Latest News @ JCD

Good Morning!

We have been working very hard in the second marking period! Students have switched to nonfiction reading in class and have been doing an awesome job determining main idea and supporting details. We have been using nonfiction text features to help us comprehend what we read in our nonfiction texts. Be sure to ask your child what nonfiction text features they have been learning about and using. 

Phonics lessons have focused around R-controlled vowels. Quizzes for AR/OR and UR/IR/ER will be sent home this week. We started a new unit today on DOUBLE VOWEL sounds. Our two new sounds are AI and AY.

In math we are continuing to practice with multiplication strategies. Students are encouraged to use repeat addition, array or area models, and equal groups to help them find the product when multiplying. At this time, memorization of the facts is not necessary. We are working on simply understanding multiplication first. We will work more on fact fluency later on. 

We are also begining a new science/magnet unit on natural disasters and weather around the world. Students are very excited about this and it will be incorporated in both reading and writing. 

December dates to remember:

Decmeber 7, 11, 13 and 20- No afterschool program

December 6 through 13- Book Fair

December 11- Ziti Dinner

December 14-Rise and Shine and Ms. DeFabio's last day :(

December 20- Polar Express Reading Night 

December 21- Early Dismissal 

December 24 through January 1st- Winter Holiday Break

Thank you for your continued support. As always, please feel free to email me with any questions or concerns.

Ms. Casey

Hello!

Tomorrow in class students will have a reading assignment, in which they demonstrate their ability to describe a character (including evidence from the text to support their thinking) and summarize a short narrative. These are the two skills we worked on the most while reading "The Magic Tree House: Vacation Under the Volcano".  Yesterday in class room 157 summarized a story from the point of view of one of the characters! They had fun and did a great job. Room 158 will be doing this tomorrow afternoon. 

As of tomorrow we will have finished our first reading unit on fiction. We will begin unit 2 on drama and plays next week. 

Please continue to check folders and calendars each day. Have a great night!

Ms. Casey

Hello Families!

This week students have been working on summarizing and telling time! We have also begun hands on science groups, and have enjoyed observing and sorting various rocks. Ask your children all about it! They know the difference between igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks and can tell you examples of each! We will continue with science groups next week, so if your child has not gone yet, they will have gone by next Friday.

We will be taking a very quick quiz on telling time next Tuesday and then we will begin a short unit on counting money after that. With time, make sure your child knows the difference between the hour and minute hands. This seems to be the most common misunderstanding we are seeing in the classroom.

Enjoy the weekend, and as always, feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. 

Ms. Casey

Hello!

This week students took their subtraction tests and read more from the book "Magic Tree House: Vacation Under the Volcano". Graded tests will be sent home next week. Please sign and return as always. Students had fun dressing up on picture day and enjoyed the fall weather outside during recess. We continued working on narrative writing and the students are improving their notetaking and reading response skills. 

Next week we will start a brief unit on telling time in Math and we will finish reading our book. In Phonics, we are wrapping up with vowel-consonant-e words and will be looking at the different sounds Y makes as a vowel (/e/ as in baby and /i/ as in cry). Please continue to check your child's folder every night. Thank you for all of your continued support!

Enjoy the long weekend!

Ms. Casey