Week of August 21st

Good morning parents,

I hope you all had a relaxing weekend. Last week was a very busy week, building our reading and writing stamina and setting up our classroom agreements. It is great to see our community coming together. I hope to see you at Open House Monday evening. This week we have individual pictures on Monday (students may wear smart casual clothing) and class pictures on Wednesday (students wear a full uniform). This week we begin home learning (we will talk about it a bit at Open House). You can see the current week on the Home Learning tab if you want to have your child get a head start. Each Monday the Home Learning notebook will come home with a new choice board inside.

This week will begin on a day 4.

Reading

We have begun our first reading unit: Building a Reader’s Life. Students will learn to choose books that are just right for them and to monitor as they read so they can spend their time reading lots of books with accuracy and comprehension. Your child should be reading in English each evening (in addition to any other language they read).

Writing

We have started our first writing unit: Crafting True Stories. This week we continue to learn how to find ideas for stories. Students can think of an important person or place and list the moments that happened. Then students choose one of these moments and begin drafting their story. Students will also set clear goals and track their progress towards their goals.

Math

We will begin our first math unit on Measurement.

In this unit students will:

• Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes.
• Solve elapsed time, including word problems, by using a number line diagram.
• Reason about the units of mass and volume.

Please make sure your child practices basic math facts (addition and subtraction to 20) as needed. There are ideas for this on the parent learning page linked below.

Social Studies

Students will begin to learn about what makes a map and what tools help us to read a map such as a compass rose, map key, symbols (landforms), etc. If you have any maps at home that you would not mind the class looking at, please send them to school with your child to share.

Please take a minute to look at our ES Parent Learning Connection. Here you will find information and resources of our units in Mathematics and Literacy.

Great article from NYT on children and reading.

Do keep checking the photo tab for new photos.