Holiday Celebrations...Oh what fun!!!

Gingerbread House Construction

Beginning Stages

Ready to begin!

Ready to begin!

Grinch Day - Making Grinch Grime

Grinch Day - Making Who Pudding

Elf Day

Our Class Giving Tree - Recognizes students in the act of giving

December 2015

December 2015

Reading

Our new reading theme is called "Our Neighborhood at Work". We will be working with the following skills.

• Using text and graphic features, such as photographs, illustrations, captions, and labels
• Story structure (characters, setting, problem, solution)
• Understanding author's purpose

We will be working with the following comprehension skills.

• Sequence of events (first, next, and then, last)
• Cause and effect
• Questioning (who, what, when, where, why, how)

During phonics, we will work on reading and writing syllables (closed syllables and -le syllables).

We will also be reviewing short vowel sounds/spellings, r-controlled vowels (-ar, -or, -er, -ir, -ur) and diagraphs (-sh, -ch, -th, -wh).

Please continue to help your child practice reading sight words with speed and accuracy. Automatic recognition of sight words will help your child become a more fluent reader. 

When reading with your child at home, remember to use these strategies.

• Point to each word as you read (one-to-one correspondence)
• Look for picture clues.
• Get your mouth ready for the first sound (onset).
• Look through the word and attempt to blend the middle and ending sounds.

Math 

We will be working on learning Numbers to 20. 

                                      Concepts include:               

• Counting to 20
• Place value
• Comparing numbers
• Making patterns and ordering numbers

Please continue helping your child memorize addition facts up to ten and fact families. Using flashcards at home is a great way to help children learn their facts. You can also have your child play math fact games on the following free website at http://www.softschools.com/math/games. This will help them improve their speed and accuracy. 

Writing

In our journals we are still working on putting our ideas into sentences that others can read. Students should be spelling high priority words correctly and using transitional spelling that more accurately reflects the word attempted. We will also be working on writing related sentences on a topic. Students should be using upper and lowercase letters, spaces, and punctuation correctly. During the second trimester we will be working on adding more details to stories. 

Social Studies

We will be covering Economics. Concepts include:

• Needs/wants
• Goods/services  
• Money                        

UA's

We now have two more unified arts to add to our schedule. 

• Monday 9:30 - 10:00      HEALTH        11/23 - 1/14
• Wednesday 9:15 - 9:45   GUIDANCE

                    Upcoming events                

12/15 Cawley Holiday Concert at Underhill

12/16 Elf theme

12/16 ALPS Coding day in computer lab

12/18 Reindeer theme

12/21 Grinch theme 

12/22 Gingerbread houses

12/23 PJ's, Breakfast, and Movie

(specific details of each will be coming soon)

Please Note:

Now that the weather is colder, please have your child dress appropriately for the weather. We will go outside when the playground is clear from snow and ice. Jackets are needed, and hats and gloves are highly recommended.

DAYS OFF - Our holiday break is Thursday, December 23 through Sunday, January 3. 

Happy Holidays!

Mrs. Salcito