Phonics Lesson 87 ie, igh - long /i/ & Phonics Lesson 88 Vowel Team Review: Apr 13-17 (Reading Practice Book)

Phonics Lessons - April 13-17

This week's focus has been learning about more long vowel teams. Vowel teams are two or more letters that work together to make one vowel sound. 

Lesson 87: ie, igh - long /i/

We have already learned that the letter I can spell the long /i/ in silent (or super hero) e words like in kite. We have also learned that I spells long /i/ in open syllable words like in tiger. We have also learned that Y can spill the long /i/ sound at the end of one syllable words like fly.

ie - The vowel team ie spells long /i/ and comes at the end of a word like in pie and tie.  

igh - The vowel team igh also spells the long /i/ and usually comes in the middle of a word like in light and might. It can also come at the end of a word like in high and sigh. 

In this week's text called, The Right Job, students are looking for all the words that have the long /i/ sound based on the ie or igh spelling patterns to highlight (the whole word that has that spelling pattern). Be careful for spelling patterns that are included in the story that just include any letter i in the word - we are specifically looking for the ie and igh making the long /i/ sound. Students are also asked to illustrate the story to demonstrate their understanding of the text.

Lesson 88: Review Long Vowel Teams

We spent a couple days reviewing what we have been learning to help solidify these vowel teams. 

ai, ay - long /a/

ee, ea, ey - long /e/ 
oa, ow, oe - long /o/

ie, igh - long /i/

In this week's text called, Aiden's Goal, students are looking for all the words that have the vowel teams with the long /a/, /e/, /o/, and /i/ sounds based on the ai, ay, ee, ea, ey, oa, ow, oe, ie or igh spelling patterns to highlight (the whole word that has that spelling pattern). Be careful for spelling patterns that are included in the story that just include any letter a, e, o or i in the word - we are specifically looking for the long vowel sound teams as indicated. Students are also asked to illustrate the story to demonstrate their understanding of the text.

Heart (Irregular) Words of the Week

Heart words are words that do not decode or follow the spelling rules that we have been learning. We have to know them by 'heart'. However, once we learn more spelling rules, they may be only temporary heart words and the rules will come along later! In the meantime, we have been focusing on reviewing and learning the words below with focused in class practice. These will eventually (if not already) be on spelling word lists or word rings. 

This week we are reviewing:

• above
• among
• again
• against

This week's new words:

• always
• almost

Fluency Grids
With each lesson, there is a fluency grid with the lesson focus that is intended to help students recognize the phonics rule and assist in reading it with accuracy and automaticity. At home, challenge your young reader to read the word (aim is to decode/read each word within 3 seconds) and then recall it each time they see it within the grid of mixed up, repeated words. A couple minutes of practice is all they need. This acts as a warm up before reading the text that also applies the same skill while building on all the previous skills as well. Each week we are building on the previous week to become more fluent readers so we can focus on what the text is sharing rather than spending all the time decoding the words.

Homework Reminders
Students have been working on the story or stories in their Reading Practice book this week that will come home each weekend. At school, they work with a partner to complete their fluency grid, read with someone their story and highlight the focus words. Following, they are illustrating a picture for the text to show their understanding. 

At home, students are to finish the above tasks and read to an expert the week's lesson(s). After completing, parents are to initial at the indicated spot at the top. 

This week, we are have completed two lessons so there will be two stories to complete in their white Reading Practice booklet after the clip. Please see the information letter in the front of the book for more, detailed information about this weekend practice book coming home. Please return on Monday (or Tuesday if there is a no school day on Monday).

Happy reading!

Dairy Educator Presentation

  

We welcomed Ms. Garrett today to share with us about the concepts of liquids and solids with relation to dairy products. We had so much fun talking about dairy products and even participated in a cool experiment where we took cream (a liquid) and turned it into butter (a solid) with some hard work! We even got to sample our results! Ms. Garrett was so great about answering all our questions about her dairy cows and all the dairy products! What a great, hands on learning experience! Thanks for coming, Ms. Garrett!  

Phonics Lesson 85 ee, ea, ey - long /e/ & Phonics Lesson 86 oa, ow, oe - long /o/: Apr 7-10 (Reading Practice Book)

Phonics Lessons - April 7-10

This week's focus has been learning about more long vowel teams. Vowel teams are two or more letters that work together to make one vowel sound. 

Lesson 85: ee, ea, ey - long /e/

We have already learned that the letter E can spell the long /e/ in silent (or super hero) e words like in theme. We have also learned that E spells long /a/ in open syllable words like in begin.

ee - The vowel team ee spells long /e/ and it usually comes in the middle of a word like in need and feet. But ee can also come at the end of a word like in see and tree. Also, ee sometimes comes at the beginning of the word like in eel. 

ea - The vowel team ea also spells the long /e/ and usually comes in the middle of a word like in mean and team. It can sometimes come at the beginning of a word like in eat and each and also can come at the end of a word like tea and flea. 

ey - The vowel team ey also spells the long /e/ and only comes at the end of a two-syllable word like in money and turkey.  

In this week's text called, Deep in the Green Forest, students are looking for all the words that have the long /e/ sound based on the ee, ea or ey spelling patterns to highlight (the whole word that has that spelling pattern). Be careful for spelling patterns that are included in the story that just include any letter e in the word - we are specifically looking for the ee. ea and ey making the long /e/ sound. Students are also asked to illustrate the story to demonstrate their understanding of the text.

Lesson 86: oa, ow, oe - long /o/

We have already learned that the letter O can spell the long /o/ in silent (or super hero) e words like in bone. We have also learned that O spells long /o/ in open syllable words like in cozy. 

oa - The vowel team oa spells long /o/ and it usually comes in the middle of a word like in boat and road. But oa sometimes comes at the beginning of a word like in oat and oak. 

ow - The vowel team ow also spells the long /o/ and usually comes at the end of a word like show and grow. OW can also come in the middle of a word like in bowl and flown. 

oe - The vowel team oe also spells the long /o/ and comes at the end of a word like toe. 

In this week's text called, A Trip to the Coast, students are looking for all the words that have the long /o/ sound based on the oa, ow or oe spelling patterns to highlight (the whole word that has that spelling pattern). Be careful for spelling patterns that are included in the story that just include any letter o in the word - we are specifically looking for the oa, ow and oe making the long /o/ sound. Students are also asked to illustrate the story to demonstrate their understanding of the text.

Heart (Irregular) Words of the Week

Heart words are words that do not decode or follow the spelling rules that we have been learning. We have to know them by 'heart'. However, once we learn more spelling rules, they may be only temporary heart words and the rules will come along later! In the meantime, we have been focusing on reviewing and learning the words below with focused in class practice. These will eventually (if not already) be on spelling word lists or word rings. 

This week we are reviewing:

• father
• water
• today
• very

This week's new words:

• above
• among
• again
• against

Fluency Grids
With each lesson, there is a fluency grid with the lesson focus that is intended to help students recognize the phonics rule and assist in reading it with accuracy and automaticity. At home, challenge your young reader to read the word (aim is to decode/read each word within 3 seconds) and then recall it each time they see it within the grid of mixed up, repeated words. A couple minutes of practice is all they need. This acts as a warm up before reading the text that also applies the same skill while building on all the previous skills as well. Each week we are building on the previous week to become more fluent readers so we can focus on what the text is sharing rather than spending all the time decoding the words.

Homework Reminders
Students have been working on the story or stories in their Reading Practice book this week that will come home each weekend. At school, they work with a partner to complete their fluency grid, read with someone their story and highlight the focus words. Following, they are illustrating a picture for the text to show their understanding. 

At home, students are to finish the above tasks and read to an expert the week's lesson(s). After completing, parents are to initial at the indicated spot at the top. 

This week, we are have completed two lessons so there will be two stories to complete in their white Reading Practice booklet after the clip. Please see the information letter in the front of the book for more, detailed information about this weekend practice book coming home. Please return on Monday (or Tuesday if there is a no school day on Monday).

Happy reading!

Pizza Party!

Today we were very fortunate to have a surprise pizza party from donations that we had planned back in December! But here we are getting to enjoy them now and oh boy, were students happy with their surprise lunch. Thank you to our wonderful community to put the smiles on these kiddos faces with a little pizza and milk!! 

Easter Egg Hunt for Ronald McDonald House!

 

We are so excited to say that our Easter Egg Hunt for Ronald McDonald House was a great success!! 

We made the treat bags for all the participants, prepared posters to advertise in the school and created announcements to share. The students were so excited to help hide the eggs, pass out treats and go on our own hunt as well. 

Donations rolled in this past week and helped us reach over our goal. We raised just over $320! We are very happy with the amount we are donating to the Ronald McDonald House! 

A BIG thank you to the volunteers, Kendra Eckel, Pam Ford, Heather Elgie, Joanne Carr and Michele Ivanouski that volunteered to help run the event! 

We might have a small school but we have really BIG hearts and it shows when we put our efforts in to share with those in our community! 

Thank you to everyone for making it a big success!!!

Wishing you all an amazing Easter weekend!

Phonics Lesson 83 Review of /ar/, /or/ & /er/ & Phonics Lesson 84 ai, ay - long /a/: Mar 30 - Apr 2 (Reading Practice Book)

Phonics Lessons - Mar 30- April 2

Lesson 83: Review of /ar/, /or/, /er/

We spent the start of this short week reviewing all of the r-controlled vowels we have learned so far. Review and practice has been perfect with this short week as we focus on putting all our learning together. 

In this week's text called Fishing At the Port, students are looking for all the words that have any of the r-controlled vowels. They are listed at the top of the page but are ar /ar/, or and ore for the /or/ sound, and the use of the four spelling patterns of /er/ as er, ir, ur and w+or. Remember we are careful to only highlight the words that have this pattern. Students are also asked to illustrate the story to demonstrate their understanding of the text.

Lesson 84: ai, ay - long /a/

We have already learned that the letter a can spell the long /a/ in silent (or super hero) e words like in cake. We have also learned that a spells long /a/ in open syllable words like in baby. 

ai - The vowel team ai spells long /a/ and it usually comes in the middle of a word like in bait and mail. But ai sometimes comes at the beginning of a word like in aim and aid. 

ay - The vowel team ay also spells the long /a/ and always comes at the end of a word like day and say. 

In this week's text called, Sunday Fun, students are looking for all the words that have the long /a/ sound based on the ai or ay spelling patterns to highlight (the whole word that has that spelling pattern). Be careful for spelling patterns that are included in the story that just include any letter a in the word - we are specifically looking for the ai and ay making the long /a/ sound. Students are also asked to illustrate the story to demonstrate their understanding of the text.

Heart (Irregular) Words of the Week

Heart words are words that do not decode or follow the spelling rules that we have been learning. We have to know them by 'heart'. However, once we learn more spelling rules, they may be only temporary heart words and the rules will come along later! In the meantime, we have been focusing on reviewing and learning the words below with focused in class practice. These will eventually (if not already) be on spelling word lists or word rings. 

This week we are reviewing:

• other
• another
• mother
• brother

This week's new words:

• father
• water
• today
• very

Fluency Grids
With each lesson, there is a fluency grid with the lesson focus that is intended to help students recognize the phonics rule and assist in reading it with accuracy and automaticity. At home, challenge your young reader to read the word (aim is to decode/read each word within 3 seconds) and then recall it each time they see it within the grid of mixed up, repeated words. A couple minutes of practice is all they need. This acts as a warm up before reading the text that also applies the same skill while building on all the previous skills as well. Each week we are building on the previous week to become more fluent readers so we can focus on what the text is sharing rather than spending all the time decoding the words.

Homework Reminders
Students have been working on the story or stories in their Reading Practice book this week that will come home each weekend. At school, they work with a partner to complete their fluency grid, read with someone their story and highlight the focus words. Following, they are illustrating a picture for the text to show their understanding. 

At home, students are to finish the above tasks and read to an expert the week's lesson(s). After completing, parents are to initial at the indicated spot at the top. 

This week, we are have completed two lessons so there will be two stories to complete in their white Reading Practice booklet after the clip. Please see the information letter in the front of the book for more, detailed information about this weekend practice book coming home. Please return on Monday (or Tuesday if there is a no school day on Monday).

Happy reading!

March Estimate Jar!

 

We were so excited to get to do our Estimate Jar for March to wrap up our month! Nothing says we love math like getting some treats to go along with learning!

Each student wrote down their estimate on their white board of how many chocolate gold coins were in the jar after Lucky the Leprechaun stole some of them! We have to wonder how many were really there before?! 

We decided today we would count by 2's because we know counting by ones takes us a long time! 

Then for the big moment...we all took a turn going around the class and sharing our estimate. We compared numbers and how far away our estimate was from the actual total we had of the chocolate gold coins.

Tom E was our lucky winner!! He was two off of the 28 treats we had in total! And since we knew our tradition is to share the treats with everyone in class, we all got one! Students may have brought home their treat (if they didn't eat them out of their lunch today)! And Tom got to take home the leftovers! 

What will be in our April?