Lial Primary

May 20:  We were fortunate to have another student visiting our school this past week. Your children really have learned how to introduce themselves to these visitors and make them feel at home! 

We completed Chapter 17 and took a little assessment on Friday.  This will be coming home on Monday.  Once again, the students all did really well!  This week we'll begin Chapter 18, which is very timely.   It teaches about Pentecost, and Pentecost Sunday is next Sunday.  We'll also have a lesson about Pentecost in our "Good News" class on Tuesday. 

May 20:  We brainstormed more adverbs to write and also took a look at some sentence patterns that make use of adverbs.  It's on to prepositions this coming week!

Please reinforce correct pencil grip and letter formation at home.  Your support is greatly appreciated!

May 20:  We are beginning report presentations!   As children finish their projects, they are able to help those students who need assistance with research or typing.  They're all working really hard on this project!

Spelling assessments were completed last week.  There will be no new unit this week, but we will continue to work on spelling-related activities.

The blue group has completed their stories in their readers and have chosen to read a collection of stories titled Appearances.    The orange  group has chosen to read a fantasy titled The Whingdingdilly.   The purple group has completed the stories in their readers and have chosen to read a book about Fairy Tales.  They have read the third fairy tale in the book titled "The Golden Bird".  Our new orange group is reading a story titled "Chinatown" . 

 I have changed the order of our independent activities this year.  The children will still begin with their journal activity, which is a review of skills previously taught.  It might be correcting errors in a sentence, writing rhyming words, alphabetization skills, using the dictionary or Thesaurus, etc. Next, they'll work on activities in their practice books.  This used to be done later in the period, and many students would take it home to do as "homework".  With it being the second activity, the students should easily be able to complete this in class!  Examples of other independent activities can be found on the shelves of our classroom, SRA kits, Literacy Centers, Frog "games", etc.  Writing Workshop is being done daily in T/L, as well.

Many parents wonder about homework in T/L.  The only homework your child should be bringing home is the story assigned in the reader.  If your child is bringing home some T/L paperwork, just know that this was classwork.  We may have to investigate to find out why this work is not being completed in class.

Is your child keeping current with the Reading Log?  If not, vow to do better in May.  Reading practice is SO important! 

May 20:  Wipe-off maps, Atlases, and travel brochures were used this past week to learn about Europe.  We completed our travel posters, too.  We were busy! 

We have just begun to learn about the biggest continent, Asia.  We will continue that study this coming week.

May 20:  It hardly seems possible, but we have completed our Health lessons for the year!  We reviewed the body's organs in a fun way.  We had a student stand in the front of the room wearing an "apron".  This was no ordinary apron, though!  It had velcro areas where the students were to place in the correct spot the organs of the body, such as lungs, stomach, intestines, etc.  They had to know that the kidneys were on the back part of the "apron".  (We did have a few who wanted to put them in the front!)  We then used the Smart Board to give us a little information about the skeletal system.  It's been a great year!  The children have learned so much!

Thanks to all of you  who shared your knowledge with our students this year.  We appreciate you!