212 News

Phonics: Last week our focus was on final blends such as, -nk, -ng, -nt, and –nd. These blends can be found in the words trunk, ring, ant, and sand. We practiced sounding out and spelling words with the final blend. This week we will learn about the final consonant blends such as, -mp, lt, -lp, and -ft. These blends can be found in the words raft, lamp, belt, and gulp.

Reading: Our focus in reading has been on visualizing while reading and analyzing characters. We have practiced identifying traits of main characters in fiction books. We learned about characters from both the words and the picture. We ended the week with a reader’s theater performance of Old Mother Hubbard’s Hungry Family. I was very impressed with each student’s expression and fluency when reading their part!

Writing: We are all about journals during writer’s workshop. Students have written about events that have happened in the past and in the future. Our main focus has been on using a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and using punctuation at the end of the sentence.

Math: In math our main focus was on the number patterns, telling time, and counting coins. Students learned how to tell time to the half hour. Ask your child what the super- secret number is “hiding” behind the 6.

We also learned about frames and arrow routines. As you have seen on your student’s home links the frame and arrow routine is where students need to find the pattern in a series of numbers and then be able to continue that pattern. We learned how to find the number pattern and also find the rule. Students were also introduced to the dime and we practiced counting dimes with nickels and pennies.

ipods: In our Daily 5 stations we have started using the ipods during word work. Students are able to explore different word building apps. Ask your child about their favorite word work app.

Media: This week at the computer lab we practiced inserting clip art using Microsoft Word. Students could pick any real picture of their favorite animal and then wrote sentences to go with their picture.