Room E207 Monthly newsletter
Dear Parents, I can’t believe September is almost over! I really enjoyed meeting all the parents that came to Open House. It was a pleasure meeting you all. Our class has been doing a great job getting back into the swing of things. Your sons and daughters have been working hard in class and have been doing a great job getting their homework in. Their agenda books are a great way of them keeping track of what their homework is each night, as well as communicating between you and I. It is also their jobs to have them signed by you nightly.
Language Arts for October-We will continue to focus our reading selections geared toward specific comprehension strategies and word work. Besides reading selections featured in our reading anthology, we have also been reading and just finished The Witches by Roald Dahl. The kids have really enjoyed reading this Fantasy novel. We will be moving next onto another book written by Roald Dahl so that your children will be able to make connections between literature written by the same author and so that they can compare and contrast the books. We will also be reading literature about Christopher Columbus and Halloween during this month as those are two popular holidays celebrated this month. Students will also be reading selections of their own choosing during independent reading time. They will be choosing these selections based upon their independent reading level. During the course of this month, I will continue conferencing and working with them on specific reading strategies. I will also be testing your child’s independent reading level. This will also make choosing the right book easier for your child. The children have also been working on their writing everyday. Last week, they put together a family paragraph in which they: brainstormed, wrote a rough draft, conferred with me, made edits, and then published their final piece. I was very pleased with the outcome of their paragraphs. We will continue to work on the writing process this month as we prepare to develop longer pieces.Also starting this month, our class has been selected to have Mrs. Proietti, our school’s language arts coach to come in and model some lessons. We are incredibly lucky to have her, as she is an incredible teacher and very skilled in her field. Both of my children have had her as a teacher, so I can attest to that. At this time, other teachers can watch what a model lesson looks like. Along with writing, we will also begin to talk about the following narrative elements: characters, setting, problem, solution, beginning, middle, and end. We will also review transitional words and discuss elements of fiction. Students will also be responsible for turning in a book report once a month, starting this month. I will be sending home information regarding this shortly.
Math- We are just finishing up on our first chapter in math. This chapter has some pretty difficult concepts, but it is nice to see the children beginning to master them. This month we will begin to focus on adding/subtracting up to 2 digit numbers and money. I would again like to suggest that students visit the math website at: www.pearsonsuccessnet.com and enter their login and passwords that they all have located in the front cover of their agenda books. This is a great website that not only offers practice to the concepts that are being introduced, but it has games that teach math concepts while being interactive and fun. Under e-tools on the site, you will find a variety of math manipulatives that can help your child grasp difficult concepts.
Science/Social Studies-We are just finishing up chapter 2 on Vertebrates and Invertebrates and the children have been very excited to learn about so many different kinds of animals and how they are classified. They are currently finishing up on group projects, in which they have been assigned a particular Invertebrate that they are becoming experts on. When finished with these projects, each group will present their Invertebrate to the class. So far in Social Studies, we have been using Time for Kids to learn about current events going on in the world. We will also continue to keep building community in our classroom and will start to explore map concepts this month. We will learn where all the continents and oceans are located and begin to make connections to directionality.
Important Dates to remember this month:
October 6th- Field Trip to Topsfield Fair
October 13th- Columbus Day-No School
October 31st- Early Dismissal-Professional Day
October 31st- Halloween Party-More news will be coming soon.
November 7th- First Quarter Ends
I am looking forward to another great month with your children. Please keep monitoring your child’s homework; it really does make a difference!
I also wanted to thank Kelly Tondo for donating a box full of books to our classroom and Evan Hardy for donating a Scholastic book.
Thanks again! Sincerely, Mrs. Farnkoff