It was fabulous to see you all at your child's parent teacher conference.  I appreciate all the support you provide at school and at home.

Curriculum Update...

LANGUAGE ARTS:We have enjoyed many October and November theme related stories...Halloween, Thanksgiving, Native Americans and Pilgrims. One story we read was "The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything". In this story we studied nouns and verbs. We read "Stellaluna" and "Zip-Zapping Bats" to compare bats and birds and fiction and non-fiction texts. We read "The Ghost's Dinner" and did a story map with the characters, setting, problem and solution.  We compared two versions of "Teeny Tiny" and used a Venn Diagram to note the things that were the same and different in both versions.  We read "Pumpkin, Pumpkin" and made our own booklet after sequencing the words and pictures.
PHONICS: We have studied short u and made short u word families. We assessed short u along with the vowels a, i and o.  Next week we will move on to short e.
WORD WALL WORDS: was, but,she, two, make, will, find, his, may
GRAMMAR:  We have been writing sentences with correction punctuation while writing various  nouns and verbs
WRITING: The students have been writing their own stories related to the season and November holidays.
MATH: We have been working on addition and subtraction story problems with missing addends, extended addition problems, counting and identifying patterns on the number grid.
SCIENCE: We have begun our rock unit.  The students have been learning about the earth and its three layers.  Next week we will observe our rocks close up and learn about their color, weight, hardness and luster.  We have also been learning about various Native American tribes and what life was like for them.  The students learned about the Plains, Sioux, Wampanaog and Chinook Indians.  They learned many interesting facts about their houses and what they are made from, what they ate, how they dressed and other interesting facts.  We also discussed the first Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims. 
SOCIAL STUDIES: We are working on our bullying and empathy unit.  The students have learned that if someone is being a bully they need to ask them to stop what they are doing.  Hopefully that will solve the problem, if not they need to walk away and if needed tell an adult.  We also talked about being an upstander and standing up for a classmate.  We will continue to work on this important topic.

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER:
Wednesday, November 21- Friday, November 23: No School
Don't forget November reading calendars are due soon.  Keep reading at least 10 minutes every day.

I hope you and your family have a special Thanksgiving celebration and enjoy your time together as a family.

Have a good week,
Mrs. Giarrante