I hope you have been enjoying a nice long weekend. We have a couple of busy weeks upon us, so I hope your children are able to enjoy some screen-free time.
Pumpkin Week
For the next two weeks, we will be studying pumpkins in class. We will take a look at the life cycle of a pumpkin and also the parts of the pumpkin. We have many wonderful pumpkin books to share, both fiction and non-fiction. Similar to apple week, if you could purchase one small-sized pumpkin (pumpkin pie sized or the small, decorative pumpkins) for an activity we are doing on Zoom the week of 10/26, I'd appreciate it.
Lunch Bunch
The lunch bunch meetings went well last week in the small group format. I look forward to our second week of lunch bunch this week. We will take a break from lunch bunch after this week for a couple of weeks, as I will be doing some more assessments for report cards. When lunch bunch returns, your child will be with a new group of children.
Writing
For the past month-plus, we have been having weekly writing lessons 2-3 times per week. In class, this would be a writing center that the children also would go to 2-3 times per week. Writing is a very difficult skill to teach, especially virtually, and the key to getting better (as with all things) is practice. Please have your children watch the videos that are attached to the writing assignments. They are different every time, and they often are a 2 or 3 part lesson. What we are working toward is writing 2-3 sentences to a prompt. Each time we have a writing assignment, they should be adding more to their story or picture. The lesson usually entails starting a prompt that has many sight words in it, and writing that right along with me. Then, children must end their sentence with a word they select AND spell on their own. I have said this many times at parent meetings and in previous emails-- please encourage your children to spell phonetically, even if they are only able to write a beginning sound at this point. If you are always spelling for them, they will not learn how letter sounds apply to spelling, nor will they practice blending, and these are both important skills in reading and writing. If your child is struggling with writing independently and completing these writing assignments, I highly recommend that you have them come to office hours for additional assistance.
Cornerstone
We have another Cornerstone lesson this week! This week's story is Giraffes Can't Dance, which is about a giraffe who desperately wants to dance. When encouraged by a friend, he is finally able to get out there and dance to his own tune. The children will hear the story on Tuesday in SeeSaw & discuss it on Wednesday at our 11:00 meeting. Thank you Matt & Danielle for presenting.
Small Group Supplies This Week
ELA small groups (insect-named groups between 8:50 and 9:45) will continue to need:
- the reading warm-up pack (with "When I come to a tricky word, I can... on the cover)
- the sight word sentences pack-- we will be doing both "can" and "go" this week
- whiteboard, marker, and eraser
Math small groups (shape-named groups between 10:05 and 10:55) will need:
- the baggie of flat marbles
- whiteboard, marker, and eraser
This Week in Class
- We will be learning about pumpkins
- We will learn the letters Ss and Tt
- We will introduce two sight words: is & like
- We will continue working on the concept more, less, and equal in math
- A reminder that there is no school on Monday 10/19
Office Hours
Office
Hours are on Tuesdays & Thursdays from 12:00 to
1:00. If your child is having difficulty with a particular assignment,
you need a question answered, or any other reason that you'd like some
one-on-one time, please feel free to pop in. The Zoom link is open, and
there is no need to schedule in advance. You may have to wait in the
waiting room if I am with another student, but if someone is waiting, I
will try to make sure it's not for more than 10 minutes.
Materials Pick-Up
We
will have another materials pick-up on Monday, October 26th, from 12;30
to 1:00. Please come to the kindergarten parking lot (close to the
corner of Westchester & Blossom Valley), just like last month, and
swing through the parking lot to pick up another bag of supplies. Having
your child's name in the passenger-side windshield really helps to keep
the line moving so that I can grab the bag in advance of approaching
the car. At that time, I'd also like for your child to turn in:
- Their "This is Me in September" self-portrait
- The two math assessments that we did in September: one on this page and the number writing assessment that we do monthly on this page.
- Two different pieces of writing (your child's choice) that they've done during writing time. The one that we did last week (I can go to...) and the one that we're doing this week (I like...) are good choices.
Upcoming Events
Monday 10/19: No School Wednesday 10/21: Cornestone presentation
Monday 10/26: Materials Pick-Up 12:30-1:00
Friday 10/30: Halloween Zoom @ 11:00. Wear your costume or paint your face & we'll do a craft together! Friday 11/6: Report cards emailed home
Wednesday 11/11: No School: Veteran's Day
11/23-11/27: Thanksgiving Break
