1. December Newsletter What are we learning this month?
Note from the Teachers
Upcoming events
We are already finishing up our first ½ of the school year! It seems like only yesterday that I met your students at Open House. Your students have made so much growth in these few months. Thank you for all of your support at home. You are their 1st teachers, after all 
We are in need of some classroom supplies. If you are willing and able to donate, we’d really appreciate the following supplies:
Classroom Supply Wishlist
-Black expo markers
-band-aids
-white index cards
-Clorox wipes
-paper plates
Want resources ideas, a better understanding of the curriculum I’m teaching, or have some questions you would like answered? Please check out our class website. I created it with parents’ needs in mind. If something is missing that you would like added to the website, please let me know.
Dec. 10th Field trip to see Junie B. Jones play
Dec. 11th Parent Academy (supporting unique learning needs at home)
Dec. 13th Parent Academy (Engineering Design Process and Home Connections)
Dec. 14th Parents Night Out
Dec. 18th Mistletoe and 7:00
Dec. 21-Jan. 6th Winter Break- no school
Stay in touch
Class Website:
School Website:
What are we learning this month?
Writing
Our biggest focus this month will be continuing stories we’ve already started, planning our story parts out, being able to read our stories to others, and writing true stories about things that have happened to us.
Things we will be focusing on this month:
I can reread my writing (by pointing to my words)
I fix my writing if I can’t reread it or if it doesn’t make sense
I add spaces between my words when I’m writing so that I can read it easily.
Continuing my story with more details- not just a 1 sentence story anymore
I don’t need the teacher to draw “magic lines” any more- I know how my story goes and can leave spaces between my words on my own.
I reread my writing after 1 or 2 words so that my story makes sense and I don’t have to go back and fix my whole story.
I take my time with my picture and add a setting.
I work on my story for more than 1 day, so that it is a complete story with details.
I can make my own books just like real authors, with pages in order that make sense, all of the pages come together to make 1 story.
Read on to find out what we’re learning this month in reading, and how you can help at home . . .

2. What are we learning this month?
Reading
We are working on our reading comprehension. These are questions your students have been working on in guided reading with me:
Comprehension Questions
Why did the author write this book?
What is this whole book about (main idea)
What are details from the story that you remember?
What else would make sense in this book?
What would not belong in our story?
How are these books the same/ different?
Who are the characters?
What is the setting?
What happened beginning middle  end (level C and on)
What was the problem(s) and solution(s) in the story?
How are the characters feeling in the story? How do you know?
What connection can you make to the story?
Other skills we will be focusing on this month
Reading and writing CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant), with different vowels. Examples: pig, bed, hat, mug, pot
Recognize and produce all consonant and short vowel sounds (such as in pig, wet, hot, hug, bat) and short and long vowel sounds (apple, acorn)
Digraphs, blends, and sneaky E rule (level C+ readers)
Writing about reading (2-4 sentences to summarize story)
Using context clues to solve unknown words/ tricky vocabulary
Comparing/ Contrasting stories
Read on to find out what we’re learning this month in math, science, and social studies, and how you can help at home . . .

3. What are we learning this month?
Math
Things we will be focusing on this month:
Recognizing and naming 2D and 3D shapes (circle, square, rectangle, triangle, hexagon, cube, cone sphere, cylinder). The shape is still the shape even if it’s small, big, or turned.
Naming attributes that make shape. Example: a triangle has 3 straight sides, and 3 vertices.
Comparing and contrasting shapes. Example. How are a triangle and a square the same/ different? They’re both 2D shapes, but a square has 4 sides and a triangle has sides. A square is flat and a cube is solid.
Drawing and building 2D and 3D shapes
Making new shapes with other shapes. Example: I can make a rectangle with 2 squares. I can make a hexagon with 2 trapezoids.
**If you’d like more information about Unit 3 we’ll be teaching in math, please check our classroom website  curriculum  math  quarter 2
Science/ Social Studies
Holidays around the world- different traditions are celebrated in different countries
Positive character traits: kindness, reporting vs. tattling, integrity
Read on to find out about how you can help at home . . .

4. Ways you can help at home:
Self Help Skills
One of the biggest ways you can help your student is by helping them become independent. These are the things you can help them start becoming independent with:
Zipping up jackets
Tying shoes**
Fixing sleeves in a jacket- turning them inside out
Putting on gloves/ fixing gloves so they’re not inside out
Opening and closing lunch and snack containers independently
Reading
The best way to teach someone how to read is by modeling what good reading looks and sounds like. Kids become readers on the laps of their parents (read to your kids- make this an important part of your daily routine- if you show them reading is important and fun, they’ll believe it too!)
Reading books for fun every night. I will be teaching guided reading- the nitty gritty. You teach a love for reading at home.  Check out books from the public library that interest your student- they will not be able to read these books, but they could look for words they already know- sight words.
Sight words- practice 4-5 days a week so that your student can move up reading levels.
Reading goal: help your student accomplish their personal reading goal.
Writing
Fun ways to practice writing at home:
-Student writes a grocery list with items they would like from the store: cereal, chips, apples, etc.
-Find silly family photos, and student writes a story to go along with the picture.
-Have your student try to write their own jokes
-Draw and write their own comic book
-Tell them a story starter, and have them try to finish it. Example, One day, I was walking home and I ran into . . .
Prompts you could use:
-ask student to read their writing to you- ask them to point to their words as they read
-ask them about the parts in their picture
-give them a compliment on something they did well
-give them a suggestion on how they can make their story easier to read/ more interesting to read.
Math
-recognizing shapes at home- finding things that look like rectangles, squares, circles, triangles hexagons, cubes, spheres, cones, and cylinders.
-identifying and naming shapes, regardless of how they’re turned. Pinterest.com has a lot of fun shape activities