January 27, 2012

1. How did we shine this week? January 27, 2012 • A quick peek at our week… • During reading,  we worked on retelling with fiction stories. We enjoyed, Creak Said the Bed, The Runaway Giant and Knots on a Counting Rope. While retelling was our focus, we also continued to discuss the essential skills of asking questions while reading and inferencing. I was in amazement when the class was able to make an inference in Knots on a Counting Rope. The author said the boy, who is blind, had to climb dark mountains. They were quick to tell me that there were not mountains. It was the problems the boy needed to face and work through! I hope you enjoyed the children’s counting ropes of memories, just like the boy and his grandfather created in the story. • In math, we jumped into addition with regrouping. It is amazing how quickly they have picked up this skill! We focused on addition of money, since this involves place value (lining up the dollar, decimal point, and cents correctly) and addition. (And all children love to spend money!) Next week, we will work on subtraction with borrowing. We will continue to work with addition as part of the standard is uses inverse operations to check work. • During word work, we learned about the “Growling R” (r-controlled vowels – er, ur, ir, or, ar). These can be confusing because er, ur and ir sound exactly the same. Your child will begin to learn the words spelled with these sounds by sight (They will begin to recognize that it may not look right if it is supposed to be spelled with an “er” and they write a “ur”. Also, “er” is the most frequent spelling of this sound, followed by “ur” and then “ir”.) Next week we will begin to learn about closed syllables. The rule for this is: When a single vowel is followed by a consonant sound, the vowel will say its sound within that syllable (example: visit – this is two syllables vis -- it - Because the “i” is followed by a consonant sound (s) in the syllable “vis” the “i” says its sound and because the “i” is followed by a consonant sound (t) in the second syllable of it then the “i” says its name (“it”). Therefore, in the word “visit”, both “i” letters say their sound because they are followed by a consonant sound. When I refer to saying its sound it means that is says the short sound of the letter instead of saying its name (the long sound of the letter). • During writing, we began to learn about expository writing. We read Snowflake Bentley to begin to gather facts about snow and snowflakes. We then read The Important Book to learn how to write facts in a creative way. We finished the week by visiting the computer lab and creating a PowerPoint slide show titled The Important Thing About Snow. Please see the attachment to enjoy. May Peace be your gift at Christmas and your blessing all year through!  ~Author Unknown • Important News and Dates • Thanks to everyone who donated change to the Clinic Change Drive. I know Mrs. Homer appreciates it greatly! • Read to Succeed forms from Six Flags have come home on salmon paper. If you child reads 360 minutes, they are eligible for a free ticket to Six Flags. The forms are due to me by February 24th. If you complete them early, you are welcome to send the forms in early. • The Father Daughter Dance is on Friday, February 3, 2012! All girls and their dads are welcome to dance the night away. A big thanks to Annabelle’s mom, Lori, for chairing this exciting night. • We will be going to see Alice in Wonderland on Wednesday, February 1st at 11:15. The performance is at Forsyth Central High School. Please encourage your child to look their best for this special field trip. We will talk about the role of the audience and how we act in a play. • As of now, there will be no school on February 17th, 20th, and 21st. The 21st is an inclement weather day. If we do not take a day off for weather, there will be no school then. • Mark your calendar! DCES Talent Show is February 7th. Come and watch Mikaela and Brantley perform on stage. What is retelling? Retelling the story is a comprehension strategy used to help readers recall what is happening in the story. It involves telling what is important in the story without telling too much. The most effective way to teach retelling is through modeling and practice. Model this strategy and then allow them to practice. * Please practice this skill nightly when your child is completing their read for 20 minutes. Information from: CAFÉ: Engaging All Students in Daily Literary Assessment and Instruction Katey Kinney Daves Creek Elementary kkinney@forysth.k12.ga.us 770-888-1222 x 170433 Happy Birthday to… Hailey, January 20th, Ella, January 29th and Caroline, January 30th! Happy Half Birthday to Blaylen, July 30th!