Magical Monday!

I wanted to share a few things with you regarding the homework tonight. First, the children have their spelling words. You will notice that there are 3 spelling patterns with this list. (ai, ought, aught) At the bottom of the list, you will find the dictation sentences for the test on Friday.

We didn't have a chance to complete the 7's timed multiplication test today. We will dive into that first thing in the morning. The children will want to review the 7's tables again tonight.

You will want to ask your child what the 9's trick using fingers is that we learned while reading in our class novel today. I told the children that I am not encouraging them to use their fingers to solve the multiplication problems, but if they do get in a bind, that they have a strategy to help themselves. Also, ask them why Wilson likes going to Josh's house.

They have their first assignment in the new history book tonight. In case they need some help, I thought I would give you a few hints. We worked on a couple in class hoping that this would sustain them until they got home. In each part of the History wheel, there is a main idea. In fact, they have underlined these main ideas in the book so that they can find them easily. They are to write a supporting detail based on what they read in that paragraph that would answer the question why or what makes that an important statement. OR, how would one explain that statement to someone who has not read the history book. I have told the children that I am allowing them to actually copy a sentence from the paragraph if they have trouble. This is all a new and difficult skill for them to paraphrase large amounts of information. This is a goal for the remainder of the year and I don't want to discourage them now in the very beginning. So let them copy the exact sentence if need be.

You will notice that the homework and classwork assignments will require the children to write more details which will create the demand for the to read the details more closely and not just read the piece for the overall meaning, as we have been working on the first part of the year.

Thank you in advance for your help and support at home with this.