September 17 - 21

**Please empty red take-home folders of all papers, sign any that need to be signed, and RETURN folders to school. 
**All Scholastic News orders will be due on 9/21.  The more orders we get, the more books we can order for our classroom! 
**We are in need of games and puzzles for our Fun Fridays, please donate if you can.  Also, small wrapped candy for our treat basket.  Thank you!

Reading
We will be reading the story, The Strongest One.  This story is about a little red ant that ventures out into the world to find out if he is the "strongest one."  This story incorporates the skill of realism and fantasy. 

Reading Groups
We will be working independently in Literacy based centers while small reading groups are running.  Each group is matched with students of similar reading comprehension and fluency rate.  I will be leading groups in a variety of short stories and novels to promote growth in each student’s independent reading range. Look for baggie books to come home this week.  Please read these books each night with your child for 15 - 20 minutes and record in their reading log.
Math
In Math, we will start learning to write numbers in word form and expanded form.  We will be building on what we learned last week with Place (ones, tens, hundreds) and Value (how much a digit is worth in a specific “place”) Keep up the good work with your Math Squares!  
Spelling
Great job working with your child this past week on the Words Their Way spelling!  Most of the class did very well on gluing their sorts and on their spelling test!  Please remember to read the directions carefully for each day of the homework and initial the notebook page in your child's spelling folder when it asks you to do so.

Writing
Details and super sentences are some of the important things we will be practicing this week in writing.  For Grammar, we will focus our attention on identifying nouns and reviewing correct punctuation.

Social Studies
We had a fantastic time learning about where we are on the planet with the help of GoogleEarth!  We will continue to learn which town, county, state, country, and continent we live on this week.  Remember to ask your child these questions, they get a little confused, but are working hard at learning. 

Homework
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 should 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.

Tests
Thursdays:  Vocabulary (definitions will be in Reading notebooks, look for those to come home on Wednesdays)  (test will be definitions with word bank, this week I will require 5 sentences using words)
Fridays:  Spelling sort and spelling word tests and sentence correction test (spelling folders and Reading notebooks with sentences will come home on Thursdays)

This Week's Vocabulary Words
gnaws
narrator
dangerous
relatives
sturdy
delicate
inquire
exhibit
satisfaction
stun
genious
resist