Activities for August 23-27

Reading: This week we will read about Big Rig trucks and the people that drive them. We will summarize our stories by choosing good beginning, middle, and ending sentences. We will also classify and categorize information from the stories as well. A fall DIBELS report is coming home today for you to review. We will begin working in our reading groups this week. If you have any questions about how you can help your child improve, please set up a conference time with me.

Phonics: This week’s highlighted vowel sound is short i. It would be wonderful if your child could identify words with the short vowel i when they are reading to you at home.

Spelling: Lesson 3 Review daily. We will locate these words in various texts and we will practice writing and using them in sentences. Test on Friday. Please practice writing them at home in all lower case letters and writing letters in the correct direction. b,d,and s seem to be a problem with several.
in
did
pin
had
pig
sat
big
no
dig
too

Writing: This week we will write about the things that we can do and the things that we want to learn to do. We will pick out the naming part of the sentence. We will continue to make sure that we are beginning the sentences with capital letters and ending with the correct punctuation. The children will then illustrate their stories. I am especially enjoying reading the letters that they write to me. It really makes your day when one tells you that they love you or that you are beautiful. I could just take a bite out of their sweet faces!

Math: We will work with picture and bar graphs this week. This should be a lot of fun as we graph everything from our birthday to the color of M&M’s in a pack. We will also start to work with story problems and decide what is the best way to find the answer.

Social Studies: Our unit of study about transportation and communication past and present continues. This week we will discuss everything from cable cars to rockets. I love to watch their faces as I tell them about things from the past. They are so interested and they think it is all so cool.

Reminders: Don’t forget to send a snack with your child daily. Some children are purchasing desserts when they really need to eat more of their lunch. I really think that it would be best if they just purchased a dessert on Fridays. Getting hiped up on sugary sweets and still having class work to do doesn’t always work well together. I think that I will try that this week and see how it goes.

Activities for August 16-20

Phonics: We will continue to work with the short vowel a.

Reading: We will begin lesson 2 of Storytown. We will continue to work on retelling and making predictions about the stories we read. Hopefully we will be able to check out library books soon. Please listen to your child read each night. They need to color a backpack on the August sheet in the take home folder for each book that they read to you at home. Students will take the DIBELS test on Friday at 8:30. This will determine reading groups. Please practice reading before then.

Sight words: We reviewed our sight words from where we left off at the end of kindergarten. Your child's individual words will go home in their take home folder.

Spelling: Lesson 2
Can you use them in a sentence?
hat bag
had at
sad can
sat help
bat now

Writing: We will write about what our lives would be like without things such as microwaves, televisions, telephones, etc. We will work on our word order and beginning our sentences with capital letters and ending our sentences with periods.

Math: Students are doing well on the minute math sheets. Please review over this paper each night with your child. As you can see it repeats some of the same skills but gradually adds on a new one. We will also work in our numbers booklet this week. Students will need to know their address and phone number. Please start practicing this now. For safety reasons, they should know this important information. Also, continue to work with your child each day on addition and subtraction facts.

Social Studies: We completed our farm unit. Students should be able to tell you something about each animal we studied and about how a farm runs from planting to harvesting. We will begin a new unit on the past and present. We will investigate the various forms of transportation and communication from many years ago to today. I have a feeling that they are going to make me feel very old when I talk about black and white TV’s, eight tracks, and phonographs!

Reminders: If you would like to donate extra snacks and juices for those children that don’t bring any, it would be very much appreciated. It breaks my heart to see a child left out.

Please send lunch money or checks in a sealed envelope with your child’s name, teacher, and amount clearly labeled.

Again this year, teachers will not be receiving an allocation from the state to purchase items for their classrooms. It would be appreciated if you could make a donation to Mrs. Miller’s class. We can always show you an account for every dollar spent. I ordered Scholastic News for each child that we should be receiving soon.

Please collect all BoxTops for our class. TPS collected more than any school in the state last year.

Contact me at mlee@tcss.net

Pictures from Mrs. Miller

Hey Everyone! Mrs. Lee has kept me posted on the beginning of the year, and it sounds like we are off to a good start! She LOVES our class just like I do, and it sounds like there is lots of fun to go around!!

My family is doing great and adjusting to being at home. I don't know what we did without Morgan...Neal Thomas is a super big brother!! Mr. Kelley and I feel so very blessed! Here are a few pictures of our family! I hope to go and visit the school soon just to say HEY to your sweet children!

Morgan Virginia Miller

Neal Thomas meeting Morgan for the first time! He checked her out...from head to toe!

Leaving the hospital!

HOME! Now the real fun can begin!!

Activities for Aug. 9-13

Phonics: Short a vowel sound will be reviewed.

Reading: We will begin with lesson one in Storytown. We will work on comprehension by retelling the story. We will also make predictions before and during the reading of our story. Students will also begin Accelerated Reading. After they read a book they will test on it. If they score 80 or above, they will place a star on their chart. Once the chart is full, they will receive a special treat. Please listen to your child read each night. Please log these books in their reading log in your child’s folder. Only log in the books that your child reads to you. The library is not open yet to students so I will send a book home each night until they are able to check out from the library. Please return the book the next day.
Students will be assessed with DIBELS on Aug. 20th. It is very important for them to get in lots of practice before then. This will determine their reading groups.

Spelling: Students will take a spelling test each Friday. The words come from our reading program and are also on their sight word list. We will work with these words daily and I encourage practice with them at home.
1. am 6. man
2. at 7. map
3. cat 8. tap
4. can 9. a
5. ran 10. the

Sight Words: Your child will be working with their list of sight words throughout the weeks in centers and individually with me. Please practice reading these words by sight and making sentences with them. Your child’s sight words are:
1. Will begin next week 4.
2. 5.
3.

Writing: We will write about how we spent our summer vacation. Children will be encouraged to write in complete sentences and use the correct punctuation at the end. This will be a great time to practice their handwriting as well.

Math: This week we will learn about the numbers that are in our daily lives. We will make a booklet about our age, birth date, address, phone number, shoe size, weight, and height. We will practice our measuring skills and how to interpret a calendar. It is also important to have a set of addition and subtraction flash cards at home to practice daily.

Science: This week we will study the farm. We will learn about the animals, processes, types, and the machinery that is used. We will make a mobile to hang in our classroom.

Reminders: Please turn in all signed forms as soon as possible. Don’t forget to send a healthy snack with your child each day.

If you have any questions or concerns, please call me at school or at home. (752-2389)l

Morgan Virginia Miller

Mrs. Miller is excited to let you know that her sweet baby girl was born Wednesday, August 4, 201o. She will post pictures soon.