Learning at the Mustang Stable

As promised, this is your first edition of "Learning at the Mustang Stable!"

While reviewing last year's parent surveys, it was obvious that our families want to know more about what students are learning. If you children are anything like mine, it is often reported that we do "nothing" at school. As parents, we all know this can't be true but also that we may not get much more. This monthly newsletter is designed to give you a snapshot into what your student may be doing at school each month. It obviously won't include everything we do but we will highlight one subject from each grade level and switch it up each month. We hope this gives you some insight into your child's learning and gives you some things to help with at home!

Kindergarteners are learning so many foundational skills towards becoming readers including learning letters and sounds, how to write and form letters, and how to comprehend stories you hear. During Wit and Wisdom time, students have been paying close attention to things they notice in a story or things they wonder while listening to the story and drawing pictures to depict their thoughts. It's so amazing to see all of the work they have done and all of the awesome thoughts they have in less than a month of school! We are so proud of these kindergarteners!

1st graders are hard at work in all areas! Students have been working on mypath which gives students lessons, games, and quizzes based on what iReady showed they need to learn. Students are tracking their work by keeping track of how many lessons they have completed and earning rewards along the way. It's so cool to see some of our youngest students setting goals and working towards them!

Second graders have been working on reading fluently. Instead of stopping to sound out each word or reading like a robot, second graders start to be able to tell a story while reading adding inflection and using punctuation to know when to pause. Mrs. Hatton's and Mr. Sorrell's classes practiced as a whole class in the above pictures!

Third grade is usually when the shift from "learning to read" becomes "reading to learn." Third graders have been learning how to take notes as they are reading in order to make a story map, summarize what they read, and ask questions about their reading to learn more. They have been working so hard and learning so much about water. If you have a third grader and don't know who Amos or Boris are yet, be sure to ask!

4th graders were treated to a book tasting this month! They have been reading books that depict what it means to be good- hearted (either figuratively or literally). During their book tasting, they got to "sample" books that are examples of both being about wonderful people who are "good-hearted" and learning about the qualities that make them that way as well as informational books about the human heart and how we can all be healthy and maintain a good heart.

This month's specials highlight comes from library! Mr. Hantack has worked with Main Street Books to schedule an author visit on October 7th for 1st-3rd graders. Jody Jensen Shaffer will be at Monroe to talk to students about her books, her writing process, and to sign a copy of a book for each student in those grade levels. Kindergarteners and 4th graders will hear from an author later in the year.

Here are some simple and fun activities you can do at home to help your child learn! These activities help improve working memory which is such an important skill to have in order to take in so much new information at school. Reading each night and completing any homework will also help your child tremendously!