April 15, 2016
Dear Parents,
We are beginning a unit on pond life. We will discuss the animals that live in and around a pond. We will examine the life cycle of a frog. If you know of a pond that you can visit with your child, this would be a good time to do it.
_____ Talk about a pond being a small body of water. Have your child brainstorm about animals that might live in and around a pond. Then have your child pick one pond animal and tell you what he/she already knows about it. You may add details to your child’s knowledge. Have your child write three sentences about the animal of his or her choice on the enclosed pond paper. Have your child write one sentence and then check it for a capital at the beginning, spaces between words, and a punctuation mark at the end. Continue with the other two sentences. Remind your child to use descriptive words. Have your child illustrate the writing. Remind your child to write his or her first and last name on the paper. Return this to school.
_____Math Focus: Your child has colored a paper plate blue. This will represent the pond. Cut apart the fish patterns (20) on the lines. Place them in the “pond.” Have your child turn over a number card (enclosed) and “take away” that many fish from the pond. Your child should write the problem on the back of the pond animal writing sheet. Make sure your child writes the numbers correctly. Let your child continue turning over cards and writing the problems on the back of the pond writing sheet until there are no more fish. Ex. Your child starts out with 20 fish and turns over the number card 5. Then he or she writes 20-5=15 on the back of the pond writing. Next, your child turns over a three and writes 15-3=12. Continue turning over cards and subtracting until there are no more fish in the pond.
____New words: off, take, has
_____Have your child readTake Offto you. This book puts our new words back into text and it uses words we have already learned. Add this book to your child’s book list!
_____ I read 50 minutes (or 5 books) with my child.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Your child has read ______books so far.
____Word family practice-Please let your child read the word family paper. This practice helps your child to recognize patterns such as “ack” in words. Have your child read the words until they are fluent with them. Then sign and return the paper to school.
_____Review: words (see Fry word list and report card list), shapes (2D and 3D) and their descriptions, rhyming words, letters, letter sounds, name the seasons, 2’s (to 20), by 1’s, by 5’s, and by 10’s to 100, identifying numbers to 20, writing numbers 0-20 without a pattern, write capital and lowercase letters without a model, retelling a story in sequential order, and anything else that is marked with a 1 or a 2 on your child’s report card.
Reminders
Attendance- Please make sure that your child is in school and on time unless he/she is sick. We are beginning our final assessments and it is important for him/her to be here to learn the new skills.
Report cards: Please sign and return the report card envelope to indicate that you have read your child’s report card.
Thank you for your help at home! I can tell such a difference in the children’s progress when they have extra help!
Your Partner in Education,
Alyson Fricks
Parent’s signature:
Child’s name: