October

Dear Kindergarten Parents,

Please continue to check your child's backpack every night. Also, be sure to check TalkingPoints for updates and reminders.

Math Focus:

We are finishing up Module 1: Numbers to 10. We will start Module 2: Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Shapes in a couple of weeks.

Reading Focus: Unit 2 Module A: Readers understand that stories have characters, setting, and Major Events. The Little House and Four Seasons Make a Year.

Reading instructional Focus:

• Identifying Major Events in a Story.

• Connect Words and Pictures in a Story.

• Identifying Details About the Setting

• Ask and Answer Questions About Key Details

• Using Key Details and Words to Understand a Text

• Retelling a Story Using Word and Pictures

• Ask and Answer Questions to Understand Words

• Relating Words and Pictures in a Text

• Identifying Characters, Setting, and Events

• Retelling a Story Using Key Details.

• Describing the Setting of a Story

Foundational Skills Focus for Unit 2 Module A: Rhyming, Syllables, Letter Recognition, Onset–Rime, Letter names and Sounds, Initial Sounds, Medial Sounds, and High Frequency Words.

Writing Focus: Writers Understand the importance of sequenced events in a story.

Narrative Writing: Students will understand then and now. During writing students will be learning how to write and draw about changes, retell events in order, revise their writing, and write a personal narrative.

Science Focus: Bundle 3: Living Things and Their Habitats: In science we have started to explore how organisms interact with their environment to meet their needs. Students will learn that ●Plants and animals (including humans) have basic needs to survive. Animals use natural resources from their environment to meet their needs. ● Animals change their environment to meet their needs of food, water, and shelter. ● An organism’s surroundings must provide all the basic needs necessary for the organism to survive.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out!

-Mrs. Colorado, Mrs. Erives, and Mrs. Thomas

In reading we have been working on informational text. Identifying the main topic of our text, and writing facts from our stories. We will be taking the end of Unit 1 assessment in the next few days.

In math we are focusing on number sentences. We are strengthening our understanding of addition and are beginning to learn subtraction. We will also be finishing this module up in the next few weeks.

We are beginning social studies. During this we will focus our attention on being a citizen of a community.

During the month of October we will be visiting the pumpkin patch. We will learn more on bully prevention and celebrating Red Ribbon Week. We will also have our Fall parties and our Character Parade. Be on the lookout for more information.

First Grade Teachers

Ms. Morton, Ms. Barrientos, Ms. Falcon

Math Update

· ENY Math Module 3: Students will be working on place value of a number by utilizing place value charts and place value discs.

· Students will be able to recognize numbers in different forms (standard form, word form, unit form).

· Students will be able to compare two numbers by using the terms greater than, less than, and equal to.

Reading Update

· ELA Unit 2 Module A&B: Students will focus on making decisions and forming opinions as well as identifying wants and needs.

· ELA Phonics: R controlled Vowels (er, ir, ur, or, ar) and contractions in a text (can’t, don’t, we’ll).

Fun October Learning Experience

· Pumpkin Patch: Our schools PTO will be sending each class to the Autumn Acres Pumpkin Patch to learn more about what it takes to grow pumpkins.

· Fire Safety: The second grade classes at our school will have the opportunity to talk with firefighters about safety as well as experience the smoke house to practice escaping a house fire.

September was such a fun month in third grade! We finished our economics unit with the students putting on Lemonade Stands and applying what they learned throughout that unit! We are not onto science and will be learning about life cycles and social and group behaviors of animals.

In math we finished our first unit of multiplication, the students did great! We encourage you to continue to practice these skills with your students as multiplication continues to be something we do throughout the year! We have begun our unit on measurement, starting with telling time. Students are showing their skills by telling time on an analog clock (meaning they now know exactly what time to look for when it is lunch or recess time!). We will continue to work on measurement with measuring weight, length, and liquid volume.

We are beginning research projects in writing. This is always a fun unit for students. We are nearing the end of our first reading unit. We have read narrative stories and identified characters, settings, the sequence of events, and the central messages of stories. We have read informational texts and have used text features to learn more and understand what the text is wanting us to know. We also began our Gusty Groups and will continue with these until December. Students are working on skills based on where they scored on Fastbridge.

Conferences are coming up, please keep an eye out for communication from your student's teacher regarding when conferences will be and times.

Math: -In our unit this month, we are working on Module 2 and starting Module 3. In Module 2 we will

be covering Unit Conversions and Problem Solving with Metric Measurement. This is a shorter module

that will cover 2 topics. Topic A: Metric Unit Conversions and Topic B: Application of Metric Unit

Conversions. Module 3 is a much longer module that will continue through December. Module 3 covers

multi-digit multiplication and division. We suggest practicing multiplication and division math facts at

home now to help this module be more successful for them!

Reading: This month we will continue Unit 1 Module B. In this module, READERS will use

information presented in different ways and from different sources to understand a topic. WRITERS will

use organizational structure, specific word choice, and evidence when explaining a topic. LEARNERS

will understand that multiple sources and evidence can be used to build ideas and information. Our

performance based assessment will be creating an infographic over an animal of their choice. They will

then write a supporting introduction and conclusion telling more about the animal.

Science: We will be focusing on plant and animal parts, and sense receptors in science this month. In our

unit, students will explore plant and animal parts and animal sense receptors. Your child’s mission will be

to design a zoo that is organized by animals with the best sense receptors and to describe how having

those sense receptors helps animals survive.

The month of October is already looking to be a busy month for our 5th graders. We will be having our first Title 1 event for this year, a trip to the Pumpkin Patch that will be filled with fun activities, the book fair, red ribbon week, and our 5th Grade Music program.

In the month of October, we will be working on multi-digit multiplication and division. This will include an introduction into decimals as well as mental math strategies to help us solve problems quicker. We cannot stress enough the importance of each child knowing their multiplication and division facts. Please continue working on these skills with your children at home.

For ELA we will continue with our unit theme of “Depending on Each Other” with a book called Washed Up. In this book we will follow the lives of three families in their journey to survive on a remote island. We will then read Rain Forest Food Chains and Pale Male. These stories will guide us towards our next writing project where we will be writing an informative essay about one of the environments from our stories.

In Social Studies we will begin learning about exploration, focusing on 5 European explorers and their journeys. In this study we will review the paths they took, the struggles they encountered, the Columbian Exchange, and Slave trade. In Science we will continue learning about the web of life. We will get to do a fun experiment with worms, then head on to ecosystems where we will use what we have learned about plants, animals, and decomposers to see how they interact in an ecosystem.

We are excited as Fall brings changes to the outdoors and many opportunities for learning.

-Your 5th Grade Teachers