Phonics

We’re aiming to wrap up our unit on open-syllable words. Although we’re scheduled for an assessment on Thursday or Friday, the holiday buzz makes it unlikely that the results would reflect their true understanding. Instead, we’ll act as if we’re preparing for a test and continue practicing open-syllable words, along with our trick words: change, large, eight, city, family, every—and our new ones: carry, something, different.  Please avoid mentioning to students that we are skipping the assessment. 🙂

Reading/Writing

We will take a break from our module on the America West and spend a bit more time this week with our Christmas around the World celebrations, as well as extra Christmas/holiday books. 

Math

We will spend time reviewing addition and subtraction strategies this week. We will also be playing different Christmas themed math games to review previous learned math skills. We will begin our next chapter on 3-digit subtraction after Christmas break.

Religion

We will continue to discuss Advent and complete different Advent activities and how we can prepare for the birth of Jesus.

Phonics

We are continuing to work with words with open syllables. Our trick words for this week are city, every, and family. We will be working with prefixes and determining if the prefix is an open or closed syllable. We will also be using prefixes to determine the meaning of unknown words. Students will also read and spell words where y is a vowel and spells  the long /e/ sound and the long /i/ sound.

Reading/Writing

We will continue to learn about the American West as we describe connections between people, plants, and animals using topic-specific vocabulary. Students will gather evidence from the text to complete an organizer about the impact of people on the environment of the American West.

Math

We will wrap up our chapter on 3-digit addition with a test on Wednesday. We will spend the first part of the week  reviewing different 3-digit addition strategies.

Religion

We are continuing to discuss the season of Advent and how we can prepare our hearts to receive Jesus at Christmas.

Science

During science this week, we will be learning about different holidays from around the world. 

Phonics

We will begin Unit 7 in Fundations. Unit 7 focuses on open syllable words. Students will read and spell words with open syllables. They will also learn that y often works as a vowel in open syllables, saying the long i sound at the end of one syllable words and the long e sound at the end of multisyllabic words. Unlike previous units, unit 7 is three weeks long and will take us through to Christmas break.

Reading/Writing

We wrapped up Module 1 before Thanksgiving break and will begin Module 2 this week. Module 2 will focus on life in the West for early Americans. Students will ask and answer questions about the text, The Buffalo Are Back. Students will also understand and retell main topics and key events described in the text. 

Math

We are continuing to work on 3-digit addition this week in math. Students will practice regrouping to add 3-digit numbers. Students will also practice solving word problems involving 3-digit addition and rewrite horizontal addition problems vertically to solve.

Religion

We are continuing to discuss the season of Advent and how we can prepare our hearts to receive Jesus at Christmas.

Science

During Mystery Science this week, students will make hypotheses and investigate the causes of canyons.

With the short week, we will be reviewing previously learned phonics skills, completing different Thanksgiving activities, learning about the man who invented the balloons for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and designing our own balloon, and practicing addition skills in math.