m. This will be a great opportunity to get some hands-on experience with our Everyday Math program. Please let the office know if you plan to attend.

There will be no school on Martin Luther King Day - January 17th.

Our next Spirit Day will be Friday, January 28th.

That's all for now!
Have a great week!
Susan