T Week, Ending Sounds and The Very Last First Time

January 12-15

Sound of the Week – T

Book of the Week – The Very Last First Time

Habit of the Month – Self-Control

Mom of the Month – Jennifer Stephens

Happy New Year!  I was so excited to see your children this week!  As I said in the email earlier, they were so excited to see each other!  This week we reviewed the letters and sounds we have studied to date as well as number activities.  Along with our book, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, we talked about rhyming words and began our study of poetry in preparation for our Poetry Recital to be held in a few weeks. 

As we continue in January, we will be doing many learning activities that encourage reading readiness.  The students grow so much in January-May!  Please celebrate your child’s growth and desire to learn!  It is going to be fun! 

We really begin homework this second semester.  Believe it or not, your student will be excited!  Two to Three nights a week your child will bring home a page or activity to be completed at home. The assignment will be something familiar and should take no more than about 10 minutes.  There will be no more than one assignment on any given day.  Please sit down with your child as they work on this.  Encourage them to do their best and please watch to make sure they are using a proper pencil grip and forming any letters correctly.  Practicing incorrectly is more detrimental than not practicing at all!  Please return their work in their yellow folder the next day.

Our book of the week for next week, The Very Last First Time, is a book about a young Inuit girl, living in northern Canada, who climbs under the ice of the frozen sea to gather mussels alone for the first time. The author, Jan Andrews, creates a very emotional story of this first time under the ice alone.

If possible, please watch the following brief BBC documentary. We will watch it as a class on Thursday.  You may wish to preview it before showing it to your child.  No one thought the book was “scary” but some children in the past have felt the video was a little tense.   The documentary shows the Inuit people actually harvesting the mussels in the same way as described in the book.  Very interesting!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12241053

First Semester Narrative Reports will be available Tuesday, January 13 at noon.  You can pick these up in the Elementary Office.  

Parent Meeting Tuesday evening, January 20 in our classroom 6:15.  Campus meeting following at 7:30.