Honesty Matters!

In April, we have been learning all about honesty as our character trait of the month. We have read books, poems and watched videos all about this concept to help us understand what this big idea means but students have a very good sense of this already. We brainstormed all the ideas we have been learning about and have posted in our classroom:

We have read these books:

And some great songs and videos we watched about honesty are:

We are working hard on focusing on making good choices and owning our mistakes. We all make mistakes but it is what we do about it that matters!

April Estimate Jar

 

We sure do love our Estimate Jar activity! Today, we did our April jar! April flew by with the students seeing what was in there! 

Each student wrote down their estimate on their white board of how many skittles packs were crammed on in the jar that made it tricky to see them. 

We decided today we would count by 2's because the objects were a bit bigger and we didn't have a lot of time so counting by 2's is quick and we always use more practice counting by 2's!  

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 skittles! 

Claire was our lucky winner!!! It was close that we almost had a 6 way tie of students that were 2 away but Claire snuck in their with her estimate of being exactly on the 22 that was in the jar! She knew our tradition is to share the treats with everyone in the class. Everyone got a pack to take home and Claire got a couple extra packs as the winner!   

Sweet deal! Some sweet math on a Thursday morning! 

Phonics Lesson 90 oo - /ew/ & Lesson 91 ew, ui, ue u - /ew/: Apr 27-May 1 (Reading Practice Book)

Phonics Lessons - April 27-May 1

This week's focus has been learning about more vowel teams (that don't make long vowel sounds). Vowel teams are two or more letters that work together to make one vowel sound and these are newer vowel sounds rather than the 'regular' ones we speak of. 

Lesson 90: oo - /ew/

We have learned that the vowel team oo can spell the sound /oo/ as in book but it can also spell the sound /ew/ as in spoon. 

OO spells the /ew/ sound in the middle of a word like in soon and food. It can also spell that at the end of a word like in too and boo. Finally, it can spell that sound at the beginning of the word like in oops and ooze.  

In this week's text called, The Groom is Late!, students are looking for all the words that have the vowel team oo that males that /ew/ sound. They are looking to highlight (the whole word that has that spelling pattern). Be careful for spelling patterns that are included in the story that include the oo that makes the the /oo/ sound from last week or the heart words we have been learning! We are specifically looking for the /ew/ sound that oo can make. Students are also asked to illustrate the story to demonstrate their understanding of the text.

Lesson 91: ew, ui, ue u - /ew/

We have learned that oo spells that /ew/ sound like in the middle of the word spoon. There are three more vowel teams that can make that same /ew/ sound. 

ew /ew/: The sound /ew/ can be spelled with the letters ew. It comes at the end of a word like in flew and grew. 

ui /ew/: The sound /ew/ can also be spelled with ui and comes in the middle of a word like suit and juice.

ue /ew/: The sound /ew/ can also be spelled with the ue spelling pattern and comes at the end of the word like glue and sue.   

In this week's text called, Cruise Ship Trip, students are looking for all the words that have the letter teams that makes the /ew/ sound based on the ew, ui and ue 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, u, w or combinations. We are specifically looking for the ew sound combinations from ew, ui and ue making that special /ew/ 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:

• they
• want
• friend
• always
• almost
• floor
• poor
• door

This week's new words:

• won
• son
• month

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!

May Reading Room

This month we are exploring fiction and non fiction books relating to Mother's Day, Spring and fairness. Here are some read aloud books that we will read in class and some additional books for students to enjoy about the topics. Click on a book to listen/watch the story! 

Happy reading!

May & June Scholastic Book Orders

Scholastic's Digital Flyers are now available for May & June for summer reading! This will be our final one for the year! Click on the image above to take you to each digital flyer. As you click on items, it will load the online shopping link to be able to add items to your cart instantly. Remember at checkout to apply the Grade 1/2 Busy Bee Class Code RC192592 to add rewards to our class resource account. Due dates for these book orders will be Wednesday, May 20 for ship to classroom options.

A paper copy of the flyer is available and will come home once they arrive at the school in May. We share on the blog as well in case that paper copy gets lost or extended family would like to place an order. All ordering is completed online and sent directly to your home or to the school (free to ship to school). 

If your order contains a gift, please let me know and we can arrange how to get it to you to keep it a surprise. 

If you require any help, please let me know. Happy to help get books into little people's hands in any way possible to find a love of reading. 

Happy reading!! 

May Newsletter & Calendar

May Newsletter

Please take some time to read this newsletter when you get a chance (as we know families are extremely busy) and access if there are any questions that should arise along the way.

May Calendar

This is our May class calendar of events for Grade 1/2! Although we can send home a paper copy, this blog has the most up to date information! Check out the blog calendar regularly for upcoming dates and information or the Homework & Reminders page.

Phonics Lesson 89 oo, u /oo/: Apr 20-24 (Reading Practice Book)

Phonics Lessons - April 20-24

This week's focus has been learning about more vowel teams (that don't make long vowel sounds). Vowel teams are two or more letters that work together to make one vowel sound. 

Lesson 89: oo, u - /oo/

This week, we also learned about a specialize vowel sound that is not a long vowel sound but does pop up on us here and there. We focused on the /oo/ vowel team.

oo /oo/: The sound /oo/ can be spelled with the vowel team oo. It comes in the middle of a word like in good and look. 

u /oo/: The sound /oo/ can also be spelled with u. U spells /oo/ in the middle of a word like put and bush.  

In this week's text called, Brookyln's Reading Nook, students are looking for all the words that have the vowel team that makes the /oo/ sound based on the oo or u 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 oo or u in the word - we are specifically looking for the oo and u making that special /oo/ 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:

• again
• against
• always
• almost

This week's new words:

• floor
• poor
• door

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 one lessons so there will be one page/story 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. 

Happy reading!