The Week of October 25th, 2010

This week we will be focusing on the words from the seventh Reading story, “A Big-City Dream.” The words we are studying are:

often, they, caught, really, everybody, camera, beginning, might, remember, island, several, interesting, December, February, known, surprised, finally everyone, swimming, and evening. The students pretest on Monday. They will bring the list home in their Home Folder. Spelling homework is always Tuesday night (due Wednesday morning). I would like them to keep the Spelling list in their home folder so it can be used at home and at school. This week the homework is to write each word in a sentence. They should number the sentences and underline the spelling word. Please remind your child to review the words each night to be ready for the spelling test on Friday.

READING
The reading skill we will be working on this week is CAUSE AND EFFECT. A cause is why something happens. A cause can have more than one effect. An effect can have more than one cause. Sometimes there aren’t any clue words to help figure out what happened and why. Lots of people showed up to help Luz clean up the lot. Her dream of having a garden came true. The first sentence (cause) explains why Luz’s dream came true (effect). Talk with your child this week about “cause and effect” to help them better understand the concepts.

HOMEWORK-Very Important for Success!
READING-Each night your child should be reading a minimum of 20 minutes. Once they have finished reading they need to write a short summary (paragraph) about what they just read. Reading their summary with them will help them further understand their story.

MATH-Your child has Math homework each night. One-fourth of each daily EXCEL sheet is HW. Please look over your child’s work and guide them as necessary in the completion of the problems.

MATH FACTS PRACTICE
We had several students pass their math facts test last Friday. Please continue to practice 5 minutes each night on the number your child is working on. They need to practice the basic facts through 10. We have also been learning about factor rainbows. Ask your child to show you how to make a factor rainbow for the numbers 2 through 12.

BOOK REPORTS
The students have their October book report form. It is for a fiction book about an animal. Please check with your child to see that they are reading an animal book, if not, they can check one out at the library on Thursday. It is very helpful if you can look at a calendar and plan when would be a good time to work on their book report so it doesn’t end up being a last minute activity. The report is due Friday, October 29th.

AAI means “ALL ASSIGNMENTS IN.” Each Monday I will send home a sheet that will tell you if your child is missing any work in each subject area. Please review it with them Monday night, sign it, and have them return it to class on Tuesday. Anything that shows up missing on that sheet is work that was to be completed in the previous week (or before). The students need to complete the work and turn it in to me as soon as possible. When they complete the work and turn it in, I will sign them off on their missing assignment sheet so you know their work has been turned in. The Life Skill of responsibility is very important to learn at a young age. Several students were only missing one assignment. The following students were responsible about all of their work this term. They are on AAI:

Sydney A., Tyler, Jazmin, Jeffery, Anthony, Jorgie, Juan, Andrea, Grace, Trinity, Steve, and
Sydney W.

Nice job!