Week 4

Week four was great.  I’ve taken a few fun pictures, but my computer isn't cooperating.  (I'm getting a new school computer next week. . .yay!)  I'll put in the pictures as soon as I can, but in the meantime here's this  week’s highlights.

Behavior: This week we’ve just been reviewing here and there how to act at school.

Funny Sayings From Kids: To the substitute: “I like you because you have brown hair, and brown is my favorite color.”   To me: “School is the bestest thing I ever did!”  Apparently many of  the kids also had a grasshopper burial and funeral at recess!

Homework: Remember, I’m sending home weekly homework now.  It basically consists of a nightly reading sheet, a nightly math sheet, and the weekly spelling list.  Let me know if you have further questions.

Social Studies: The 26^th is Johnny Appleseed’s birthday, so we talked about who he was.  We also talked about how we can be responsible and help others, just like him.

Math: We've moved on to two digit numbers, like 11, 12, and 13.  The kids mostly get it, but the two digits do throw them off a little bit.  I think we’re progressing slowly from Kindergarten stuff into deeper math concepts.

Reading: The students have done very well in their reading groups.

Project Read/Spelling: This week’s focus was qu, x, y, and z.  I wasn’t able to work with the kids very much because I had a lot of training meetings that left the kids with a substitute. Because I didn’t get to work with them as I hoped to, I was quite pleased with how well they all did on their tests. GO PARENTS!  Thanks for studying with your kids.

Speedy Words and Rocket Math: We have started having daily practice and timings on the highest frequency words in the English language, along with basic addition facts.  The kids are really starting to get their simple facts down now!

AR: Please remember to do AR with your kids.  They’ll read books at home, and take the tests at school.  If they read a book at home, please jot down a note with the title of the book for me so that they can take the test and get credit for it. Today I sent home AR sheets with the kids so you can know where they’re at.  They need to have 20 tests passed by the end of October to get the first of four buttons towards earning their “Samurai!”

Writing: We’ve been focusing on capitals and periods.  I’ve also noticed many of the kids need help writing their letters.  They still get some of the letters backwards.  A lot of our writing time has shifted to focus on this. 

Science: This week, I’ve tried to squeeze science in where I can, as usual.  We’ve combined it some with writing.  Just like before, they really love using the word, “hypothesis.”  We mixed vinegar and baking soda together this week and wrote about it.  They loved that!