Text Box: Thank you all for an excellent start to the school year.  I have enjoyed meeting you and getting to know your children.  I have such a great group of students this year and I look forward to the year ahead!  Thank you so much for all your support and encouragement you give your children and me everyday!  It really makes a difference!

Literacy

We are currently working in the theme of “Thinking Like a Scientist” in our reading program.  Students will be learning a bit about light and how electricity works through reading.  Students are working on developing the reading comprehension skill of making inferences.  Making an inference is when students take evidence from the text and combine it with what they already know to add to the text.  For example, we read a story about two sisters camping in a tent in their backyard.  The sisters heard a noise outside and started quietly whispering.  As a class, we inferred that the sisters were probably scared even though the text did not tell us directly that they were scared.  You can support your child at home by talking about inferences while you read together or asking your student to talk about an inference they had while reading independently.  We will begin learning about the next comprehension strategy, synthesizText Box: ing, at the end of October.  

Also, please make sure your student is reading a book at their level for at least 20 minutes each night.  Students may read books from home, the library or our classroom just as long as the book they choose is at an appropriate reading level for them.  If they are reading a chapter book, I’ve asked them to read the same book they read at home during independent reading at school so that students are reading one book at a time.  That way, they are more likely to finish a whole book and to gain more from the reading experience.  

We have started our centers time, during which our guided reading groups meet, and our literacy block is now in full swing!   Students are reading books from a variety of genres!

Science/Social Studies

In science/social studies, we will be beginning our unit about bones and the human body.  We will be reading many books on the subject and studying the names of the major bones of the body.   Please help your child practice learning the names of the different bones as they are assigned.  Look for their skeleton in Text Box: Off to a Fantastic Start!
Text Box: October 2008
Trick or TrunkCandy Drive

Students are being asked to donate candy for this event. The classroom with the most candy will win a gift card for new classroom materials!

So don’t forget to send candy with your student so our classroom will win the competition!