Newsletter Updates for the Week of April 3rd

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Fri, April 7th—Mobile Dentist & Report Cards Home

-Wed., April 12th—Head Start & GSRP Visits

-Friday, April 14th—No School—Good Friday

-Monday, April 17th—Delayed Start

-Friday, April 21st—K Round-Up—No School for K

-Friday, April 28th—K Round-Up—No School for K

STUDENT OF THE WEEK:  

Our student of the week is Kruz Ferrel.  Kruz loves going to the beach and the Great Wolf Lodge! He likes to eat pizza, macaroni and cheese, & hot dogs.  His favorite movie is Batman, and his favorite book is Transformers. Kruz aspires to become our very own super-hero when he grows up by becoming a police officer and a fireman.  Congratulations to Kruz on being our Student of the Week!

HAPPY SPRING?:  

I hope you had an enjoyable Spring Break—whether you braved MI weather or escaped to warmer places:)  Since the weather is so unpredictable this time of year, please continue to watch the weather forecast and dress your child accordingly for recess.  I would suggest layers so that they can start the day off with a heavier coat and mittens and then hopefully end the day with a jacket or sweatshirt. Please continue to send boots, as the playground is often wet and muddy; that way we can keep the mud out of the classroom, since we spend a lot of time on the floor:)

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about the transportation used to take people from place to place. Children will learn about how families in the past traveled and how these vehicles compare with what is used today. Here are some activities you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—transportation & vehicle—discuss the different kinds of transportation you take from place to place. Then invite your child to draw pictures of each type of transportation.

· Sightwords—here, me, this—Write sentences with these words and practice reading them together.

· Category Words—vehicles—Play “guess the vehicle.” Give clues about different kinds of vehicles and encourage your child to name them.

· Phonics—Lettes Jj & Qq— Practice reading and writing words that begin with j and qu.

· Comprehension—character, setting, & plot—Have your child choose a favorite story and then read it together. Ask your child questions about the main characters, setting, and plot. Invite them to draw pictures of these story elements.

· Take-Home Reading Folders—I’ve reassessed all of the students and many have moved up 1-2 reading levels—Yay!  We will take a couple of days to shop for new books and then begin bringing our reading folders home again. You should notice that these books are a little more challenging—please sit with your child and encourage them to use their strategies for figuring out tricky words. Also, please be sure to return your child’s reading folder so that they can continue to check out books and practice reading at home.

WRITING: 

This week we will write about something fun we did over Spring Break and write our very first Opinion Letter about a familiar book.

MATH:  

This week we will continue to work on skip counting by 10’s, 5’s, & 2’s—those 2’s are tricky!  We will also practice measuring weights using a pan balance, and survey our classmates and create a graph of the data we collect.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES:  

This week we will begin our new Science Unit on Motion. We will be learning about different forces—pushes, pulls, gravity, wind/air, and their effects on objects. We will conduct many hands-on activities related to motion and forces this week.

Please be sure to return your March Reading Calendar. 

March is the final month of Book-It for this school year:)