Weekly Update from Mrs. Pumphrey

Dear Parents,

I hope everyone enjoys a lovely Labor Day weekend! I can’t quite believe that next week will be the 4th week of school! We are working hard on our organizational skills in class, and doing our best on all assignments. Please encourage your child to have neat handwriting and proofread their work. Every sentence should begin with a capital letter and have an end mark. We are also working on some important social skills. At the beginning of the day I like to greet all of your children, and I expect a friendly hello or good morning with eye contact in return. At the end of the school day the students have a choice of a handshake or a hug good-bye. We have talked about having a nice, firm handshake, looking me in the eye, and saying good bye using a pleasant tone of voice, and saying something friendly.

I am so enjoying my days with your children, and we continue to make great strides! Please read on for some important information regarding our class.

Save the Date:
September 17 @ 9:30: Constitution Day Rally Round the Flag celebration

September 24 & 25: Parent Teacher Conferences

Important Notes:
Book Report: Our first book report is a fiction book and the students will be completing a Cereal Box Project. The completed project is due on Fri. Sept. 28th.

What’s Going on in our Classroom:
Reading: We will begin reading, Frindle, by Andrew Clements. Students will be answering comprehension questions for every chapter, and locating evidence for their answer choices.

Spelling: The words are: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia, Europe, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, ocean, continent, country, south, east, west, north, directions, and compass rose. Homework is due Friday. Test Friday.

Vocabulary: No vocabulary unit next week.

Math: We will begin Chapter Two which covers addition with regrouping.

Grammar: We are working on compound, complex, and run on sentences. We are finishing Unit 1 and will have a test most likely at the end of next week. We will also begin a unit on dictionary skills.

Writing: Working on our Gooney Bird Greene stories which are written in third person.

History: Test on labeling the continents and oceans on Friday, Sept. 7th. Practice sheet will go home today. There will not be a word bank and spelling will count. Students must also know their address and phone number for Mom & Dad. Map of Wood Acres is due Wednesday, and we begin our study of Canada next week!

Science: Students continue to explore properties of matter in the lab. Next week we will begin conducting experiments learning about volume.