Happy Rosh Hashanah

Wow! I can’t believe it’s 5780 already! 🙂

Reading

The students are practicing three reading strategies we have learned about so far this year: visualizing what they read, asking questions as they read, and comparing and contrasting characters. Each day, we practice these skills as a class with our read-aloud chapter book. Then, the students have a chance to practice the skills while they read books on their reading level. These are skills that the students can practice while they are reading at home. To check their thinking, you can ask them questions like-

What part of the story really stuck out in your mind? What are you seeing?

What are some things you are wondering about when you are reading?

Can you tell me how two of the characters are the same and different?

Spelling

This week the students studied words containing the long and short “o’ sounds, like in the words joke and drop. They also brought home their first two words to learn off of the 250 High Frequency word list. Next week, the students will learn to spell words containing the long and short “u” sounds, like in the words absolute and shut. Due to our short weeks, the next spelling test will be after Yom Kippur on October, 11th. 

Writing

Next week, the students will learn how to pick strong story ideas from their lives to use as story topics. They will have a chance to write a story about Rosh Hashanah. Any part of the holiday will work as a great personal story topic- celebrating at home, in the synagogue, our school assembly, traveling to see family, etc.

Math

The students worked on place value, reviewed counting coins and dollars, and continued working on telling time to the minute. Reading clocks is a skill they can practice outside of school all year long! This week, students wrote addition number stories (word problems) and practiced adding doubles like 8 + 8 and 12 + 12. We are also studying a strategy called the +9 strategy which helps the students solve addition problems where they need to add nine. To use the +9 strategy, you add ten and take away one instead of trying to add nine. For example, instead of doing 25 + 9, the students learned they can use the easier problem of 25 + 10, and then take away one to get a final answer. Next week, the students will solve addition and subtraction problems and work on fact families. A fact family is made up of three numbers that can be added and subtracted like this:

4 + 7 = 11

7 + 4 = 11

11 – 7 = 4

11 – 4 = 7

If you can solve one of these problems, then that information can help you solve the rest!

Social Studies

The students are learning about the different types of communities: rural, suburban, and urban. They have learned that these communities work together in order to succeed. For example, rural communities grow most of the food eaten by the suburban and urban communities, and the technology used in rural communities is often developed in urban and suburban areas. Next week, the students will begin building these communities out of Legos and recycled materials. If you have any clean items in your recycling bin, like cereal boxes or plastic tubs, we will take them!