Weekly News for September 20-24

I hope you all noticed the paper in the Redding folder that confirmed the time we will meet on Sept. 30.  I look forward to meeting with every parent and sharing samples of your student's excellent work!

Midterm grade reports came in the folders on Friday.  Please sign and return those just so I know all parents are aware of what is going on as far as grades go.

Thank you to all parent who continue to check agendas daily and initial that they have seen assignments and worked with their children.  The kids are the ones who benefit by knowing their parent cares about their education! 

Enjoy the pictures of the chidlren reading and in the library posted the class photos page.  They are book crazy right now!!


Mrs. Burbrink's Reading Group

During independent reading time, the children can pick books from any of the genre baskets.
Definitions of the genres are posted next to the reading center.
    I am excited to work with this newly organized group of children this week.  We will be reading about seeds growing into plants.  We will even plant some seeds to see the process!  We will concentrate on being able to retell a story.  Children should be able to retell the steps of a seed becoming a plant.  Read the leveled reader that comes home on Mon.  On Tuesday evening, the story "Watermelon Day" will be read out of the reading book.  Parents are encouraged to read this with the children.  A good idia for sharing is to have the child read a page, then the parent takes a turn.

Spelling





Our new word wall words this week are:
write,  right , wrong, knew, rain

We will work on transferring what we know about these spelling patterns to other words.  For instance, if you can spell right then you can spell light, tight, fight, bright.  :) 

Look back in the agenda to previous week's words and practice them.  Five of those old words will be on the test on Friday. 

Math

We are finishing up chapter 3 this week.  Please help your child make the connection between addition and subtraction facts.  The flashcards that come home should help.  We call this connection "fact families".  You can take three numbers:  3, 4, 7 and make facts.  3+4=7    4+3=7    7-4=3    7-3=4   That is a fact family!  Learning this will make knowing the facts so much easier. 
Thanks for all you do at  home!   Many children are really progressing on the math facts chart! 
We still work on math skills that revolve around a certain number every day. 
We have added skills with rulers and counting money. 

Science

We have learned so much about animal g roups.  We will review facts on Mon, Tues., and Wed.  On Thurs. we will take a test over what we have learned.  The children will know the questions on Wed.

Weekly Overview for September 13

Spelling

Our new words this week are:
because, was, made, little, and played

Remember to use your agendas to look over the old words.  You should KNOW these.  I am looking at your writing journals to see that you are using them correctly.

Practice transfer words like we do in class.  On Tues. a practice page will come bome to help you know what to study.

Math

We took a survey and tallied our results.

This week we will  practice subtraction.  We will also continue to
relate subtraction and addition.  Notice the flashcards that come home.  One side has an addition problem, the other has a subtraction problem with the same number family.
Keep practicing those flashcards so you memorize the facts.  No more finger counting! 


You should know these vocabulary words: sum, difference, equal.
There is a link on the side to a complete list of math vocabulary words that you will all be familiar with this year.  :)

Reading

Our story for the week is "Days with Frog and Toad". It is on pages 102-117 of our reading books.
 One of these characters is considered silly.  Can you figure out which one?  Why did Arnold Lobel write stories like this?  This week you may also choose to read other Frog and Toad stories.  Most of them are AR and will earn you points.

I am so proud of everyone for working hard on book reports.  Remember to read carefully so you can learn something new from everything you read. 

Science

We will be learning all about animal groups for the next couple of weeks.  We will learn characteristics of each group.
Here are the characteristics you should know:
MAMMALS                                    REPTILES
have hair or fur                                                              covered with scales
warm-blooded                                                              cold-blooded
born alive                                                                      hatch from eggs
drink milk from mothers                                               parents do not feed babies
breathe with lungs                                                        breathe with lungs
                                                                                       some change colors
                                                                                      some use tongues to smell
                                                                                      some shed skin

BIRDS                                           AMPHIBIANS
have feathers                                                                 wet, smooth skin
warm blooded                                                                cold-blooded
hatch from eggs                                                            hatch from eggs under water
breathe with lungs                                                        have gills when young, grow legs and lungs
                                                                                             when older then live on land


FISH                                                INSECTS
have scales                                                                   have six legs
cold-blooded                                                                 have 3 body parts
hatch from eggs                                                           have 4 wings
breathe with gills                                                           hatch from eggs