Kindergarten
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3 Grade 4
Multiage Related
Arts
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This
month the children are practicing rhyming, clapping syllables in
words, reviewing the letters Mm, Rr, Tt, Ss, Cc, Pp, and Aa. In addition
the letter names, sounds, and correct formation of the letter Nn and Dd
are introduced. The children continue to read and write words with short
a containing am, ap and at.
Now they can start reading, writing, and sorting words with ad and
an( can, man, tan, ran, pan, Dan , Dad, pad, sad, mad).
By now the children should know the sight words: a,
we, go, I, like, am,
the, and my. They are also doing
activities to practice recognizing the color words and the number words
zero to five are being introduced in our math program. Parents are asked
to review sight words, color words, and number words at home with their
child throughout the year to promote rapid recognition and to improve
reading fluency. We
also do a lot of phonemic oral activities. The children practice
blending individual sounds together to make words. For example the
teacher will say a word like “s-a-t” pronouncing each sound separately. The children need to respond with the
word “sat”. The children
also learn how to say words with three sounds very slowly so the can
hear each individual sound. These oral blending and segmenting
activities are necessary skills so as they become more familiar with
letters and sounds the children will be able to spell words and decode
words with ease. This
month the math program focuses on forming the numbers 0 to five
correctly, counting objects carefully exploring different ways to make
sets for each number, and becoming familiar with the number words zero
to five. We are also learning how to use ordinal numbers for example:
first, second…last. |
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The first graders have been spending time adjusting to the routines of first grade, including learning to work independently. The academic emphasis in first grade is reading, and we are already well into our second book of our five-book anthology series! Two of our most recent stories were “Space Pup” which is about a super-hero dog, and a non-fiction selection entitled “Where Do Frogs Come From” which teaches the life cycle of the frog and ties in nicely with one of our science themes. First graders have learned how to write a complete sentence with a proper ending mark. We have had a lot of experience writing sentences in journals, letters, and on book response papers!
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Our handwriting program is well on its way. We began with learning to hold our pencils correctly, sitting properly, and holding the paper appropriately. We learned the basic strokes found in manuscript writing, and have begun to review the correct way to make the upper and lower case letters. Please praise your child for writing neatly on the lines, putting spaces between words, and forming the letters correctly. If you are going to have your child practice handwriting at home, make it fun. One suggestion is to purchase colored sand at a craft store, and put it in an empty pie plate or other container so that your child can practice tracing letters in the sand. |
| The First grade unit
has also done some special activities.
We went to the Bushnell to see the academy-nominated musical
“All Through the Year with Frog and Toad.”
This was a fantastic theatrical experience, and the first live
performance for many of the viewers.
A number of school districts attended, but the children from |
We have a brand-new math program in our elementary school! The Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley series features gorgeous illustrations and a rigorous curriculum. Our new math program teaches challenging skills, uses lots of reading, and emphasizes looking at problems in different ways. First graders have already done a Kindergarten review unit, and completed the first chapter “Patterns and Readiness for Addition and Subtraction.” We are presently working in chapter 2, which is quite comprehensive. It covers addition, subtraction, and using subtraction to compare. Chapter 3 will teach some specific addition skills, such as learning the doubles (6+6) and doubles plus one (6+7). |
| During the month of
November we worked on our family theme.
We learned about different families, and shared our family
traditions, and family immigration stories.
We wrote about activities we enjoy doing with our families.
Some special activities included everything from seeing fireworks
on the 4th of July to just cuddling!
The highlight of our family theme was the First Grade Food
Festival! Families brought
in special foods from their countries of origin and the children got to
try different foods! It is a
great activity, encouraging pride in our own family heritage and respect
for the heritages of all people.
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The month of December
will be an exciting month! We
will continue to expose children to various holidays, as a part of our
first grade social studies curriculum.
We will complete our second reading book with “Fun with
Fish.” This is another
highly-motivating non-fiction selection.
We will continue to encourage children to do home reading, as
this is a key factor in reading growth, especially for first graders!
Happy |
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OH,
The Multiage students are currently learning about |
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Fall Acrostic
Poems
Mr. Discordia’s class wrote colorful fall acrostic poems using
one of four starting words. Each child first selected either, FOOTBALL,
RAKING, |
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SOCIAL
STUDIES The
third grade Harvest Celebration will be held on November 119th.
It will be a day of activities focused on the study of Native
Americans. Students will
have an opportunity to sample many different foods including: pumpkin
soup, succotash, and corn bread. In
the afternoon the students will participate in a craft set up in their
classrooms. Please
remember that assignments are written in assignment books nightly.
Assignment books and homework should be returned each day.
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MATH During the month of November, students will be finishing studying place value and numeration and mastering the addition algorism. They will also begin a unit on graphing. You can help your child by continuing to count money and count by 10’s starting at any number.
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READING
As
you read with your child this month, ask him or her to identify the
author’s purpose in writing the selection you are reading.
Choices include: to inform, to persuade, or to entertain.
Identifying the author’s purpose in writing the piece helps
readers to better understand the selection. Also, as you read nonfiction selections, be sure your child can identify headings and captions. This helps students understand the format of nonfiction which helps with the comprehension of the selection. |
SCIENCE We continue to study the forest and animals of the forest. Students have made informational posters of the forest layers.
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Fourth graders are finishing their studies of immigration and will be taking a field trip to the Connecticut Historical Society for some hands on activities on immigration. Some fourth graders are completing the family history project which is due November 16. Mrs. Ieni’s class has completed a long tern writing project about an adventure with a scarecrow. Students looked at all parts of our writing diamond and wrote six paragraphs including the beginning, description, suspense, main event, conclusion, and extending ending. Look for the published piece to come home soon. In math, students are into chapter 2 of our new math program. In this chapter students will be exploring mental math: adding and subtracting, estimating sums and differences, adding whole numbers and money, column addition, subtracting whole numbers and money, patterns, translating words into expressions. Here are a few websites that can help fourth graders http://webserve/lms/library%20resources/web%20page/library_resources.htm http://www.timeforkids.com/tfk/hh More sites to come as year goes on |
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During
October and the beginning of November, LES students participated in an
educational gymnastics unit. |
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