US Symbols

lindsayham82
Sep 25, 2016
3 min read

This week was our last week of our civics unit: U.S. Symbols. We learned about Washington D.C., the American Flag, the Statue of Liberty, The White House, Air Force One, The Washington Monument, Mount Rushmore, the Capitol, the Quarter, and the Liberty Bell. The kids did really well remembering facts about the symbols and making connections.

The kids had a substitute for an hour Friday morning while I was in a Professional Development and they did really well! I hardly ever get a substitute because it's easier to be at school than away, but it was so nice to see that they're able to make good choices without me while I'm in meetings! It's also the greatest feeling ever to come into the classroom and get 15+ hugs because you were missed (even for an hour!)

Ask Your Child About:

-Phonemic Awareness/Phonics: Can you blend together /b/ at? /d/og? /m/at? (onset & rime skills) What do we say for the letter d? (d, dog, /d/) What do we say for the letter s? (s, snake, /s/) What motions do we make for those letters?

-Reading: Concepts of print- Can you find a book that has a table of contents? If it has one, will it be a "real" book or a "pretend" book? (non-fiction/real)

-Math: 2d shapes- What does it mean to describe a shape? (tell the number of sides, number of vertices, and if it has straight or curved lines) What's the difference between a square and a rectangle? (a square has equal sides)

-Fluency: "My Flag" poem, "A is for America" poem, "Where Can You Find Friends?" Scholastic Reader, "A Duck Can't Be President!" Scholastic Reader

-Social Studies: U.S. Symbols- Was the Statue of Liberty always green? (No, the copper turned green) How many stripes does the flag have? (13) How many stars? (50) What is the name of the "Flying White House?" (Air Force One) Why is it important to have laws? (To help keep people safe from harm) Do we have "laws" in the classroom?

-Writing: What goes at the end of a sentence? (period) Should we be writing in all capital letters? (only the first letter in a sentence and names) What does it mean if Ms. Ham says it sounds like a caveman? (It's not a complete sentence! Tell me more!)

Reminders:

-Please be sending your child with 2 snacks each day if they are hungry for 2 snacks!

-If you offered to donate something for Johnny Appleseed week, please make sure it comes to school on the right day! :) I was so overwhelmed with your generosity and I can't say thank you enough!

-Sight Words!!!: This will be my obnoxious plea all.year.long but please work on those sight words at home! I'm impressed with how well they're doing so far, so keep it up! I actually had to sit down this weekend and make the cards and tests for the whole year because some of the kids got ahead of me! :)

Lastly: It was so nice to see so many of you outside of school at a birthday party yesterday! It was great that so many of our friends were there and that I heard some of you talking about making plans with each other! I LOVE that that the kids will grow up together and their parents will be friends... my neighborhood was this way growing up and it was the best, so I'm very happy that these munchkins will be so lucky! :)