October 29 newsletter

Mrs. Smith’s Class             October 29, 2010

A peek at our week:

What a busy week – pictures, a great field trip, a tornado drill, a half day and a fall party!  We have been practicing finding the main ideas and details in non-fiction books.  We have also been writing a paragraph that starts with the main idea sentence and has multiple detail sentences.  We have been learning about the season of fall.  We measured and counted using the pumpkins we got from the pumpkin patch and then painted our pumpkins. In math, we are finishing our unit on subtraction and will begin a unit on geometry next week.

Specials Schedule 

Monday – library	Tuesday – no school	Wednesday – Spanish and integrated studies
Thursday -- computer	Friday – library, music and gym

Upcoming Events

November 2 – No school

November 3 – Art to Remember due

November 9 – book order due

Art to Remember

You should have received an Art to Remember packet yesterday with your child’s artwork on a magnet.  If you want, you may purchase the magnet included in the packet for $5.  There are other items available for purchase, also.  If you do not want to purchase a magnet (or anything else), please leave the entire packet (including the magnet) in your child’s folder.  I will remove all Art to Remember packets on Monday and I will assume you do not want to purchase anything if it is blank on Monday.   

pumpkin party

Our fall party will be Friday, October 29 at 1:45. Your child can wear a costume to school that day. Please make sure your child's costume is not scary and the children will not be allowed to wear masks.

Mrs. Smith’s Class October 15, 2010
A peek at our week:
This week, we have practiced the short o sound, like in fox. We are learning to identify the main idea and details in nonfiction books. I am so impressed with how well our students can identify the main idea! We are learning to write “how to” pieces and wrote how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and how to grow a pumpkin. In math, we are learning about subtraction. We are beginning by relating addition to subtraction. We have practiced finding the missing parts of a whole number. For example, we have 7 blocks total and 3 are outside of the bag. How many block are inside the bag? We have also practiced making fact families. Fact families are using three numbers in different subtraction and addition problemsn and finding the relationship between these numbers. For example, 3, 4 and 7 can be 3 + 4 = 7, 4+3=7, 7-4=3 and 7-3=4.

Specials Schedule
Monday – gym and music and library Tuesday – gym and music Wednesday – art
Thursday – library Friday – Spanish and integrated studies

Upcoming Events
October 22 – report cards come home
October 26 – field trip to Bi-water pumpkin patch
October 27 – early dismissal at 11:45
October 28 – school pictures

Penny War
Mrs. Stratton’s class is leading Wilmore Elementary School in a penny war. The proceeds will go to help cancer patients. All pennies that go in the first grade bucket count positively for us. All silver coins or dollars in the first grade bucket are subtracted from our total. We can put silver coins or dollars in any other grade level’s bucket, subtracting from their total. We want to put all pennies in our first grade bucket. The grade level who wins receives a reward. If you want to send in pennies, coins, or dollars, please send them in a bag marked with your student’s name and “Penny War” marked on the bag.

Money and notes
Please put money in an envelope with your child’s name and the purpose of the money. Checks for lunch money are fine without an envelope as long as you write “lunch money” in the “for” line. When I am going through folders in the morning, I pull out all notes and do not always remember to write names on the items I pull out of the folders.

October 1

Mrs. Smith’s Class October 1, 2010
A peek at our week:
This week, we have reviewed some important word wall words and talked about some reading strategies. We have learned about “checking for understanding.” This strategy is to stop after reading each page and tell what happened. We also learned about “cross checking” which means thinking about if the word you read makes sense, looks right and sounds right. In math, we learned about story problems and we took a test on addition. HAVE A GREAT FALL BREAK!

Specials Schedule
Monday – gym and music Tuesday – art Wednesday – library
Thursday – Spanish and integrated studies Friday – computer

Upcoming Events
October 4-8 – Fall Break
October 22 – report cards come home
October 27 – early dismissal at 11:45
October 28 – school pictures

Homework
Don’t forget to fill out the reading log every week! It is OK to put chapters or page numbers instead of books. Also, remember that I would like for students to read 15 minutes each night. Please be sure to ask questions about what your student reads to you. Example questions: What is your favorite part? What do you think will happen next? Does that remind you of a different book? What does this story make you think of?

Reminders
1. Please sign and return the blue “Learning Agreement” if you have not done so already.
2. If you have not scheduled a conference, please do so as soon as possible. I am looking forward to meeting with you.
3. We try to go outside (for at least a little bit) even in cold weather. Please send coats for cooler weather.

September 24 newsletter

Mrs. Smith’s Class September 24, 2010
A peek at our week:
This week, we are studying the ending sound blends of –nd and -nk. We read nonfiction books this week and discussed the author’s purposes for writing the story. In writing, we wrote “Guess What” poems. The students described something and the rest of our class will try to guess what they have written about. In math, we are continuing to work on addition. We have been discussing turnaround facts. An example of a turnaround fact is 2+4=6 and 4+2=6.

Specials Schedule
Monday – art Tuesday – library Wednesday – Spanish and integrated studies
Thursday – computer Friday – music, gym and library

Upcoming Events
Sept. 28 – Wilmore Elementary day at Bruster’s from 5:00-9:00
October 4-8 – Fall Break
October 22 – report cards come home
October 27 – early dismissal at 11:45
October 28 – school pictures

Conferences
I have sent home some times that are available for conferences with every student. Please be sure to schedule a conference with me. I am looking forward to meeting with every child's family. If we have not yet set up a conference time, please send me a note and we will schedule one.

SMART chart
Hooray! We filled up another SMART chart. As a reward for our achievement, your child may bring in a toy to share (with partners) and play with at recess to school. Your child can bring a toy to school on Monday, September 27. No video games or expensive toys, please.

Wilmore Elementary Parent-School Learning Agreement
There is a blue “Learning Agreement” in your child’s star folder today. Please read and sign this paper by parent/guardian signature. Also, please have your child sign the compact under the student signature. This is an important part of our reading grant and you will be asked in the spring if you signed this learning compact.

September 17 newsletter

Mrs. Smith’s Class September 17, 2010
A peek at our week:
This week, we are studying blends and the sounds of cr, gr and tr. We are also learning about the importance of the setting in a story. We will be using a familiar story and changing the setting to see how different the story will be. We are learning about community helpers and will be going on a walking field trip to downtown Wilmore at the end of September to meet the community helpers in Wilmore. In math, we are working on adding numbers and exploring this process with objects. We are working on learning that doubles are when the two parts of the addition problem are the same. For example, 0+0=0, 1+1= 2, 2+2=4, 3+3=6, etc. Please practice double addition problems at home!

Specials Schedule
Monday – Spanish and Integrated Studies Tuesday – computer Wednesday – early release
Thursday – music, gym and library Friday – gym and music

Upcoming Events
Sept. 17 – family fun night at 6:00
Sept. 22—Early release at 11:45
Sept. 28 – Wilmore Elementary day at Bruster’s from 5:00-9:00

Early Release Days
On early release days, we will dismiss at 11:45. There will be no breakfast served at school. We will go to brunch as a class.

Family Fun Night
Don’t forget to come to family fun night on September 17 at 6:00 pm. The Wulfe Brothers will be performing.