December 5, 2019

Dear Parents,

December is already upon us and we are working hard to catch up after our delays and early dismissals. Please continue to watch for the Remind messages and check the planner every afternoon for assignments. Chorus members have songs to learn and parts to rehearse. We will spend some time in school to practice speaking skills, but they will have to work on this at home in order to be successful.

Our Lego competion, City Shapers, is coming soon. I will send a reminder to those of you who have signed up for the competition with the date and time of arrival. Remember it is at Northern High School again this year. If you are not in the competition, we still invite you to come and watch the robot competition. It is really exciting!

In shared reading/writing we will be learning how to read and write informational texts. Your child will be doing a cold write for information next week. He or she should come to school with some information about a topic of his/her choice. In guided reading we will be getting new groups and new books. Please ask your child about the book he/she is reading.

 

With the IMSE/OG spelling and language program please remember that the students have a list of words that they are to be adding to their planner based on the skill we are learning. Right now we are working with vowel teams and diphthongs. In order to be successful at the skills, your child should be practicing the readings that come home and reviewing the lessons that they are working on for the week. Vowel teams are two vowels that make one sound. Some examples are oe making the long o sound, ai making the long a sound, and the tricky ea making the long e, short e, and long a sound. Diphthongs are letter combinations such as oi, oy, au, aw, ow, ou, and oo that appear in various parts of a word. Your child is learning when to use the diphthongs based upon where they hear the sound (beginning, middle, or end). Mrs. Maust and I cannot stress enough that practicing these skills makes the connections in the brain stronger so that spelling and reading words becomes more automatic.

In social studies we are beginning the study of European explorers. The students will learn about the time period and areas of the world the explorers reached. A Google slides or powerpoint presentation will be created with the information gathered.

Your child continues to use the PBIS strategies of respect, responsibility, and safety when working or moving through our school. Continue to look for the small slips of paper that let you know how well your child is doing in this area.

Please contact me at donna.deal@garrettcountyschools.org or through Remind or a note in the planner if you have any questions or concerns.

Mrs. Donna Deal