September!!

September was a busy month for us!  We spent time getting to know each other, learning the classroom routines and LEARNING!!  

In reading we reviewed and practiced the strategy of a story's structure and the order of the story sections.  We are now moving on to figuring out the main idea and supporting details of what we are reading.  The two pictures show kids reading one of the stories we investigated last week, "Fighting the Fire."

In math we are working on our fact fluency to 20.  This is a skill that we will work on all year.  It's important that students understand the concept of adding and subtracting.  The next step is to become fluent in the facts so that we can move on to more difficult problems.  I really suggest that parents buy two sets of flashcards with facts to 20 to practice at home.  (You would have to get two sets, addition and subtraction.)  I will be sending the teens paper facts home later this month also.   We have been working hard on word problems and will continue that throughout the year also.  Next week we start our unit on measurement.  We start most days in math with our "Number of the Day."  Ask your child what we do during that time!
In writing we are busy working in our journals.  We are learning to find ideas to write about, brainstorm about the ideas and then write.  We also wrote the Stripes projects that you saw at Curriculum Night.  Coming soon is a fun Halloween writing project that I know the kids will LOVE!
In Social Studies we reviewed and extended our learning from first grade on mapping and communities.  The students learned that there are three main types of communities: rural (farming), urban (city), and suburban (where we live).
Thank you so much for your support of our classroom!  Together we are making a difference in your child's life!