Box Tops: We have until the end of February to hold onto our second place position in the Box Top race (we are around 200/300 labels behind the 5th graders).
Book-It Calendars: The February calendars were sent home today. Interest in the Pizza Hut program has dwindled down to about 2 kids in January. I think the fact that we don['t have a Pizza Hut in town is a real factor.
Science: We have talked about mammals and birds. Ask your child about the cool feather experiment that the kids conducted with Miss Galt. We will be learning about reptiles and amphibians (I always break into song when I hear this word - "I'm a Caribbean amphibian!").
Math:
Warning: We are working on telling time and it is way more advanced than the first grade unit. We will be telling time to the minute on analog clocks and digital ones. We will talk about a.m. and p.m. activities. We will practice solving problems that involve an understanding of elapsed time - if I leave school at 4:00 and it takes an hour and a half to get home, what time will I get home? Seriously, have your kids practice telling you what time it is at home. I know that most of you have digital clocks, but dig out those analog clocks for practicing time. This my friends is some tough stuff.
Don't give up on counting money either. The more real-life practice that they get counting money and telling time, the better they do. We practiced counting money with the 6th graders yesterday. It was fun and we will do it again.
Spelling: We are practicing spelling words that end in -y and make the /e/ sound. The homework is due on Friday (test day, too).
Grammar: We will talk about pronouns (I, me, he, she, we, etc).
Reading: Homework due Friday.
Spy Kids: Our next story is a fictional story titled, Teamwork. We will describe the characters in the story. We will determine the main character's goals. We will discuss the plot. We will practice the -b, -all, -str & -bl sounds. Our new high frequency words are: about, because & there's. Our vocab words are team and coach.
Thundermans: Our next story is also a fictional story titled, Little Brother Tuck. We will look at words with multiple meanings (like adopt and log). We will describe the characters in the story. We will discuss the plot. We will practice the -y, -p and -ay sounds. Our high frequency words are: animals, baby, birthday, father, find, grandfather, grandmother, party, people, who's & word.
Valentine's Day: To the best of my knowledge, we will have our "party" on the 14th. The kids need to have a decorated box (shoe boxes work well) at school on Friday the 10th or Monday the 13th. I have seen some awfully amazing Valentine's Day boxes over the years!
They can also bring their Valentine's Day cards to school on either of these dates. I have sent home our class list today. Please make sure to label your child's box with their name and number somewhere that is easy for their classmates to see.
If you want to send in treats on the 14th, you know by now that they are greatly appreciated. We still have 18 students and 2 teachers.
Thanks,
Jaime and Abbey