In Class Activities

We continue to review phonics (reading) and spelling (writing) with cursive. Particularly, long vowel sounds (silent e words, vowel pairs) and the ending pattern -le. I call these Stuart Little words.

Using cursive or print, the students have been focusing on word families of long vowel and -le words. For example, they write shape, then must turn it into grape, duffle into shuffle.

We worked on nouns. We identified nouns in magazines, and noted irregular plural nouns in our recent poems of Five Little Pumpkins and Shivering Cold. We also practiced spelling patterns of plural nouns (ex: y to ies such as puppy to puppies).

In honor of Veterans Day, we wrote to a veteran. This reviewed the five parts of a friendly letter.

In writing, we focused on Gratitude. We first brainstormed, then created a list, then used that information to write a paragraph detailing each child’s ideas on gratitude.

We also learned a bit about the historical roots of Thanksgiving, and compared how people eat today with the food served at the first thanksgiving.

We continue with Bandit’s Moon. We have begun to analyze the story elements (characters, setting, plot) of each chapter; and to reflect on the text through writing.

We continue to work in small groups on phonics and High Frequency Word, and reading. A big thanks to Michael, Kerry, and Cambria. Don’t forget to practice the words your child takes home each Wednesday!

Check out this video from Handwriting Without Tears that helps address the “why cursive?” question. While I find the video a bit biased towards vertical cursive, it does address the many benefits of learning cursive in our digital age.

At Home Activities

Continue nightly reading and HFW practice

Write a letter to a friend or family member. Alternatively, write a letter to someone in the armed service through Operation Gratitude

Brightly , an online book and reading resource, has a great list of activities on their “December Reading Challenge” article