Friday October 4 week in review

Hello families!

Important Dates:

1. Thursday October 10^th is an Early Dismissal Day (8:00 – 12:00 pm) 
2. Friday October 11^th is PD Day – No School All Students
3. Monday October 14th is Thanksgiving – No School All Students

This week was a busy week for learning! On Friday we were lucky to see Mrs Tuttle and Mr Dyck for a farewell assembly for Mrs Tuttle. We made a picture collage for her:

Language Literacy: we continue to work on stamina in reading and writing. We started our home reading program this week. Please scroll to the bottom for a helpful handout for reading at home. 

Math: We are adding series of numbers, using the strategy of a number chart and grouping to 10. Ask me to show you my mental math skills!

Science: We continue to work on hot and cold, with a focus this week on freezing. We have experimented with snow and freezies, and answered the questions, "Does snow take up more or less space than water" (we melted snow on our snowy day) and "What happens when you freeze a freezie?".

Social Studies: We have explored the continents and oceans of our world, and have begun talking about holidays, special days and traditions. Please talk to your child about any cultural holidays or special days that you practice!

Home Reading suggestions:

• Take home books are designed to help students establish an at-home reading life. In life, we choose to read books that are sometimes a ‘stretch’ and sometimes are ‘easy’, or just for fun. The book that goes home is a ‘celebration’ book, a book that can be read with independence while developing fluency and strengthening the reading process. 
• In class we read books that are more challenging for a child, increasing the cognitive load, while working on developmental reading skills. Books at home should be books to share and enjoy, fostering a love of reading.
• Students are allowed and encouraged to pick a variety of books from the home reading library. Your child may pick a book from a range of "levels" - and this is to be encouraged! Real life reading happens with a variety of books and text that students self-select.
• Your child will be bringing home their home reading bag with their reading book and a home reading log.
• Set aside a convenient and quiet time each evening when you and your child can read and discuss the book together.  
• After reading for about 15 minutes, please fill in the name of the book, date, and how your child found the book (way too easy, challenging, Just right) and return the book to school when you are ready to change it. Expect the book to be on the easier side as we want this to be their independent and comfortable level.  
•  It is important to read the book several times so that your child is familiar with the vocabulary. At school we suggest reading it 3 times: 1 for reading/problem solving new words, 2 for fluency (how smooth they read) and 3 for understanding.
• Send back to the school when they are ready for a new book.  
• Your child may also have a list of high frequency sight words in their bag. Please practice these so that they know the word within 3 seconds without having to sound it out. Their knowledge of these words greatly impacts their fluency and success in reading.

I hope that you enjoy spending time reading with your child and please be patient and encourage the love of reading! Ms Hatch