November 15: We continue our study of the Sacrament of Baptism. The children have been bringing in wonderful mementos of this special day to share with their classmates. We've had photographs, baptismal garments, and candles that have already been shared. We'll be working with this chapter this week, as well. So if your child wishes to bring in a remembrance of baptism, there is still plenty of time for sharing!
Thanks for all you do to support our instruction here!
November 15: This past week the children have been working with the letters "b" and "d". These letters seem to be reversed the most often. We used our thumbs and pointer fingers on both hands to show those two letters. The "b" which comes first in the alphabet is shown with our left hand, and the "d" is shown with our right. Have your child demonstrate this. We also used these phrases to help the children remember if the line or the circle comes first: For the "b", first the bat and then the ball. For the "d", first the doughnut and then the knife. Hopefully, these little devices will help those children who are having trouble remembering the formation of these two letters.
Thanks for reinforcing our penmanship at home!
November 15: With only two days of T/L this past week, some of the reading groups are still working with the skills and discussions of the same story mentioned in last week's posting. It usually takes at least a good week to complete all of the activities for one story! Happy news for our green group: they will be starting the orange program this week! They have worked really hard to have come this far so soon!
We encourage multiple readings of the stories in the readers to ensure fluency and comprehension. Each day the children are assigned a page or several pages in their practice books,too. Please make sure that your child is keeping current with this. We grade these pages in group as a first activity, so this assignment is expected to be complete.
In creative writing this week, we wrote Four-square paragraphs about Thanksgiving. If you don't know what Four-square paragraphs are, ask your child to explain this writing plan to you.
Thank you for helping your child study his/her spelling words! Watch for the pre-assessment to come home on Mondays, and the final assessment to be given on Fridays. Thanks to Mrs. James and Mrs. Savage for helping with our spelling here at school! There will be a spelling assessment this week, but not the week of Thanksgiving.
November 15: This past week we used combs and balloons to experiment with static electricity. We also learned about Thomas Edison and his life story. Here was a man credited with more inventions than any other person, but he was fired from many jobs and was unsuccessful in school. He only went to school three months! His behavior was most annoying to his teacher. Have your child tell you the "Chicken Story"! Then you'll see why Edison's Mom home-schooled him!
For the enrichment activity, we're going to be very open to the creativity of the children with this topic. The activity could take the form of a report for our word smart students. They may research some of the pioneers of electricity, such as Thomas Edison. Some children may wish to write a book or make a poster about electrical safety, for example, or show how electricity is generated and is able to travel into homes and businesses safely. The children could design and make their own battery powered games. These are just a few ideas. The library and the internet has a wealth of resources for Science projects. Please have your child inform me before you begin what the plan is. These will not be due until December. I'll give you an exact date once we know the schedule for our Christmas program rehearsals. Lial has the most supportive parents! Thanks for all you do!
November 15: Our last Health class was November 5. Since we had conferences on Thursday, we missed a new Health lesson. The next paragraph tells what we learned in that November 5 class.
We began our unit on the five senses. We used an eye model from the Science lab and the Smart Board diagrams to identify the parts of the eye. The children then labeled their own papers to help them remember. The most fun part of class for them was staring into the eyes of their partners to watch the enlarging and shrinking of the size of the pupils as the lights in the classroom were switched off and on!
