Mrs. Henry's Classroom: Newsletter 9/22

We have been reading "The Eensy Weensy Spider" in shared reading and The Three Billy Goats Gruff as our read aloud this week. We finished Mrs. Wishy Washy and everyone got their own copy! Please read it with your child and ask him/her to read as much as possible. Please be sure to send the book, as well as the sleeve, back to school on Monday. We also began to work on retelling this week. This is a skill we will practice all year. When a child finishes "reading" a book (looking at the pictures and making up words that match), s/he can retell it to a partner by saying "This book is mostly about___" . If it is nonfiction, s/he can say "It taught me about ___". You can do this when you finish reading stories with your child at home. When we retell a book, we can connect the pages using words like "and then..." as we turn the pages. We practiced that, too.

In Writing Workshop we learned "When I'm done, I've just begun!". We can add more details to the illustrations and more words to the page. We also learned how to independently begin a new piece. We looked into the hearts that you all made at home and we were reminded of great stories to write!

In handwriting, we used wooden pieces to form all the capital letters of the alphabet. Our handwriting program, Handwriting without Tears, incorporates great multi-sensory strategies to help children learn how to form their letters.

In phonics, we learned a story about our owl friend, Echo, and then tried to recall basic story elements and retell it.

We learned how Center time works in our classroom this week. The majority of our work revolved around spelling our friends' names, on white boards, with stamps and magnets.

In Math, we gathered data and created a graph representing our favorite classroom activity. Most of us like writing, and the least preferred activity is math. See photo below. We also did a listening and counting activity where we had to keep track while we counted.

In science, we observed the apple tree right outside our window and recorded our observations. We'll be making observations of this tree each season. Everyone was so excited to notice the crab apples on it!

We began Second Steps in social studies this week. We learned what the "Listening Rules" are to help us succeed in class. The Second Steps homework is NOT MANDATORY, but coincides with the lessons taught in class. It is a good way to reinforce those ideas at home.

News & Notes: