And the year has begun! I am looking forward to a marvelous year with a wizardly brilliant class!
This first week has been very eventful. We covered a lot of things such as routines and expectations. We also played some games and even found time to start some of our lessons. I hope you had the time to hear about all of those fun things! I know they enjoy snack time and R & R time. Every Tuesday, the class newsletter will go up on the Weebly page. I will try to get a shortened paper copy home with them in their Tuesday folders as well. The newsletter will be simple. I will summarize the week, give subject-specific updates, and finish with any reminders. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reading: This will look a little different from previous years, but it will be remotely the same. The spelling and reading test will be every Friday. Expect to see a pre-spelling test in their Tuesday folders, which will help them figure out which words they need to practice throughout the week. We are spending this week talking about the books we read over the summer. We will dive into our reading curriculum next week. Next week we will talk about different fantasy stories and discuss how they each teach us a lesson. Our spelling words for that week will be review words that focus on the short a/i vowel sounds. We will also spend some time talking about sentences and fragments. We will take our time and go through grammar, phonics, writing, comprehension strategies such as character traits, and comprehension skills such as visualization. Math: I am trying something new this year to help build math stamina and confidence. So, we will not start with unit 1, which focuses on multiplication and division. We are starting with unit 8, which focuses on using strategies and properties to add and subtract. We will learn about the different properties of addition such as commutative. We will also take some time to practice using a numbers chart to find patterns. We will practice rounding and using compatible numbers. Unit 8 allows them to use what they learned in second grade and further their thinking to have math confidence throughout the rest of the year. There will typically be math homework every night, however, depending on the lesson and how well the class is doing, they may not receive any. Social Studies: This is one of my favorite subjects to teach, as we get to learn a lot of cool things. With this curriculum, each unit has a “project” that they have to complete that helps them understand the overall topic of the unit. This tends to be the most loved part because it allows them to be creative and showcase their talents. Some topics that we will cover are: economics, our environment, landmarks and symbols, celebrations/holidays, and communities. We will take breaks from the curriculum and hop into our Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month units. We started chapter one, "Our Environment.” We are learning about different regions in the US, and their similarities and differences. We also will learn about national parks, climate change, renewable resources, nonrenewable resources, and natural resources. Throughout this chapter, they will get a chance to research a national park, and present their findings to their classmates. Science: Like social studies, our science curriculum has a project that we will work on as we move through the unit. We will have some experiments, labs, and hopefully field trips! Some topics that we will cover are: motion and forces, electricity and magnetism, weather, climate, life cycles and traits, fossil evidence, and adaptations. This year we are splitting our time with science and social studies. So, we will start chapter 1 (Motion and Forces) in science in 6 weeks. Religion: We always start the school year talking about the verse for the year. We have been spending a lot of time talking about the nine fruits of the spirit. We also took some time to think about how we already exhibit certain fruits, and if there are some we need to work on a little harder. Our memory verse for the week is our theme verse, Galatians 5:22-23. (By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things). It will be due next Tuesday, September 7. Next week, we will begin our first unit, which focuses on different aspects of the Bible. We will learn about the history of the Bible (original languages, the number of years it took to write it, the number of people God called on during the writing process), the different parts it has (concordance, testaments), and what it means to us as Christians. This unit sets the foundation for our future units, which include: The Creation story, Letters from Paul, Abraham, Moses, The Fall to Babel, Joseph, and Issac and Jacob. Important Dates:
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