Friday, December 9, 2011
December 9th News
Our math focus this week has been on reading, writing, sequencing, grouping, comparing, and learning about number ranges in the bigger numbers to 100 and beyond. A few things I have noticed that we will need to focus on more include ship counting by 2’s and counting backwards from those bigger numbers. We are practicing as we line up, or any time we have a little bit of a wait. Practice at home would be great as well.
Ms. Pratt, one of our school counselors, has been coming into our class to talk about social thinking strategies. Be sure to ask your child about Super Flex and the Unthinkables. The children are really enjoying the stories, and are learning great strategies for how to recognize and solve daily difficulties.
Thanks to the PTO, we enjoyed a Taiko Drumming Assembly this week. Don’t be surprised if you have some drumming happening at home this weekend. It was impressive.
Jen, Zephyr’s mom, has a special art project planned for us on Wednesday at 1:30, and we are looking for a few volunteers to help with both the project and clean up at the end of the day. If you are interested, please let me know. Also, we have about half of the jars we need, so keep those small jam jars coming. Thanks!
Next Friday in the afternoon we will be enjoying a “Snuggle In” day with popcorn, juice, movie, and a few winter craft activities. The children may wear pajamas on that day. If your child chooses to wear pajamas, please be sure that they are still wearing appropriate footwear for recess.
Next Friday is also library day. We are going to try to use the Lifeskills of responsibility and organization and see if we can ALL bring back ALL of our library books. That way we can all have new books to read over Winter Break.
Our specialist schedule for next week is:
Monday P.E.
Tuesday Music
Wednesday Art
Thursday P.E.
Friday Library
I know that I sometimes forget to put the specialist schedule in the newsletter. If that ever happens , you can also find the specialist schedule on the Blakely website under the Calendars section. Just look for the Specialist Rotation Calendar. http://www.bainbridge.wednet.edu/blakely/specialistschedule.pdf
Our rotation this quarter is:
Day 1 P.E.
Day 2 Library
Day 3 Art
Day 4 P.E.
Day 5 Music
Day 6 Art
Friday, December 2, 2011
December 2nd News
This week we have been:
Getting ready for report cards by “showing what we know”. This has required a lot of focus, direction following, and thinking. The students have worked well, and earned themselves some special reading, drawing, clay, and dance breaks.
Finding out about each others families as we share our Family History books.
Reading books about families and traditions from other places and times, to get ready for our grandparent letters.
Writing our own family memories in our journals, as we get ready to use those as “seed stories” that will grow into bigger stories later.
Playing math games that help us learn map concepts, number patterns, place value, and number sense.
Next week we will:
Compare similar books with “double bubble” maps to stretch our thinking.
Learn about different family holiday celebrations and traditions. If you have a special tradition you would like to come in and share with us, let me know and we will set up a time.
Continue to explore the 100 chart as we learn more about skip counting, number ranges, and how the 100 chart is organized.
Nuts and Bolts
Coming home today is a permission form for our trip to the Children’s Theater in January. We are sending them home early in order to be sure to get them all back before the vacation, and to plan for volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering, please let me know as soon as possible, since we have a limited number of parent tickets available. If we have more parents than tickets, we will draw names.
Please save those glass jars for our Art Docent project, and send them in as soon as possible. Any small glass jar will work - such as a jam jar. No lids are needed. Thanks!
Getting ready for report cards by “showing what we know”. This has required a lot of focus, direction following, and thinking. The students have worked well, and earned themselves some special reading, drawing, clay, and dance breaks.
Finding out about each others families as we share our Family History books.
Reading books about families and traditions from other places and times, to get ready for our grandparent letters.
Writing our own family memories in our journals, as we get ready to use those as “seed stories” that will grow into bigger stories later.
Playing math games that help us learn map concepts, number patterns, place value, and number sense.
Next week we will:
Compare similar books with “double bubble” maps to stretch our thinking.
Learn about different family holiday celebrations and traditions. If you have a special tradition you would like to come in and share with us, let me know and we will set up a time.
Continue to explore the 100 chart as we learn more about skip counting, number ranges, and how the 100 chart is organized.
Nuts and Bolts
Coming home today is a permission form for our trip to the Children’s Theater in January. We are sending them home early in order to be sure to get them all back before the vacation, and to plan for volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering, please let me know as soon as possible, since we have a limited number of parent tickets available. If we have more parents than tickets, we will draw names.
Please save those glass jars for our Art Docent project, and send them in as soon as possible. Any small glass jar will work - such as a jam jar. No lids are needed. Thanks!
Friday, November 18, 2011
November 18th News
Please check your child’s backpack today for some special items that they will want to share with you. This week we wrote acrostic poems based on “Thank You’s” from around the world. This project required a lot of thought and problem solving. The children had to first think of what they were thankful for, then figure out how to make it work with the letters of the word. We found that adding descriptive words let us make the words fit, and also made our writing more interesting. The poems are very special, so be sure to have your child read it to you.
Also coming home today is another project for our family studies. I am sending home a family history packet for you and your child to work on together. This is a great opportunity to share family stories and reflect on those things that make your family special. We will be sharing these books with the class as they are completed and returned. All of the directions are in the book. On some pages the writing may be difficult for your child to do independently, so feel free to help with writing as needed. Thanksgiving break can be a great time to work on them.
Also coming home today (or yesterday for a few of the kids) are place mat projects that were created as part of our Art Docent’s lesson on decorative arts that we find around our homes. We looked at examples of table settings in art and at beautiful place settings from museums. The children really enjoyed creating their own, and can even use the place mats to help with family dinner table setting.
For our next art project we will need some canning or jam jars. Please send in one or two carefully wrapped jars for our art docent lesson on December 16th.
Please let me know if you didn’t receive an information form with attached envelope regarding our grandparent letters. I found a few on the floor after they went home last week, so I know a few families are missing them. We will be writing our grandparent letters right after Thanksgiving break.
If you will be traveling for Thanksgiving, and will be missing any school days, lease let the office know.
Specialist schedule:
This Week:
Monday Art
Tuesday P.E.
Wednesday Music
Next Week:
Monday Art
Tuesday P.E.
Wednesday Library
Thursday Art
Friday P.E.
Also coming home today is another project for our family studies. I am sending home a family history packet for you and your child to work on together. This is a great opportunity to share family stories and reflect on those things that make your family special. We will be sharing these books with the class as they are completed and returned. All of the directions are in the book. On some pages the writing may be difficult for your child to do independently, so feel free to help with writing as needed. Thanksgiving break can be a great time to work on them.
Also coming home today (or yesterday for a few of the kids) are place mat projects that were created as part of our Art Docent’s lesson on decorative arts that we find around our homes. We looked at examples of table settings in art and at beautiful place settings from museums. The children really enjoyed creating their own, and can even use the place mats to help with family dinner table setting.
For our next art project we will need some canning or jam jars. Please send in one or two carefully wrapped jars for our art docent lesson on December 16th.
Please let me know if you didn’t receive an information form with attached envelope regarding our grandparent letters. I found a few on the floor after they went home last week, so I know a few families are missing them. We will be writing our grandparent letters right after Thanksgiving break.
If you will be traveling for Thanksgiving, and will be missing any school days, lease let the office know.
Specialist schedule:
This Week:
Monday Art
Tuesday P.E.
Wednesday Music
Next Week:
Monday Art
Tuesday P.E.
Wednesday Library
Thursday Art
Friday P.E.
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