September 10 - 14

Reading
We will be reading the story, A Walk in the Desert.  Our reading comprehension skill this week will be main idea and details.  The main idea is what the reading selection is mostly about.  The details support the main idea. When reading with your child, stop and ask them if they can identify the main idea in a paragraph they have just read. 

Math
We will continue to work on place value.  We will review place value models to 100, introduce the place of the underlined digit, and everyday we will become math detectives as we work on multiple-step word problems. 

Spelling
We will begin our Words Their Way Spelling on Monday.  I will be introducing spelling sorts to students on Monday.  You will see your child's orange spelling folder come home each night this week with a baggie full of spelling word sorts.  Directions for this homework will be included in the folder.

Writing
We will continue to perfect our sentences.  Being sure to include capital letters, correct punctuation, as well as a clear subject and predicate in every sentence we write.  Eventually, we will string these sentences together into a complete paragraph.

Social Studies
We will continue our study of maps. Students will use maps symbols to represent streets, roads, buildings, etc. This unit will conclude with an activity where small groups of students use a campus map to track down several treasure treats on the NCS campus!

Homework (I have simplified my homework for now, to give you time to adjust to the new spelling program)
Reading Logs - continue to read for 15 to 20 minutes a night with your child.  Some evenings I will send a baggie book home, on those nights you may read that book with your child. 
Math Squares - I will send home a sheet of 4 math squares on Mondays.  The whole sheet will be due on Friday.
Words Their Way Spelling - Word sorts will come home on Monday.  Students will be tested on the spelling of the word, the sort, and using five of the words in a sentence.  This test will be on Friday.

This Week's Vocabulary Words
desert
harsh
climate
cactus
coyote
arid
landform
precipitation
dunes
ledge
haven
discovery
forbidding