CURRICULUM FOCUS

This week we will be working on the following skills:

Math

This week we will begin our investigation into shapes. During this unit we will look at identifying shapes by various attributes. We will also compose and decompose two and three-dimensional shapes as well as describe spatial and numerical relationships found among shapes.

Reading: Owl Moon & Owls

This week we will review the comprehension skills that we have learned during Theme 2. The comprehension skills that we will be reviewing are as follows: compare & contrast, fact & opinion, and categorize & classify.

Phonics: Review

· Long vowels: when a vowel is long it says it name.

· Short vowels: when a vowel is short it makes the vowel’s sound.

· Two sounds for g: hard g (/g/ in gem) and soft g (/j/j in germ).

· Two sounds for c: hard c (/k/ as in camping) and soft c (/s/ as in city).

· Double consonants: understanding that a double consonant stands for a single sound

Grammar: Sentences

This week we will review the four sentence types: statement, question, command, and exclamation. A statement tells something about someone or something and ends with a period. A question asks about someone or something and ends with a question mark. Commands are sentences that tell someone what to do and end in a period. An exclamation is a sentence that shows strong feeling or emotion (such as surprise or fear) and ends with an exclamation mark.

Spelling

where, because, always, many, great, ready, around, laugh, sure, across, later, little, they, when, what

Writing: Narrative

We will continue looking at narrative writing until Thanksgiving. We are finishing up a piece started last week and the students are signing up for writing conferences to share their writing with me.

Science: Properties of Matter

In science we will begin exploring the properties of matter. This week we will explore how objects can be described based on their physical attributes.