IMPORTANT DATES:
•Nov. 15-19 ~“Be a Buddy Not a Bully!” Westminster Elementary Bully Prevention Week
•Nov. 22~ Mid-term reports go home
•Nov. 24-28~ Thanksgiving Holidays!
DECEMBER 4~ Breakfast with Santa! Join us in the lunchroom from 8:00-11:00 am!
FROM THE LIBRARY: Please check out the media center's webpage at
http://www.oconee.k12.sc.us/webpages/mfarmer/forms.cfm?myform=1493
to find information about a new program Mrs. Farmer would like to begin. Fill out the brief questionnaire to help support a special emphasis for boys as readers. You can also find the information at the Media Center's page under "Media Center Forms".
SNACKS: Thank you for remembering to send a snack each day. These should be healthy snacks, not cookies or brownies or candy. Also, please try to send finger foods only. We often work through shack, and foods that need spoons or need cutting and peeling can be messy.
TAKE HOME READERS: These are going so well! The children are really growing as independent readers! Thanks for your help with this. There are just a few children who are not reading every day. Please use the Take Home Reader as a part of 15 minutes of reading daily.
THANKSGIVING unit: We are reading Historical Fiction and non-fiction to learn information about the pilgrims and Native Americans. We will also be discussing the various family traditions we have during the holidays. Thanks in advance for participating in some of the take home activities!
Language Arts: We are learning about setting purposes for reading, such as reading to find out certain information, to find out the answer to a question, or to check a prediction. We’re working on summarizing the main idea of a story and retelling it with proper sequence. We have been learning about a variety of “genres.” Ask your child to tell you about non-fiction, historical fiction, realistic fiction, and fantasy. Please continue to remind your child to touch each word as he or she reads, and remind them to use strategies such as “get my mouth ready,” looking at pictures for clues, or making “guesses,” then returning to see if our guesses make sense.
We’re reviewing rhyming word “families” to help us with reading and spelling. We’re reviewing the sounds of ch, sh, th, and wh.
In writing, we are focusing on getting good ideas for writing. We’re continuing to work on spelling basic high frequency words correctly, and stretching out other words. We are trying to hear the beginning & ending sounds, as well as a vowel sound. We’re going to be working harder on including finger spaces in between the words as we write. We are working on writing complete sentences, with capital letters at the beginning and a period or question mark at the end.
We are excited about receiving brand new HANDWRITING books! A homework sheet for today and tomorrow is going home today, concentrating on the letter a. Please do the front tonight and the back tomorrow. We’ll have math homework on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
Math: We’re beginning to learn combinations that equal a sum of 10. (7+3, 5+5, 8+2, etc) We’re adding and subtracting through number stories. We’re continuing to memorize some “doubles” facts, such as 4+4, 5+5, etc. We’re working with numbers up to 110 on our Number Grid. We will continue to work on telling time to the hour this week.
Health and Safety: We will be learning about healthy foods and snacks.
Social Studies: We will be learning about family traditions for Thanksgiving, as well as the story of the “first” Thanksgiving. We celebrated Veterans Day last week, as well as learned about different kinds of careers on Career and Fine Arts Day.
