End of the week!

We are almost there again can you believe it? Another week is coming to a close. Let me bring you up to date on Wed. and Thurs. activities.

Reading - We have moved on this week to identifying the setting of a story. Students modeled where the story happend, time of day, and enviroment (weather, colors, noises) after listening to the story Owl Moon. We read a new book today Where the River Begins and students are reading different quotes from the story and sharing what they understand from the author's words for example:

"The boys waded in the cold rushing water." - Quote from the story

I understand that the boys must have been hot if they wanted to walk around in cold water. It must have felt good to cool off. - Student response

We are trying to get students to the point where they can share how the setting affected the characters in the story or at least share what they understand from the story.

In writing we are working on class book called "The Important Thing Is..." We are working on sharing a lot of details about a small topic and writing more elaborate sentences. We should be finsihed sometime early next week with illustrations.


In spelling we are continuing to identify long a sounds in words. We have mainly focused on a-e, ai, and ay patterns, however some students have odd balls on their lists to expose them to other long a spelling patterns like eigh.

Homework - We are having some trouble getting homework back each day. Students have a weekly homework sheet stapled into their folders. In my class students are to bring back their ziplock bags and spelling journals each day for corrections and clarification. On Thursday I will be sending home a reading comprehension sheet that ties into something students have already learned. This week we are having homework on character traits since students have already studied it. They are to pick a character trait about themselves and write about it as well as draw a picture.

Example for writing portion.
My name is Mrs. Del Balzo. I would say I am a very happy person. I smile a lot and like to sing and that is what happy people do. That is why I think I am a happy person.

If you ever have questions or concerns please feel free to call me. I will be continuing to call parents throughout next week to touch base. Calls are taking a bit longer to get through than I anticipated. Thanks for your understanding.

Love,
Mrs. Del Balzo