It is so exciting when we reach this point in the year and can observe all the progress we have made with learning to read. Keep in mind that the end of the year goal is to independently read a level D book. The books sent home in homework folders on Friday are the instructional level your child is working on. To be considered independent the student must read a never seen book with fluency and accuracy. Practice makes perfect! Remember to include reading in your daily routine.
Reading and Writing
Research indicates that a strong foundation of phonemic awareness and phonics skills is a strong indicator of reading and writing success. We are working hard to segment sounds in words and to decode short vowel words. Segmenting is an auditory skill in which I say a word and the student produces each individual sound. I encourage you to practice this skill at home. Segmenting is a skill that build strong writers when applied to print. We are working on writing the sounds we hear when segmenting.
Math
You may have noticed from the work sent home that we are working on understanding the difference between addition and subtraction. The students have discovered that addition is putting parts together and subtraction is taking part away from the whole. Direct modeling such as drawing a picture or using counters is appropriate at this time. The goal will be to develop fact fluency over time. Fact fluency is knowing the sum or difference without counting or modeling.
Work Habits
With the end of the trimester quickly approaching remember to remind your child that work habit grades are earned and it is their job to put forth their best effort every day.
Thank You
Thank you for all you do to support learning at home. Your efforts are noticed every day and I am fortunate to have such awesome families to work with. We have 100 percent participation with homework every week!!!