Week 7 News

This week we focused on the season of Fall. We started our unit by making a chart listing the different things we see, feel, hear, touch, and taste during each season. Throughout the week we discussed what months and holidays are in each season. We also read several informational books about the seasons. When we read the books we discussed the different elements that are in an informational book. (bold print, table of contents, index, and glossary) We also practiced recalling some of the facts we learned throughout the books. Some of our art projects this week included making season trees, painted fall trees and fall wreaths. 

Fall is here and the weather is getting cooler outside.  Please send your child with a coat everyday. 

Week 6 News

This week our theme was apples. We started our unit out by reading Apples Up On Top and made our own version of the story. Tuesday we made delicious applesauce. On wednesday we read The Little Red House and discovered that apples have a star in the middle. We also made our September classroom quilt. Thursday we taste tested different kinds of apples. We tasted red, green, and yellow apples and graphed our favorite flavor.  We also did a little “apple magic” and discovered that apples float. Friday we estimated apple prints and made apple print patterns. 

             **Thank you to all the parents who

 donated apples for our apple theme.*

Mid Quarter Reports 

In your child's B.E.E. folder you will find their Mid Quarter Report. This report gives you an idea of where your child is at on their essential objectives. The things that are highlighted are skills your child still needs to practice.  

Let's Celebrate!!!

We achieved our 250 C.A.T.S. cards goal. 

Week 5 News

This week we read the If you give a... book series by Laura Numeroff. On Monday we read If You Give a Cat a Cupcake and practiced retelling the beginning, middle, and end of the story. We then had delicious cupcakes and made our cupcake cats. We counted and wrote how many sprinkles we put on our cupcakes. Tuesday we read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. We put number cookies in order from 0 to 5 and practiced estimating cookies. On Wednesday we read If You Give a Moose a Muffin and drew our favorite part after practicing retelling the story. Thursday we read If You Give a Pig a Pancake. We made pancakes and graphed our favorite type of syrup. We also practiced drawing the beginning, middle, and middle of the story.

Next week our theme will be apples. We will be tasting different kinds of apples, making applesauce, and using apples for math activities. If you would like to donate some apples for our theme please send them with your child on Monday.
Thank you!
Mrs. Schmeckpeper

Enjoy your long weekend. Don't forget to read those Little Readers inside the B.E.E. folders.  

Week News 4

This week...
Our theme for this week was Summer. We made a five senses chart and discussed what things we see, hear, touch, taste and smell during the summer months. We talked about the different types of clothing that we wear during the different seasons and what the weather looks like in the summer.
In reading we learned the terms "setting" and "characters". We practiced retelling stories and identifying the different parts of the story. Please practice retelling stories when you read with your child. 
In math we started our unit on position words. Each day your child will come home with a math activity sheet. As a class we usually do one side of the worksheet and on the other side you will find a home-school connection activity. You can do these activities with your child to reinforce what we are doing in school. The Pearson website also has activities that you can do with your child at home. The user name and password information came home last week. If you need this information again please let me know.

Fontenelle Forest Trip

Highlights 
In the B.E.E. folder there are two Highlights magazine forms. If you are interested in ordering any of these magazines for your child, please fill out the form and send it back to school on Monday. If you are not interested, please mark “no” and sign each form. The class earns free stuff for each form sent back, even if it is a no.  

Weekly News 3

Congratulations!!!!

We won the CAT-ULA Award!
This Golden Cat-ula is given,
To the class that's the best,
In showing responsibility,
For cleaning up their mess.  

This week…

This week we continued to learn about our five senses. Monday we learned about our sense of smell. We played a matching game with smell jars. On Tuesday we read about our sense of hearing. We experimented by closing our eyes and practiced listening to different sounds. Wednesday we studied different textures and described what they felt like using our sense of touch. Thursday we used our favorite sense of taste.  We tasted sour, sweet, bitter, and salty. Ask your child what their favorite taste was. Friday we learned about our sense of sight. We made a pie chart of our eye color.

Little Readers

Today we are starting our take home little books. Inside your child’s B.E.E. folder you will find a large ziploc bag. This bag is where your child should store the little reader books. There will be five books inside each bag. Each Friday we will exchange the books for five new ones. When you finish reading the book please list the book and sign on the signature page. Only list Little Reader books on this signature page. Each title should be listed only one time even if you read it several times. After they have ten signatures, your child gets to choose a treasure from my treasure box. We will do this on Fridays. Please try to read these books several times throughout the week. These books are very simple and only take a few minutes to read through. Reading the books several times helps improve your child's reading fluency.  Each quarter the books will get a little harder.
When reading these stories with your child please practice these reading skills:

*Pointing to each word as they read it*

*Using picture clues to read the words*

*Retelling the story*

Homework

Thank you for doing the Fast Start homework poem and activities with your child. Please remember that you have a whole week to finish the homework.  You should only spend 5 to 7 minutes a day working on the activities. A new poem will be in the B.E.E. folder each Wednesday.

F.R.E.D Calendar 

Two Springs New At-Home Reading Program 

Please try to read books daily with your child and record the time on the F.R.E.D calendar. Our goal is 200 minutes per month. You can count your Little Reader time on this chart. Let's try to get 100% class participate in this program. There will be a graph in the hallway showing the number of minutes each class has read. Your child will get a prize for meeting their monthly goal and one student from each class will be drawn monthly to receive a special award. There will also be a special celebration at the end of the year for students meeting their goal every month from September through April! 

Thanks for another great week! We have a great class.