Mrs. Hackett's Fantastic Firsties
November 2, 2026
Welcome to This Week’s Classroom News! 🎃✨
We have had an incredible, action-packed week of learning and celebrating! First, a huge shout-out and heartfelt thank you to our amazing room mom, Jen Garcia, for organizing such a fun Halloween celebration—the illuminating ghosts were an absolute hit with the kids! We also want to extend a giant thank you to Tyler Schuetz for jumping in and helping to serve our students their yummy treats during the party!
Our students continue to shine as deep thinkers using our Depth & Complexity icons. During our read-aloud video, the boys and girls eagerly used their icons to dig deeper into the story. They also applied these tools to explore the origin of the lightning bug, using a Depth & Complexity frame where they chose their own icons as lenses to answer the big question: “How did the bug get its glow?”
Inside this edition, you’ll find updates on:
➕ Math: Mastering "Make 10" strategies and 3-Act Math challenges.
📚 Literacy: Exploring community membership, central ideas, and graphics with Benchmark.
- 🔤 Phonics: Unlocking silent e ($u\_e$) patterns with UFly—plus a look at the new home practice sheets and decodable texts coming home in folders this week to reinforce our learning at home!
📚 What We’re Learning in Reading!
Literacy Corner: Building Reading Skills & Deeper Thinking! 📚✨
This week in Unit 3, Week 3 of Benchmark Advance, we are exploring what it means to be a good community member! Throughout each lesson, students will use Depth & Complexity icons to analyze texts, dig beyond the surface, and sharpen their critical thinking skills:
Day 1: Language & Connections: Students will make connections between words and their specific uses, exploring how word choices shape meaning (Language of the Discipline).
Day 2: Central Idea & Evidence: We will identify the main topic and locate key supporting details to back up our thinking (Big Idea & Details).
Day 3: Text & Graphic Features: Students will analyze and distinguish between information presented in text versus illustrations and graphics (Multiple Perspectives).
Day 4: Vocabulary & Context Clues: We’re diving into multiple-meaning words, practicing how to clarify meaning using context clues (Patterns).
Day 5: Unit Wrap-Up: We'll bring it all together to reflect on our essential question: What does it mean to be a good community member?
Home Connection: Ask your child to point out a graphic or chart in a book at home and explain what extra information it teaches them!
🧠 Deepen the Thinking at Home!
Try asking your child these Depth & Complexity questions about their reading this week:
Big Idea & Details: "What is the main topic of the book you're reading, and what are 2-3 details that prove it?"
Multiple Perspectives: "What did you learn from looking at the pictures or graphics that wasn't written in the text?"
Language of the Discipline: "Did you find any words with multiple meanings this week? How did you figure out which definition fit the sentence?"
🔤 Phonics Corner: NEW Home Practice sheets and decodable stories in Thursday folders this week!
Lesson 58 — Silent e with u\_e (/ū/ and /yū/): Students will learn how silent e makes the vowel u say its long sound, as in mule and flute.
Lesson 59 — VCe Review: We will synthesize our learning with a review of Vowel-Consonant-e patterns to build word automaticity and confidence when reading decodable texts.
🏠 Phonics Practice at Home
Home Practice & Decodable Passages: Look for Lesson 58 and 59 Home Practice sheets and decodable stories coming home in your child's folder this week! Reading these aloud together builds fluency.
Roll & Read Challenge: Play the Roll and Read activity at home to make blending VCe words interactive and fun.
Quick Family Question: "Can you find a word on this page with a silent e at the end? How does the e change the vowel sound?"
Click the link above to learn what your child is doing in math class and how to support their learning at home! 🎉
Math Corner: Big Celebrations & Smart Addition Strategies! 🎉➗
This week, our math explorers are diving deeper into Topic 3: Let's Investigate! Big Celebrations. We're building strong numerical fluency and learning how to think flexibly about numbers through three key lessons:
3-6 Continue to Make 10 to Add: Students will practice using the "Make 10" strategy to simplify tricky addition problems, breaking larger numbers down to find friendly tens.
3-7 Explain Addition Strategies: Moving beyond just finding the answer, students will practice explaining how and why their addition strategies work, strengthening their math vocabulary and reasoning skills.
3-Act Math: Go for a Spin: We're putting our skills into real-world action! In this interactive story problem, students will watch a video, ask questions, and solve a fun real-world math challenge step by step.
Family Tip: Ask your child to teach you how to "Make 10" with everyday objects at home—like counting pairs of socks or piece of fruit!
Upcoming Events
🗓️ Important Dates
Monday, November 2- Raising Canes Restaurant Night
- No School-Professional Development Day
- No School-Thanksgiving Break
Have a wonderful weekend!