Posted by kavery508 | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on October 14, 2013
Reading homework begins this week. Each night, your child should record ONE book read, even if 2 or more were done. You can help write the date, and initial the line item. What’s important here is that our young students begin to take responsibility for completing assignments as home, by doing as much as possible.
Raz Kids has had a fantastic response from parents! I’m so glad this is an effective format for you and your kids. Please feel free to use the books on it every night INSTEAD OF, or IN ADDITION TO books sent home from school! Also be sure to help your child with the steps (but not the answers!) for taking the quizzes that accompany each book on Raz. For reading homework and other upcoming dates of note, please refer to the updated Nuts and Bolts section.
Parent volunteering this year will take the form of reading with children at school. Initially I’m starting with 4 slots, one day per week M-Th, 10:00-10:40. If you are only able to commit to bi-monthly visits, or if all the slots are filled by the time you visit the signup site, please email me and I’ll see how I can put together a patchwork schedule. If you ARE able to commit to weekly visits, please use the link below to sign up for ONE day a week: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0C4DADAD2FAB9-inschool
There is also availability on the signup for a Room Parent who will organize help for our Winter and Spring concerts.
This week’s CAFE reading strategy focus is Cross Checking. Young readers should be monitoring their reading. After they come to an unknown word and try reading it, they should ask, “Does that look right (do the letters/pictures match my word)? Does that sound right (do the beginning, ending, or middle letter sounds match what I read)? Does that word make sense there?” Eventually, the goal is that students will stop themselves to correct their reading (“Wait, that doesn’t sound right,” or “Yes, that makes sense.”). More at http://cowlishaw.ipsd.org/uploads/Cross%20checking.pdf
For now, when your child reads aloud to you (e.g. during homework) try prompting your child with these questions at unknown words. Other prompts: How is that word like another word you know (the word zoo looks like too)? What part of that word do you already know (to is in the word together)?
This week’s big math idea is to learn and apply the concepts of formal addition and subtraction, including symbols. When dealing with abstract ideas like representing the act of addition using numbers and symbols (+/=) it’s helpful for kids to use a conceptual framework. The “Change for More/Change for Less” diagram is used in Everyday Math to support and give structure to kids’ learning:
At homework time, check to see that your child is filling in the diagram correctly when solving word problems. Thanks as always for your efforts at home!
