Welcome Back!!

Welcome back from Spring Break! I hope everyone had a restful, or eventful (whichever you were in most need of) break!
We are working to get back into a routine, which includes remembering to bring backpacks, take-home folders , eating breakfast before coming to class and getting enough sleep. There were a lot of sleepy, hungry boys and girls this morning. The question"When is lunch?" was asked several times. Please make sure your child eats breakfast every morning before coming to class and gets a good night's rest.

Reading
In reading this week we will be focusing on:
Phonics : Homophones, Multi-syllable words, and words with -ing endings
Comprehension: Summarizing, Understanding Chapter Books, and Visualizing
Vocabulary: High Frequency Words and Puns
Fluency: Decodable Text, and Leveled Readers

As you are well aware, testing is fast approaching. It is so important that you take time to read with your child to reinforce all of these skills. Ask questions as your child reads to increase sentence and passage comprehension. Make sure your child sounds words out. It's so easy to just tell them what the word is, but they have learned SO much this year and are well-equipped to chunk sounds to read the word. It just takes a lot of patience (and time) sometimes. Hang in there! The end result is the reward!!

Math -
We are learning about measurement.
The students find this to be a fun unit. Dads, this is where you can be a GREAT HELP! Get your measuring tape out and measure cabinet doors, toy boxes, desks, couches...anything!
Moms, let the children help in the kitchen. Let them help you measure ingredients as you cook. If the ingredients are too expensive, let them practice with water. If you have a food scale in your kitchen, or bathroom scales, these would also be great tools to teach measurement.
We are specifically talking about:
Weight: - how heavy an object is
Length - the distance from one end of ab object to the other end
Capacity- the amount a container can hold
So you can see there are many ways in which to incorporate real-world lessons into your every day life! It helps the students make connections to what we talk about in class if they have exposure at home.

Writing
In writing we continue working on personal narratives. It would be great if you could get your photo albums out to look through with your child. This might spark some memory of a memorable day for your child to write about.

Spelling
Our spelling list this week consists of homophones ( words that sound the same, have a different meaning, and are spelled differently)
Your child will need to know the meaning of the words for the spelling test.
The list is as follows:
tail tale
plain plane
sail sale
too to two
whole hole
threw through

VOLUNTEERS WANTED!!!
If you have completed all of your paperwork and are willing to volunteer, please send me a note letting me know when you are available. I could use your help in so many ways! I would love to let you put your talents to good use.