Newsletter Updates for the Week of February 6th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Friday, Feb. 10th—Smokey the Bear Visits & 100’s Day

-Tuesday, Feb. 14th—Valentine Party—pm

-Friday Feb. 17th—NO School—PD for Teachers

-Monday, Feb. 20th—NO School—President’s Day

-Wednesday, Feb 22nd—Progress Reports Home

-Thursday, Feb 23rd—1/2 Day—Conferences 4-7

              -Sledding Party ????

STUDENT OF THE WEEK:  

Our student of the week is Dylan McCrimmon. Dylan enjoys fishing and jumping his bike.  His favorite movie is ‘The Angry Birds the Movie’ and his favorite book is Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  He aspires to be a wrestler and a farmer when he grows up, both require toughness, which he’s got! Congratulations to Dylan on being our Student of the Week!

BEHAVIOR: 

The last couple of weeks have been a challenge for our class.  We’ve had several discussions about staying on task, paying attention, raising our hand at group, etc.  This time of year is difficult because we have frequent inside recesses and need to get our wiggles out.  It’s also a challenge for us because as the pace quickens, the students’ stamina and ability to work independently and stay on task also needs to increase.  My challenge is to be able to work with students in small groups to provide the interventions and support that they need, while ensuring that the rest of the students are on staying on task.  Here’s how you can help—ensure that they are well rested, model good attentiveness at home (it’s so difficult in this multi-tasking digital world to stop and focus on one conversation), practice turn-taking while talking, and of course a gentle reminder to be a good listener and to do their best. :) Particularly this week Wednesday and Thursday, as I’ll be out of the classroom for training and meetings. Thank you for your support! :)

READING:

This week our class will be focusing on the four seasons and how they are different. Children will also be reading stories and poems related to the weather in each season. Here are some activities that you can do at home to reinforce what we are learning:

· Vocabulary—weather & seasons—discuss the four seasons and describe how the weather is similar or different. Then invite your child to draw a picture of each season.

· Sightwords—is & little

· Category Words—seasons—Discuss some clothing that your child wears in each of the four seasons and ask them to identify the season during which that item is worn.

· Phonics—Bb & Ll—Invite your child to search for objects that begin with the letter b and then letter l. Write the names of the objects on sticky notes and label each item.

· Beanie Baby Strategies—We will introduce Skippy the Frog for Accuracy. Skippy helps us when we come to a word that we just cannot figure out; he reminds us that we can ‘skip’ the word, read on, try to use the context clues to figure  it out, and then go back and reread the sentence.

WRITING: 

This week we will dive into our Unit on Small Moment stories by writing about an experience that we’ve shared together as a class—making stone soup.  We will also work together to create a 100’s Day Class Book.

MATH:  

This week we will work with 2D & 3D shapes, practice building numbers (2+3=5, 1+4=5), and on Friday we will celebrate the 100th Day of School with some special activities focusing on the number 100!

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES:  

This week we will read several books related to friendship and kindness, in preparation for Valentine’s Day. We will also be reviewing the 4 seasons and the changes that occur. Smokey the Bear will be visiting on Friday to teach us how we can be good citizens and help to prevent forest fires.

PARENT VOLUNTEERS: 

We’ve been blessed with several Watchdog Dads and Grandpas, but I also want to extend that invitation for volunteering to moms and grandmas.  Kindergarten is a busy place and I could always use extra hands to complete special projects and work with students.  Please let me know if there is a day or 1/2 day that you would like to come in and volunteer.