Looking Ahead and this Week’s Overview

Our class was excited to check out books from the school library for the first time today! Here are a few things to note about library:

Library books are due every Friday.  Checking out books from our school library is a privilege. To check out books students are expected to:
1- Follow the library rules (be respectful, follow directions, use a library voice, etc.)
2- Return library books (no outstanding books)
3- Select a book during the allotted time

Books can easily be damaged due to leaky water bottles, so we encourage students to keep their water bottles in the side pockets of their backpack and to check them regularly for leaks. Thanks for helping us protect our library books!

Reading Writing Companion

*”Reading Writing Companion” workbooks will come home after we’ve finished that particular unit in Language Arts (about every three weeks). We’ve encouraged the students to share their work and read the stories to you that we’ve been practicing in class!

Looking Ahead:

  • Thank you for helping to support our school (and our class) with the Cookie Dough Fundraiser!
  • October 1: Picture Retakes
  • Monday-Tuesday, October 14-15: EARLY OUT and Parent Teacher Conferences
  • Wednesday-Friday, October 16-18: NO SCHOOL Fall Break
  • Tuesday, October 22: Cookie Dough and Beef Jerky delivered to the school
  • Thursday, October 31: Halloween Parade (9:00) & Party
  • Friday, November 1: No School

Here’s a quick overview of what we learned this week:

Comprehension strategy/skill: “Ask and Answer Questions” and “Topic and Details” . We read informational texts and poems to go along with our theme “How can your senses help you learn?”

New High Frequency Word: “see” (please continue to practice “we”, “I”, “can”, “the”, “a”)

Phonics: Sound and Spelling of Ss.

Phonemic Awareness: rhyming words, syllables, first, middle and last sounds we hear in words, adding, taking away and replacing words in compound words (or prefixes and suffixes), and blending sounds we hear to make a word.

We learn 5 new vocabulary words each week. This week’s words include: senses, explore, feast, kneads, finished.

Math: Lesson 11 “Count, Show, and Write Numbers 6 to 10”. We encourage students to use the lesson 11 worksheet packets that are sent home for extra practice!

Science: We’ve been investigating the effects of sunlight on Earth’s surface. After a brief review of the unit, students gathered observations of how shade influences the warming effect of sunlight, and then used those observations to predict where sunlight can be used to cook food.

Looking Ahead and this Week’s Overview

Looking Ahead:

  • Wed., September 25: Fundraiser Money Due. Only a few more days to sell Cookie Dough and Beef Jerky. Remember to add all orders into the Scoreboard FR app (code QUE832). Thank you for helping to support our school (and our class)!
  • Friday, September 27: Dollar Dress Down Day
  • Friday, September 27: Scholastic Book Orders DueScholastic Reading Club (use class activation code: Y8WGR)
  • October 1: Picture Retakes
  • Monday-Tuesday, October 14-15: EARLY OUT and Parent Teacher Conferences
  • Wednesday-Friday, October 16-18: NO SCHOOL Fall Break

Here’s a quick overview of what we learned this week:

Comprehension strategy/skill: “Ask and Answer Questions” and “Characters”. We read a fable, a fantasy and a non-fiction selection to go along with our theme “How do baby animals move?”

New High Frequency Word: “we” (please continue to practice “I”, “can”, “the”, “a”)

Phonics: Sound and Spelling of Aa.

Phonemic Awareness: We continue to learn sounds from our sounds wall. We learn how our mouth forms these sounds including what our tongue, teeth and lips are all doing. We work all year on rhyming words, chunking words into syllables, first, middle and last sounds we hear in words, adding and taking away and replacing words in compound words, and blending 3 sounds to make a word (consonant-vowel-consonant or CVC words).

Math: Lesson 5 “Compare Numbers to 5” and we continue to practice writing our numbers. Reversals are still very common and we praise when students write the correct number, even if it’s backwards, and then have them fix it because we’ve learned that fixing our mistakes helps us learn and grow.

Science: This week our class observed an interesting experiment that uses the heat of the sun. We discovered that a car in the sun gets hot enough to melt marshmallows and chocolate to make a sticky treat called a s’more!

Door Decorating for Volunteer Hours

If anyone is interested in covering our door with paper and taping on door decorations, please let me know: lteichert@questac.org.

  • All supplies are provided and the decorations are already created and ready to go.
  • We have monthly and seasonal decor, so you’re welcome to commit to as few or as many months as you’re interested in.
  • You’re welcome to stay after pickup and your child can remain in the classroom with you while you decorate, or we can arrange another time that works best for you!

Thank you!

Quest Academy Fundraiser

We are selling Cookie Dough & Beef Jerky to help fund student activities (ie field trips) and school improvements. 

Here are some things to know:

  • The fundraiser sale begins NOW
  • Money is due by Sept 25 before school begins
  • Checks payable to: Quest Academy
  • All orders need to be entered into the Scoreboard FR app (code QUE832)
  • Teacher name is: Ms. Lisa
  • Cookie Dough is delivered to the school Tues., Oct. 22

Watch this short, instructional video to get started (there are also instructions in the student packet).  The code you’ll need to enter in the app for Quest is QUE832.

Thank you for your support!

Looking Ahead and This Week’s Overview

Looking Ahead:

  • September 16-25: Cookie Dough School Fundraiser
  • Friday, September 27: Dollar Dress Down Day
  • Friday, September 27: Scholastic Book Orders DueScholastic Reading Club (use class activation code: Y8WGR)
  • October 1: Picture Retakes

Here’s a quick overview of new things we learned this week:

Comprehension strategy/skill: “Ask and Answer Questions” and “Characters”. We read a fable, a fantasy, and an informational text to go along with our theme “How can we get along with friends?”

Power Words: “I“, “can” “a” and “the” (please practice these)

We read our first decodable text!

Phonics: Sound and Spelling of Mm.

Phonemic Awareness: We work all year on rhyming words, chunking words into syllables, first and last sounds we hear in words, adding and taking away and replacing words in compound words, and blending 3 sounds to make a word (consonant-vowel-consonant or CVC words).

Math: Lesson 4 “Count, Show, and Write Numbers to 5”. We are also working in our individual math lessons in iReady, counting to 20 and reading and writing our numbers 0-10. In addition, we are identifying which number comes next when we hear any number 1-99. You can help us at home by saying a random number 1-99 and asking us which number comes next.

Science: This week, we investigated how to bring light and warmth to a cold mountain town that doesn’t see the sun throughout winter. (This lesson is actually based on the story of a real town in Norway!) Students experimented with different materials and discovered that sunlight can be redirected using reflective materials. You can encourage your child’s curiosity at home! For example, is the sidewalk hotter in the sun or in the shade? Why is it helpful to park a car in the shade during the hot summer? Encourage your child to notice the heating effects of the sun all around them!

Practice At Home to Earn Super Stars!

We are sending a “Practice At Home” paper today that can be returned next Friday (Sept. 20) as an incentive for students to practice new skills at home. They can earn “super stars” when returned with a parent’s signatures which helps them earn a trip to the treasure chest!

(I just discovered a typo on the page. It says Friday, Sept. 19 but it should say Friday, Sept. 20)

We are also sending your child home with two decodable texts. We are reading decodable texts several times throughout the day: together as a class, whisper reading to ourselves, in small groups, and with a partner. I can’t stress enough the importance of decodable texts. Students feel like readers and can be successful because all the words can either be sounded out or are high frequency words (“power words”) that we’ll be learning and reviewing in class. They’ll be exposed to the power words and letter sounds many times. If they are unable to read the decodable texts, please practice the power words and letter sounds consistently. Most kids need 4-40 repetitions to learn something new, but struggling readers may need to see it 40-200 times before it becomes automatic. Please continue to read to them at home and have them start reading the decodable texts to youI hope they’ll soon be excited to show off their new reading skills to you, grandparents, siblings, or anyone that will listen! 🙂

What we are learning: Language Arts

We are excited to begin Unit 1 in Language Arts. Here are the high frequency words, oral vocabulary words, and letters we will be mastering in the next 3 weeks. We’ve learned two additional sight words (or “power words”) to be added to this list: “I” and “can”. We will also be working on syllables, and identifying the beginning and ending sounds of words.