Mid September🌈

Ask Your Child About...

1. Identify and practice writing the word: and
2. Identify and practice writing the letter: Mm

3. Practice comparing and writing numbers up to 5

4. Use the language greater than and less than

5. What shape trees can be

6. Our Writer's Workshop

😊 We are settling into our routines and where things are in the building very well! We have even been mistaken for a first grade class! WOW! Let's keep up the great work!

🦁 Now through winter break we will be hosting two University of Iowa students in our classroom! These students are currently in school completing their work towards becoming a teacher. Ms. W will be in our room every morning except for Thursdays to help us with reading and Ms. L will be in our room every Friday morning to help us with math.

🙂 As you may have heard, we have our official library check-out day: Wednesday. Some of the students have been confused as to how check-out works, so I thought I would clarify with you all as well. Each week on Wednesday, your child will get the chance to check out books of their choice to bring home. These books can stay with your child for an entire week, being returned on the following Wednesday. We do have library again on Thursday, but this is not a check-out day, it is a story and media day with Mrs. Locher. Please enjoy your child's check-out books for a full week (Wednesday to Wednesday), and return them in our backpacks when you are done.

📚 This week we have been focusing on our word 'and' along with the letter 'Mm'. We have practiced identifying, reading, and writing each of these. Please continue our hard work at home by prompting your student to work with the word 'and' as well as the letter 'Mm'. Some activities you can try are counting how many of this word or letter are in a story, or if you hear the letter at the beginning, middle, or end of a word. You can also practice neat handwriting (with paper and pencil, with a stick and dirt, using finger paints... make it fun!) with your child so that everyone can clearly see what we are trying to write.

🔢 We completed our very first math topic, and are moving right along in topic 2. So far in our new topic we have been looking at groups of object in sets of five and determining which object type is greater and which object type is less. We are practicing by matching the objects up, counting and comparing the numbers, and by using number sentences such as There are 5 toys, 3 are balls and 2 are trucks. 3 is greater than 2, so the are more balls than trucks. Keep up this work at home by comparing objects around the house!

🖊 We are writers! This week we have officially started our writer's workshop, and we have decided our publishing name should be: Lincoln Lion Rainbow! 🌈 For this first writing unit we are focusing on things we know about. This is an inviting topic as there is a wide range of things we know about and can share with others. Ask your child what their first story is about and help them remember details they can add to it on Monday.

🌳 This week in science we focused on shapes of trees. This allowed us to compare and contrast tree shapes and justify our thinking by comparing them to actual math shapes. While you are out and about, see how many different tree shapes you can find!