Dear Parents,
We had a great first week of centers & sharing, and hopefully homework is going well, too! Thanks so much to all our center helpers. I appreciate your diligence in coming on time, working with the children, and finding substitutes when you are unable to come. All went very well last week!
Remember to send in your child's Blue Bag on Monday, with the homework folder inside. No need to pull the homework folder out and turn it in separately-- I have a parent helper who will go through all the bags and pull out the homework. You will receive a new book and some new homework again on Wednesday.
This week's sharing is book share. Remember, if you ever forget what the share topic is (or I forget to mention it), it is marked on the calendar on our web page. For book share, I'd like the children to come prepared with a favorite page bookmarked, and to also know the title of the book and a general idea of what it's about. No clues necessary on this one!
We will continue with our math topic on numbers, now covering 6-10. I am especially reinforcing the formation of numbers in handwriting. Some of these numbers are quite tricky to make, so watch that your child is starting at the top and going in the right direction.
We will also continue with our overview of the alphabet, plus working on rhyming. Letters Pp through Tt will be covered this week.
We began introducing some of our line strokes last week using Handwriting without Tears, and as mentioned, we also worked individually with each student on his/her name writing. This week, we will begin another component of the Handwriting program called "Sentence School." In sentence school, we will all copy a sentence from the easel and work on handwriting and word spacing, while also reinforcing vocabulary and sight words. We started using "Sentence School" a couple of years ago, and found that it really improved sentence writing.
We began our science unit on Trees & Leaves last week, and the children are really enjoying it. We introduced important vocabulary such as roots, leaves, branches, and trunk. We talked about evergreens and deciduous trees. This week we will begin looking more closely at leaves. Please send in a a few leaves from trees around your home in a baggie on Monday. It can be in the blue bag if that's easier.
Upcoming Events:
9/25: First Wacky Wednesday
9/27: Picture Day
10/19: Alta Vista Walkathon
10/30: October's Wacky Wednesday
10/31: Halloween Party & Parade
11/1: No School: Staff Development Day
