Looking Back

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! While the Illini lost :( the beautiful Fall weather and colors made for a fun weekend anyway! I am excited for our short week ahead we have a lot to pack in and I know we will have a great week!

Reading- We continued practicing how to make mental images while reading. The students were even able to use this strategy during our read aloud, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We will continue to discuss mental images and how one image can change as we read more in a story.In addition to practicing our mental images, we have also been working on making different connections while reading. We have practiced making text-to-self connections between our books and things we have experienced in our own lives. We have also started text-to-text connections where we connect two different texts we've read to help us understand our books better.

Spelling- We continue to use Words Their Way which is a phonics based curriculum. On Mondays we begin to sort and practice the spelling pattern of their given words. Learning phonics patterns will help with decoding more difficult words. Overall, it seems that our beginning weeks have gone well, please let me know if concerns arise.  The spelling routine will remain the same, with the spelling checklist every week and a test on Friday. In class we also have a routine where students are doing similar activities each week and everyday to reenforce the word patterns.

Math- This week we began Unit 2. The focus of this unit is on addition and subtraction facts.  We talked about number stories, and the kids did a wonderful job creating their own and sharing them with the class. We then moved into learning patterns and short-cuts that can help while adding. One of the tools we focused on was a fact table. 
Everyone is doing a great job with Rocket Math! Our routine is now set up and the kids have done nicely with our beginning of the year rule changes. Keep making and reaching those goals!
Math tests will go home by Tuesday with the unit homework attached!  :)

Science: We continue to learn about Rocks and Life Cycles. This past week we sorted the rocks that everyone hunted for by rock properties (shape, texture, color, weight, size). We are all really excited about taking this geologist job on and everyone is enthusiastic to learn more about how rocks are formed throughout next week.  
This week we also went back outside to observe our class tree. Our tree is turning into beautiful colors. This week we measured the circumference of the tree trunk and made predictions as to how much the trunk will grow when we measure it in the spring again.

Looking Ahead:
-There is no school Friday
-There will be no school Monday: Columbus Day!