End of October Update!

It feels like I have not blogged in so long!  I will start out with a few general reminders.
*Wednesday Folders- This year the Wednesday folders are part of the homework folder, but they still need to be signed.  This is where all graded papers are returned and your signature shows that you have seen the grades as well as all the other informative flyers.
* Please remember to sign agendas every night as this is the main form of communication between school and home.
* Please check agendas for reminders, especially which days we have gym. Students lose credit for not having appropriate shoes and attire.

Since I know many students inform their parents that they do "nothing" in school everyday, I will fill you in:
     We have been working on reading nonfiction text and identifying main idea, details, text features, and learning how to ask and answer questions.  The students have really been doing a lot of work and it is harder than what they are used. I am confident that as the year goes on they will get better.  In the next few days we will be moving on to a new topic in reading: Fables, Folktales, and Myths.  I feel this will be interesting to the students and they will hopefully want to read more. I definitely encourage all parents to have their child read every night and talk to them about what they read.
     We are also tying in our Writing and Social Studies units.  In Social Studies we are reading about communities and their cultures.  You may have had your child come home and ask you about a tradition you have in your culture.  This is for our essays in writing.  Every student is writing an opinion essay about a family tradition.  I hope that you can talk to your child about their traditions and what your feelings are or even how they got started.
    In Math we have moved on to Unit 2 which is all about adding and subtracting.  Please practice basic addition and subtraction facts with your child.  They need to know these from emory, not counting on fingers.  This can even be done during a car ride- call out the fact and have them answer as quickly as possible. Make it a game!

This week we will also celebrate Halloween.  I have decided that since we are discussing cultures and traditions, that we will do some activities from the Day of the Dead (Dia de Los Muertos) tradition as well.  Look for more information in homework folders about this week's activities.  I will post pictures next week!