ELA: In this unit, students will learn about the people, places and events that led to Columbus “discovering” North America, the Pilgrims’ journey to the new world and the first Thanksgiving..  The students will be immersed in a variety of fiction and non-fiction trade texts that stress the similarities and differences between Columbus’ and the Pilgrims’ voyages. The students will focus on content knowledge and retention, as well as incorporating content area vocabulary in their everyday language and writing/dictation. In addition, the read-alouds emphasize the motives that prompted both Columbus’s and the Pilgrims’ voyages. (gold and spices for Columbus; freedom for the Pilgrims) This domain also reinforces basic geography concepts, including the locations of the different continents as well as cardinal directions.  At the end of the unit, the students should be able to narrate their own story of the first Thanksgiving, demonstrating the perspective of a young Pilgrim in 1620.

Math: We will be finishing up Module 1 with understanding how to add 1 more to a number, take 1 less from a number and show amounts that are equal.  As we move into Module 2 we will begin by comparing lengths using cube trains and other non-standard means of measurement. 

Wilson: We continue to learn letter sounds as we make our way through the lowercase letters of the alphabet.  Please be sure to have your child practice writing the letters on the Wilson dry erase sheets. As your child writes the letters, have them say the letter name, keyword, and sound it makes. 

 Reading: As our students become beginning readers, sight words are so important to help them become independent in reading.  We encourage families to continue to work on memorizing sight words every two weeks. Also, Raz-Kids log-in information was sent home so be sure to use this to practice reading at home 15 minutes each night.  Don’t forget you can use Raz-Kids stories to complete your reading logs!  

Writing: Our next writing focus will be on narrative writing. Students will write sentences as if they were a Pilgrim or Native American child during colonial times.  They will be expected to write about who they are, where they are, three things about themselves and how they feel.