The First Week of November!

Greetings! It is hard to believe that we have completed the first week of November. Time is moving right along. We had a busy week learning new reading and math skills as well as learning about Jesus. The children were quite tired leaving school today. 

In Religion class this week, we reviewed Ordinary Time. We discussed the color of this season and special feasts days that occur during it. Our focused then switched to Jesus calling his disciples. We read the story of Jesus calling Andrew and Peter. We also talked about how his followers knew he is the Son of God especially after he calmed the stormy sea. 

In Language Arts, we practiced new phonics and reading skills. Our story this week was called Who Works Here?; it detailed the workers who work in a community. To read this story, we learned how to blend and read long o words and words with the digraphs wh, ch, and tch. We also learned and practiced new sight words. Our skill focus this week was on author's purpose. We talked about how authors write to entertain or inform a reader. During the Grammar portion this week, we practiced writing special titles correctly. By Friday, we knew that both the title and name receive capital letters. For writing this week, the students wrote a three part sentence adding in adjectives. I am so impressed at how far their writing has come! 

We began Math class this week by using a balance to weigh objects. To help us weigh these objects, we used pennies. We found that we needed the most pennies for the eraser and the fewest pennies for the pencil. Our focused then switched to learning new facts: the adding 0 facts. We found these facts really easy to learn. Next, we used pattern blocks to cover a design. After covering the design, we learned how to trace and color the pattern blocks. We will be using these designs in a sorting activity next week. Finally, we learned how to solve a problem using logical reasoning. 

With the sun shining and warm weather in the air, we took gym class outside on Thursday. It was just too nice to stay in and so hard to come back inside. In Social Studies this week, we talked about mountains, plains, rivers, and lakes. I love their excitement at learning about all of these landforms. In Science class we talked about the difference between living and nonliving things. Students worked in groups to sort pictures based on whether they were living or nonliving things. 

Finally, it was time for Art class. We made turkeys today. I'll post pictures next week after I hang them up. They turned out so nice. 

Have a wonderful weekend! I look forward to seeing everyone at conferences on Tuesday!