This week for homework, we will be continuing the STEM challenge from last week. This will give your child the opportunity to continue to study decomposition, or if the challenge was not taken last week, an opportunity to do the activity. Keep a log of observations so your child can get an idea of how long (or fast) certain food takes to decompose. We will be looking at banana peels that we put into different situations (dirt, air, water, light) and logging out observations for those this week.
Please remember that reading 20 minutes is a part of the homework every night. There are 2 sides of the homework log. Some of the children are still only completing one side of their logs. This is tracked by me and is a part of their responsibility marks on the report cards.
The sound focus for this week will be the short a sound or /a/. The only spelling for the sound is 'a' with our fabulous English language exceptions such as 'laugh'. Ways to practice at home could include finding short a words in books, finding objects with the sound and spelling the word, brainstorming words, reading words with multisyllables, etc. Please check out our Sound Focus page found under "Our Classroom - Foundations". There are many fun ways to practice words listed there and I am always looking for more, so check back for updates often. When you scroll down, you will see suggested words to practice and our brainstorm list from Friday's class.
I have added and updated the school calendar so that you have access to all the events scheduled for the year. I will add new things as they come up and would also like to put student birthday's there (first names only). This week we have school pictures on Tuesday and the Walk-a-Thon on Friday. All children will get their photos taken even if you are not purchasing them. These will be used for their photo ID at school and for the yearbook. Please dress your child appropriately and comb their hair. I know you are thinking "who wouldn't?" but, it happens every year! I love them like their second mother, but I cannot be primping them all before the photo shoot. So please help them get ready in the morning. Thanks! The walk-a-thon is an all day event with tons to do (sort of like fun day last year), so if you would like to come volunteer, this is a great day to do it!