Newsletter Updates for the Week of February 20th

DATES TO REMEMBER:
-Friday, February 24—Progress Reports Home
-Thursday, March 1st—Reading Month Kick Off
-Thursday, March 1st—Conferences—3:30-7:30
-Friday, March 2nd—No School
-Wednesday, March 7th—Finish Conferences
-Thursday, March 8th—Reading @ the Beach
-Friday, March 9th—Beach Hat Day
-Monday, March 12th—Delayed Start
-Friday, March 16th—Sunglasses Day, Wii Resort, & Irish Dance Assembly

MARCH IS READING MONTH:
Our Reading Month Theme is Oceans—A Whale of a Tale & Flip Over a Good Book! Throughout the month, we will be learning about Ocean Animals and creating artwork to add to our hallway, as well as the Elementary Aquarium. We have several special activities planned for the month. Students will have ‘splash time’ each week for ‘read to self’ and partner reading. We have dress-up days and fun activities planned for each
Friday. I’ll be sure to include the information on the March Snack Calendar as well as the newsletters.
Get ready to Splash into Reading!!

CONFERENCES:
Kindergarten teachers have been granted release time in order to meet with ALL of our families. My conferences will be Thursday, March 1st from 3:30-7:30 (in the classroom) and Wednesday, March 7th from 12:30-4:00 (in the elementary conference room). We DO have school on both of these days. You should receive your conference notice along with your child’s progress report on Friday. Please try to be flexible with arranging your schedule to meet. If you have a conflict, please contact me ASAP, as I’ll have minimal time slots for rescheduling. I am looking forward to meeting with you!

BOOK FAIR:
The PTO is sponsoring our annual Book Fair March 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, & 29. I am currently working on organizing the event and am seeking parent/grandparent volunteers to help run the fair during school hours (11:30-3:00) as well as Thursdays after school from 3:00-6:00. If you, or someone you know, is interested in helping out please contact me at
sherrybrinks@gmail.com.

READING:
This week we will continue to work on the letter Ll and the sightwords one, two, & three. We will be using a new comprehension strategy: Digger the Dog to help us determine ‘Author’s Purpose’ and Dig for Details. We have learned 1/2 of our 50 sightwords for the year. Please continue to practice reading and writing sightwords at home; it really gives students an advantage while reading and writing! This week we will also introduce blends, beginning with the l blends. We will be reading words that begin with bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, & sl.

WRITING:
This week we will complete a Type 3 writing describing ‘details’ from the story King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub. We will also compile a list of facts about Abraham Lincoln, write about him, and complete a pencil sketch of our 16th President. Students will also be writing in their journals about ‘liberty’ and what they are glad to have the ‘liberty’ to do.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we will continue our Social Studies Unit on American Symbols and Democratic Values. We will be reading several books about Honest Abe and George Washington and their important contributions to our country’s history. We will be learning about several democratic values, but our focus will be on ‘truth’ and the importance of honesty.

MATH:
This week we will continue to work on addition; I’ve been very impressed with the students’ ability to grasp this concept so far. We will also continue to work on counting 1-75 and recognizing and ordering numbers
0-20. This week we will also be working on ‘volume;’ determining quantities of full, half full, and empty, as well as predicting how much various containers can hold.