Communicating

 Much of what we teach has something to do with learning how to communicate clearly. Neat handwriting, writing about different themes, reading out loud, learning letters and sounds, speaking clearly and giving good eye contact...these are all skills we practice weekly, because good communication skills are so essential for success in life. We encourage you to work on building good communication skills at home, too. Have conversations and ask questions, and dialog using complete sentences.

I'll be finishing up my individual assessments of student progress this week. It's been a joy to spend a little time with each student. They've been able to communicate a lot of useful information!

This week in writing we'll note how expository authors present a main topic and support it with details. Students will identify the main topic in informational texts and list supporting details. We'll focus on the vowel 'i' this week, learning it's short sound. Students will read and write words using all the letters we've covered so far. We'll begin learning about the different kind of end marks we can use when we write sentences. End marks are yet one more way authors communicate meaning.

In Bible this week we'll see how God gave Moses the 10 commandments for God's people to obey. On Tuesday our Bethlehem Buddies will be here to help us understand what each commandment means. We will learn that sinful people need rules to govern their lives. The Law is good, but no one can keep it perfectly so it shows us the need for grace and forgiveness.

We'll be finishing up our module on adding and subtracting to 5 in math. After a test, students will practice fluently solving addition and subtraction problems.

Monday we're having our class Fall party at the end of the day, then Tuesday is Halloween. The 31st is also Reformation Day, when Martin Luther addressed errors in the Catholic church. November 1st is the Mexican holiday of 'Day of the Dead' where deceased loved ones are remembered. Mrs. Arnold has some special surprises planned to help our students understand how the local culture celebrates on November 1st.

In science, we are designing and building shade structures. Students are learning to use a variety of materials to construct stable structures. We know it takes practice and thought, and every design can be improved upon. We'll also review what we know about the weather and severe weather forms as we finish up this unit.

Our art project will be painting beautiful Fall leaves using tempra paints and adding details with markers.

As we measure daily temperatures, our students are noticing it's getting colder quickly. Be sure and help your child to come to school prepared for some chilly recesses!

We'll be warm in the classroom and moving ahead into new fun and learning.

Mrs. Luoma