October Newsletter
Les Chenilles
This Month’s Learning:
Math:
We are familiarizing ourselves with the numbers 0-20. We will be naming, organizing, grouping and representing all of these numbers over the next little while. I find the more familiar and comfortable students are with this then it establishes a strong foundation for overall number sense in the future and to build upon.
Français/Science/Social Studies
Our big ideas this month will be about Fall, Thanksgiving, Halloween and continuing to build on expanding our French sentence structures for authentic communication in French. We will be learning about sound and light during our science block.
English Literacy
Our English Literacy Block is divided into 3 parts; UFLI, Guided Reading and English Writing.
UFLI (30 minutes daily)- We have been working on drill sounds (the sound that each letter makes). We have focused on 3 letter (CVC) words and “sounding out” these words. The words that the students practice with are all easily decodable and spelled the way they sound.
Our “trick words” for this now are: the, and, a, I, is, as
*These are the words that it is of the utmost importance for the students to become familiar with due to their high frequency in texts and also their tricky spelling.
Guided Reading (30 minutes daily)- The students circulate through a variety of English centres throughout the week. These centres are all geared towards increasing their ability and comfort with reading and writing. The students have been divided into groups and will be reading decodable paper books with me at this time. I am sending these books home so they can share the reading with you J
Writing (20-30 minutes daily)- The students have been learning how to journal and to use labelling. I have been giving the students a topic, such as, “I can…” then the students will draw pictures of what they can do and have been working at labelling the picture using our letter sounds. Inventive spelling is so important at this stage and giving your child the confidence to use what they know and to “sound out” the words is an essential skill. I do not focus on spelling things conventionally and instead slow down the words and allow them to write the letters they hear. I also have been drilling the “I can write” narrative into their heads since an automatic response is often “but Madame, I can’t write!” Well, yes, they can! The writing they produce at this age is my absolute favourite! We have spoken extensively that mistakes are welcome and that I actually love mistakes because it means that they are challenging themselves. We will be moving onto list writing next.
Homework-
I will be sending home 3 books at your child’s reading level starting in October sometime. I will give you a heads up once I feel the students are ready for this routine J These books can be reread throughout the week. I know that some evenings it will be tricky to find the 15 minutes to complete this reading homework but it is truly important to try as much as possible. Studies have proven that a child who reads frequently has a greater chance at being successful at reading. That being said, I would like to say that I don’t want this routine to cause stress or tears. My goal is to build a love of reading, an eagerness to develop these reading skills and a pride and confidence to be instilled in each student. If reading time is causing undo stress in your household then please reach out and we can brainstorm together. There will also be a handout in the bag to help guide you on this exciting new adventure!!!
Thanks again for all your wonderful support,
Mme Katie
Important Dates This Month:
Monday, Oct. 2nd- Truth and Reconciliation Day NO SCHOOL
Monday, Oct. 9th- Thanksgiving- NO SCHOOL
Tuesday, Oct. 10th- Class and individual pictures in the AM
Friday, Oct. 27th- PD day- NO SCHOOL
Tuesday, Oct. 31st- Halloween, pizza and costumes at school.
Les Chenilles
This Month’s Learning:
Math:
We are familiarizing ourselves with the numbers 0-20. We will be naming, organizing, grouping and representing all of these numbers over the next little while. I find the more familiar and comfortable students are with this then it establishes a strong foundation for overall number sense in the future and to build upon.
Français/Science/Social Studies
Our big ideas this month will be about Fall, Thanksgiving, Halloween and continuing to build on expanding our French sentence structures for authentic communication in French. We will be learning about sound and light during our science block.
English Literacy
Our English Literacy Block is divided into 3 parts; UFLI, Guided Reading and English Writing.
UFLI (30 minutes daily)- We have been working on drill sounds (the sound that each letter makes). We have focused on 3 letter (CVC) words and “sounding out” these words. The words that the students practice with are all easily decodable and spelled the way they sound.
Our “trick words” for this now are: the, and, a, I, is, as
*These are the words that it is of the utmost importance for the students to become familiar with due to their high frequency in texts and also their tricky spelling.
Guided Reading (30 minutes daily)- The students circulate through a variety of English centres throughout the week. These centres are all geared towards increasing their ability and comfort with reading and writing. The students have been divided into groups and will be reading decodable paper books with me at this time. I am sending these books home so they can share the reading with you J
Writing (20-30 minutes daily)- The students have been learning how to journal and to use labelling. I have been giving the students a topic, such as, “I can…” then the students will draw pictures of what they can do and have been working at labelling the picture using our letter sounds. Inventive spelling is so important at this stage and giving your child the confidence to use what they know and to “sound out” the words is an essential skill. I do not focus on spelling things conventionally and instead slow down the words and allow them to write the letters they hear. I also have been drilling the “I can write” narrative into their heads since an automatic response is often “but Madame, I can’t write!” Well, yes, they can! The writing they produce at this age is my absolute favourite! We have spoken extensively that mistakes are welcome and that I actually love mistakes because it means that they are challenging themselves. We will be moving onto list writing next.
Homework-
I will be sending home 3 books at your child’s reading level starting in October sometime. I will give you a heads up once I feel the students are ready for this routine J These books can be reread throughout the week. I know that some evenings it will be tricky to find the 15 minutes to complete this reading homework but it is truly important to try as much as possible. Studies have proven that a child who reads frequently has a greater chance at being successful at reading. That being said, I would like to say that I don’t want this routine to cause stress or tears. My goal is to build a love of reading, an eagerness to develop these reading skills and a pride and confidence to be instilled in each student. If reading time is causing undo stress in your household then please reach out and we can brainstorm together. There will also be a handout in the bag to help guide you on this exciting new adventure!!!
Thanks again for all your wonderful support,
Mme Katie
Important Dates This Month:
Monday, Oct. 2nd- Truth and Reconciliation Day NO SCHOOL
Monday, Oct. 9th- Thanksgiving- NO SCHOOL
Tuesday, Oct. 10th- Class and individual pictures in the AM
Friday, Oct. 27th- PD day- NO SCHOOL
Tuesday, Oct. 31st- Halloween, pizza and costumes at school.