Consonants and Vowels

Let's talk about consonants and vowels!

Did you know that consonants and vowels are actually SPEECH sounds that are represented by a letter? This is actually super important for children to know, and could help you when helping your children practice reading at home. 

Consonants are sounds in which air is blocked by a part of the mouth, making the sound stop. Say the sounds for B, D, L, and S. You will notice part of your mouth blocking the air, making the sound stop. 

Vowel sounds are those which are not blocked by part of the mouth.

I put the Y in the middle because it can act as both, and the kids know that, but they have not fully learned the rules for why yet! :)

 

Your children will be learning about the syllable types, and to do that they need to understand the difference between a consonant and a vowel, which we have been focusing on. This is a skill they will absolutely be working on up through 5th grade, so we are working to lay the foundation now!

Welcome to Our Class! Some Learning Updates

 Hi Parents!

I decided to start posting about our classroom so that I have a real-time way to get information to you about what we are learning.

I wanted to let you know about our math unit, specifically because there is so much you can do at home! We are learning about counting coins. Some students are working on identifying coins, while others are beginning to count sets of the same coins. Some are working on counting mixed coins (for example, 2 dimes, 1 nickel, 9 pennies). Everyone is learning how to skip count by 25s, so we can count quarters.

Some really great ways to practice at home are to work with your children on counting each type of coin separately, and then to work on counting mixed coins. I like to give the kids a handful of change and have them count it up. We count the largest (quarters) first, then go to dimes, nickels, and pennies. I explained to the kids that there are larger coins, of course, but that in money circulation, you really mostly see the 4 we are focusing on. 

I am working on assessing the students using DIBELS currently, and once I do, will be able to use that data to solidify my reading groups (though I do have a general idea of where the kids fit already). Once the children are solidly meeting in reading groups, there will be differentiated homework sent occasionally to only some reading groups. For example, the blue group may get some work on the CH, SH, TH digraphs, the red group may have no homework, and the yellow group may have a sheet on Magic E. Please work on whatever homework your child has in his/her folder. I find it works best when the homework fits what we are learning in class. 

Please let me know if you have any questions. Look forward to "meeting" you at virtual open house on Tuesday! :) 

Janet Inzitari