Newsletter September 25 - September 29

It's the final week of September already and the Fall chill is definitely in the air.  Please make sure you send a jacket/coat etc. with your child on these colder days.  We go outside for recess unless it's below freezing or raining or snowing like crazy. 

Here are this week's happenings:

• Please send your child's homework folder everyday (broken record I know).  Sometimes, even for a few days at a time, your child's homework folder will not have anything in it, but days like today it will have several notes and work from school in it.  If your child doesn't have their folder it's much easier to lose those important notes.
• The important note today is the purple paper!  It's your child's SEP appointment time.  Please send that back ASAP.  If you can't make the appointment I will e-mail you and we can rearrange a time that is more convenient for you.  Your child is invited to attend these SEP appointments with you. They will be for about 15 minutes.  SEP week is next week--Oct. 2-6 and school will dismiss everyday at 2:30 (including Wednesday).  The PTA is sponsoring a book fair in the library during SEP week and a Grandparents breakfast has been scheduled for Wednesday morning October 4 (notes about these things came home today also).
• Our library day has changed from Wednesday to Friday this week.  You can still send your child's library books back anytime, but they won't be bringing new ones home until Friday.  During SEP week we will not have library because of the Book Fair.
• Our learning is still focused on subtraction strategies in math and the Human body in Science/Social Studies.  Today we learned about vaccinations and those who were instrumental in creating the first vaccinations (Dr. Jenner and Louis Pasteur).  In reading we are still working on double consonants and in grammar we have learned about quotation marks.  We are reading from our book Snap Shots about Beth and Nat's adventures in the U.K.  Ask your child about the story we read today:  The Man in the Black Hat. 
• Don't forget that Wednesday is Sight Word soldiers day and the Reading Calendar for September will be due next Monday, October 2.  That is worth 50 points and students who turn it in get a certificate and little treat.  

Happy Reading!

Newsletter September 18 - September 22

Two weeks in a row with a Tuesday newsletter.  It's been "one of those weeks" twice.

Here are this week's happenings:

• We took our Unit 1 math test last week and for the most part my students understand addition concepts through 10. Watch for your child's math test to come home in their homework folder. We have moved onto subtraction concepts.  It's been a shift in thinking to subtract numbers rather than add them together.  Today we modeled "taking apart" numbers.   For example:  "John had 8 marbles, four of those marbles are red, the rest are yellow--How many marbles are yellow?"  We modeled that with two-sided counters and then wrote subtraction sentences (8 - 4 = 4).  
• In reading, we are finishing up with our first unit also.  Our next unit with focus on vowel teams (ee, ai, etc.) The books that supplement our learning focus on this "new" patterns.
• We have a new student in our class, Adrian.  He comes to us from North Elementary.  He's been warmly received into our classroom.  My students are great friends.
• Elizabeth is our first official Star of the Week this week.  On Monday, we learned more about her as she shared her poster.  Today we read her favorite book "Finding Winnie" an award winning true story that I wasn't aware of and hadn't read the book before.  It was a great one!  We will also add some special writing about Elizabeth as we complete her "Important page". I will send home information about being Star of the Week the week before it's your child's turn.  I also sent home a schedule a couple of week's ago.
• October 2-6 is SEP (parent/teacher conferences). I will send home an assigned time next Monday.  I will do my best to coordinate with siblings.  With dual immersion and with the 4th and 5th grades having an initial open house type conference I may not be able to schedule all of my appointments back to back with siblings.  I look forward to meeting with all of you.
• Keep reading for 10 minutes each night with your child.  Thanks for keeping up with that and sending back your child's take-home book everyday!  I have said this before and will say it over and over--it really is helpful to make reading a habit and it helps your child become a better reader.  
• Sight word soldiers (sight word pass off) is every Wednesday.  I have had some who haven't ever returned a list.  Please do this--it's fun for my students to earn beads for their necklaces but it's also important to help with their reading fluency (rate and accuracy).  Last week, I had Mrs. Harris send home lists with those who haven't sent one back so please look for those in your child's folder.  If you need another one please send me an e-mail and I will send another one home.

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns and Happy Reading!

Newsletter September 11 - September 15

Yesterday, as you may have already been told I had a substitute in the afternoon, so my newsletter for the week is a bit late. 

Here are this week's happenings:

• Remember that tomorrow the Scholastic book orders are due.  The best way to order is online using our classroom code. Wednesday is also Sight Word Soldiers Day and library.  Please remember to send your sight word notes back and library books.
• Most of you are making sure that your child reads their take-home book every night.  Thanks!  Remember that I only expect 10 minutes of reading a night and this will greatly benefit your child's reading ability.  Practice makes perfect! If you haven't been asking about this every night please recommit yourself to listening to your child read every day.  I included a note about my expectations in the take-home bag.  If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me. 
• Some students bring extra school supply items from home that weren't included on their list of suggested supplies.  If you child comes home with one of those "extra supplies" such as small pencil sharpeners it's because they have been playing with it instead of using it appropriately.  I don't encourage those pencil sharpeners as they usually become a "toy" and make messes on the floor.
• Today reading group started.  I notified those through e-mail if your child would be attending a reading intervention group.  In our reading program, we are working on identifying vowel sounds and spellings, learning about nouns and ending punctuation.  We have also learned about possessives (Nat's cat).  My kids are so excited to point out apostrophes in text as we read.  Though most still don't have the word "apostrophe" correct yet :). We'll get their though. 
• We have started our Human body unit.  Today we learned about the skeletal system (supports and protects vital organs).  Ask your child if they remember how many bones the human body has (206).
• In math we will take our unit 1 test this Thursday and then start on Subtraction concepts for the next couple of weeks.
• The first week of October is SEP week.  I will send home scheduled times in the next week or so (I know it's crazy that it's mid-September already).  We try our best to coordinate times with siblings in other classes.  Watch for that (I will let you know the exact day that I send it home though).

I need to run and grab my son from basketball, so I hope I didn't forget anything.  Forgive my typos :).  as this as a quickly typed newsletter.  I sure love my class this year--they truly are wonderful kids!

Happy Reading!

Newsletter September 5 - September 8

I hope that you all enjoyed your three-day Labor Day weekend.  I know I did. 

Here are this week's happenings:

• Tomorrow (Wednesday) our Take-Home books (book in a bag) will start coming home.  I have included a note in the bag that will help you understand how to use these and what I expect.  If you have any questions about those books please feel free to contact me.  TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THESE BOOKS--BOOKS ON YOUR CHILD'S READING LEVEL. Be careful not to lose them as their is a replacement fee associated with lost books.
• Tomorrow also is our Sight Word Soldiers "pass off" day.  Please send your child's blue slip back on Wednesday's so that they can earn beads for their necklaces.  If you child does not pass off the whole list it will be returned with the words that they need to work on.  Don't stop there--send it back it and help your child to get moving through these lists.  I can't just "pass them" off if they don't read the words automatically. 
• Fall pictures will be this Friday.  All students will have their picture taken regardless if money is sent with them.  You can send back the envelope with your child's order by Friday or I believe you can order online also.  
• Please make sure your child's August reading calendar is turned in.  I award each child that turns one in with a little treat and a certificate.  I will not accept calendars after this Friday for a treat/certificate.  September calendars were sent home on September 1.  The take-home library books will help with the ten minutes of reading each night.
• I send home graded work with a score on it, but I have a high school volunteer and now some SUU students who are here for a class assignment and they help with corrections.  If you child's paper comes home and it looks like they got 100% but their score does not reflect that, corrections have been made.  I keep the original score, but love that with volunteers this year my students can get almost immediate feedback on the mistakes they are making. 
• This week I will send home Scholastic reading orders.  These are optional, but all those that order help our class earn "free books".  These orders will be due next Wednesday, September 13.  The best and easiest way to order is using our online code (included with the orders on the letter attached), but you can also send back the order form with payment by Sept. 13.
• With 15 kids I am going to implement my "Star of the Week" program.  Each student will have a week where they can "shine" in my classroom.  I will send home a schedule of when your child will be "Star of the Week" and then give you the materials the week before their assigned time.  Watch for the schedule to come home this week. 
• As far as curriculum, this week we will finish up our Fables and Folktakes Unit.  Today we read about the trickster spider Anansi (an African folktale).  That was our last folktale to read in this unit.  As a culmination, my students will divide into groups and create a poster about their "favorite folktale".  They will include on that poster the story elements of "plot, setting" and the main characters".  They will as a group share these posters with the class. In math we are still learning about addition concepts.  Today we learned about the different ways to make a number for example:  "To make 5" we can add 0 + 5, 1 + 4, 2 + 3, 3 + 2, 4 + 1, and 5 + 0.  So far, I am pleased with the knowledge my students have carried with them from kindergarten.  They for the most part, are quickly understanding these addition concepts.  In reading we are still reviewing sounds and spellings for those sounds.  Today we reviewed or learned for some the /ch/ and /sh/ spellings and sounds.  Ask your child what we drew on our hands with pen today to help us remember those sounds and spellings :). We are also learning about nouns as these are words that name "a person or a thing" (we will add "place" later).  We will start constructing complete sentences (capital, punctuation, complete thoughts) in the next few weeks (this is a year long process as we  first learn to write sentences which then translate into paragraphs). 

Happy Reading!