What's hoppin' this week

 Homework went out today- it is most important that you read with your child at least 20 minutes a day.  Ask questions: Who are the characters?  What is the setting (where it takes place)?  What happened in the beginning, middle, and end?  Is the book fiction or nonfiction?  This will help them to better understand what they've read and provide a summary of the story.  :)  For HW, I would prefer that the children write in pencil and, when drawing, use crayons. 

This week our theme is Community Helpers, with the science focus on smell:

Reading:  Comprehension strategies we're now focusing on are using prior knowledge to help understand the text, making predictions, comparing/contrasting (how is this story like/different from the story yesterday, how are you similar to/different from the character), and summarizing.  The letter sound of the week is /m/, as in Mimi Mouse.  Call out some words to your child, some of them beginning with m, and have them raise their hand if it is an m word and cover their ears if it's not.  Ex:  mouse, cat, map, big, mall, make, hop, etc.  Ask your child to think of new words that begin with m... or maybe even end with m! 

Language Arts:  Today, we wrote in our journals the sentence I ____.  Children chose a simple action word by sounding it out.  Simple CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words work best  for this practice.  They were able to write the word on their own.  You can reinforce this skill at home by saying a word, then sounding out each part, and having your child write it down.  d-o-g, h-a-t, m-i-x, c-u-p, etc.  The action words we used today were: dig, mix, cut, hug, hop, run

Math:  This is the last week of making, counting, and writing numbers 0-5.  We have an assessment on this topic on Thursday.  At home, I would practice writing the numbers (you could also use playdoh, yarn or string, popsicle sticks, or beans to form the numbers) and the number words: zero, one, two, three, four, five.  Your child can make groups of objects up to 5 with eating utensils, remote controls, pennies, cotton balls, toothpicks, candles, toys on the floor... the ideas are limitless!

Science/Social Studies:  In science, we will create of list of things we smell and then sort them into groups labeled Pleasant/Unpleasant. On Friday, we are having a smell test and recording our observations.  In SS this week, we will identify community helpers and their responsibilities.  At home, you can have your child draw a community helper and then label their picture.  While driving in the car, if you pass a hospital, vet, fire or police station, post office, school, construction site, ask your child who works there and what it is that they do.