February 10-13

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Tomorrow is an early release day!  Dismissal is at 1:00.  Please plan accordingly.

Tomorrow is also our classroom reward day.  Students are allowed to wear pajamas to school and bring a stuffed animal to school.  Please limit your child to bringing just one stuffed animal.  It should be small enough to be able to fit on their desk.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Homework packets are due on Thursday!

The weather looks a little dicey for Thursday and Friday this week.  Please have your child bring in their valentines for Thursday.  They should be prepared to hand the valentines out to their friends on Thursday, just in case.  Should we need to change our minute to win it games as well, I will reschedule them for a different day after vacation.  I will email you on Thursday with a final decision.

Also, since the forecast is not looking so great, we may need to postpone the winter carnival.  I will send out an email tomorrow after school with the final decision.  If we should need to postpone the carnival, we will reschedule it for another day after vacation.

REMINDER:  students are allowed to bring in sleds from home for our winter carnival!

THIS WEEK IN...

Phonics:  We are working with r-controlled vowels.  We will practice the /ar/ and /or/ patterns.  Here are our focus words:  farm, park, start, part, dark, sort, storm, short, for, and horse.

Spelling:  We will work on unit 19.  The words are:  must, because, does, part, and even.

Vocabulary:  Our new words are:  itches, puddles, preen, beasts, handy, and nibble.  We will use our vocabulary books to record the words and their meanings.  Then, Team Howard will show they know what each word means with a picture or by using it correctly in a sentence.

Comprehension:  We will work on making comparisons this week with an awesome graphic organizer that will really help us tap into our critical thinking skills.  We will compare three different animals.  We will look at what they look like, how they clean themselves, and if they have any helpers.  Then, we’ll use the information to see if we can see any similarities between the animals.  We’ll practice this skill while we read Splish! Splash!  Animal Baths.  

Early Release Fun:  I am SO EXCITED for this project!  I have been doing it every year since I was student teaching and I never get tired of it.  We will be creating 100 valentines (to go along with the upcoming 100th day of school) to be delivered to the residents at Birchwoods Assisted Living Facility in Portland.  The goal is to have Team Howard thinking about how they can brighten the day of one of the residents, who may not necessarily get a valentine from someone else.  

Valentine’s Day Activities:  We will be making “heart houses” as our valentine card holders.  When Team Howard delivers their valentines, they will be delivering them to their friends’ card homes.  If the weather cooperates, we’ll also be playing some minute to win it games.