Fall is here and I am Thankful for all of your support with working with your children! 
We are in the second nine weeks now and time is flying by. Your children have worked long and hard on math patterns. Looking around everywhere to see what patterns we could find, making patterns and extending patterns. They are all understanding patterns of colors, shapes and numbers. When you are waiting in line in the store or if you need a quick activity, ask them to find a pattern around them. They are also very good with how people, things and objects are the same and different. They may just group their family members in who  has something the same and who has something different. Grouping items helps them in math and science. Describing the details helps them use "describing words / adjectives" that we want to see in their writing pieces. All of the students are reading letters, saying letter sounds and beginning to read the sight words. Thank you for all of your help in working with them. As you know some of your children are becoming great readers.
In Science we have begun or "Force and Motion" unit and dicussion Push and Pull movements. If you need more help at home, they may enjoy pushing the vaccuum, pushing and pulling the broom, and the lawnmower may be a bit tough at this age.  We are also looking around us to find things that move and how they move. How can them help objects move faster and slower. If they have toy cars or toys that can be pushed or pulled, they may enjoy finding ways to help them move faster or slower. Examples would be building a small ramp or using cloth  or carpet to slow an object down. In Social Studies they learned the words above, below, far, near, there and here. I was very pleased at how quickly each of them picked up the understanding and recognizing the words. In  Reading we are also working on "Summaries". This is telling what the book was about by telling the main parts in order. I told them they give you a summary of their day when you ask them about their day.They do not tell you the events they do every minute in great detail but they give you summary of the most important or their favorite parts.
I am looking forward to seeing many of you for our "Family Lunch" this month in the cafeteria.  Thank you for  always checking planners and signing papers as needed.

Mrs. Harrison



Happy October:
We are moving towards the end of the first nine weeks. I am enjoying working with your children. At this time, they are working on their letter recognition and the letter sounds. They are recognizing some of their sight words and color words. In Reading, they are making predictions before reading a book and noticing details within the book. They are practicing retelling a book with a beginning, middle, and the end. If you ask them about their day, you can ask them for a summary of their favorite part or a retelling of the beginning, middle, and end of the day.  In math we have been working on patterns using colors, shapes, objects, and finding what is next.  I am sure they could find a pattern inside your house. We have also begun working on using pictures to create an addition problem. We are working on the addition symbol + and how to place the numbers on either side. Science  included our Five Senses. They are very familiar with what senses they would use for different objects. Outside our classroom door is our "Five Senses Books". They have learned that Summer has come to an end and we are now in Fall. Leaves are falling in Fall and what types of clothes we wear. Our class definitely loves exploring outside. We have found many acorns, leaves, weeds, flowers, sticks and interesting rocks. Acting like scientists by using a magnifying glass to observe our findings from outside is one of our class favorites. They know how to sort objects by appearance. They placed a variety of objects into categories such as hard, soft, round, fluffy, sticky, and toys. If you have a kitchen drawer where every little thing seems to end up, they would be great at organizing the items into groups for you. Our unit on  "Matter" has us looking at solid objects and comparing size, shape and weight. We will soon move to looking at liquids and finding what a gas is.  In Social Studies, it was working with a calendar, learning about safety rules, following directions, and our character traits.  For writing, we are now adding words to our pictures. It is so much fun to hear about their weekend time with you. They  are beginning to sound out words and use speech bubbles in their pictures.  We have been reading From Pictures to Words, and they can tell you all about it. Our Book of the Month, The 7 Habits of Happy Kids,  had seven separate stories that we read.  Each story was about a different character or animal characters, and they can retell each one to you. Their illustrations of each story are on our hallway bulletin board. They are all very active during our Physical Activity time. Everyone is climbing, running, playing, kicking a soccer ball, playing group games and learning to jump rope.  Most likely they would love to sing you a Science song, "Look Up" or "What is the Object?" Our feelings songs may not be quite memorized yet, maybe the "Calm Down" song. Today was listening to the letter "S" in the song "Sammy the Seal".
We are learning each day and they are growing up. I am very proud of each one of the students in my class and I am looking forward to what I see and hear from them each day.   Thank you for working with your children and signing planners each night. They are completing their homework and are responsible with their lunch boxes and  / or lunch money.

If you have any questions or comments please put them in your child's planner or email me. Thank you!