September Highlights
What a pleasure to meet so many parents on Monday, September 12. The atmosphere was so congenial and enthusiastic; the conversations among the adults uplifting. With your support and help, we're sure to have a terrific year.
We have finally gotten our feet wet after our summer activities and are diving into school mode. It's hard to get back into the swing of things, but we're progressing. Here our some of the things we'll be focusing on for the month:
Religion -- Following Jesus leads to true happiness. Jesus preached the Beatitudes, and we will be focusing on how we can live them in our world. We will also get a good explanation of the importance of rules. This will lead us to a detailed study of the Ten Commandments later on.
Math -- We have reviewed place value and ordering of numbers. Our next lessons will stress rounding to specified places. In between, we'll review addition and subtratction of larger numbers. Regrouping in subtraction can be tricky. Then we'll start practicing the multiplication facts that were introduced in third grade.
Reading -- We have been reading short excerpts from SRA independently, measuring our comprehension and understanding of the vocabulary. As a class, we read and discuss longer stories and then do some evaluation that measures how well we understood.
Social Studies -- Our focus so far is on map vocabulary (latitude, longitude,etc.) and finding locations on maps. We'll then study kinds of landforms and climates as we approach October. Our quiz for map vocabulary is Friday, September 16. Hopefully, I'll get to Brain Pop to enrich our lessons.
English -- Our beginning unit focuses on all aspects of sentences. The Internet and Eno Board are incorporated to provide lots of drill. Our goal is also to concentrate on writing more mature, detailed sentences. Spelling and phonics also play a role in being understood.
For fun, we're looking forward to the Trick Bike Assembly and various art projects. We plan on doing an activity based on Johnny Appleseed around his birthday. It's a surprise Mrs. Ternan and I are planning.
Remember: The book report is due by October 5. Get on Spelling City to practice for our weekly tests. Keep on working hard.