Week of September 12, 2011

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Dear Parents:

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful weekend. I went to Gainesville for the weekend and enjoyed time with my husband, son, and future daughter-in-law. Spending time with my children is still my most favorite thing to do in the world! Next to that, is spending time with YOUR children at school! Here are some of the things we will be doing this week:

In language arts, we will be focusing on the digraph /k/ spelled ck. The spelling words are on the sheet attached to the homework calendar. Don't forget that it is your child's responsibility to make the word sort cards for the spelling word homework. They no longer need the baggie attached to their folder and do not need to return the words to school. Several children have brought in the dictionary they are making at home with these words! If they bring it in to show me, they are getting their name in the happy face five times! One time deal - they do not need to bring it in again. Just keep working on it at home. This week's wall (or sight) words are late, oh, yes, fast, and asleep. Please practice reading, spelling, and using the words in sentences. In grammar, we will be learning about the telling parts of sentences. The telling part (who or what a person or thing does) is usually found at the end of a sentence. We will also be working on the comprehension strategies/skills of summarizing as we read and understanding simple story structure. All stories have events that happen at certain parts of the story. As we read, we will begin to distinguish what happens at the beginning, middle, and end of the story.

Along with the individual reading assessments that I have done with each child, we have spent the better part of the first few weeks of school learning the rules, routines, and procedures for our time in Reading Workshop. The children have practiced book shopping for their “just right books” and spend time each day reading these books independently and now with partners as well. There is explicit teaching during our daily mini-lessons in Reading Workshop that the children then spend time practicing as they read independently and with their partners. We also spend time each day with teacher read-alouds. The main purposes for these read-alouds are to teach the children to think and talk about books and to build excitement for reading. I use read aloud time to model making predictions – “Let’s look at the cover and ask ourselves, What do we think this book is going to be about?” I also model thinking aloud while reading by asking myself questions such as: “Who are the characters in this story?” “Where is this story taking place?” “What happened first, then next, then next?” This helps the children learn to talk in ways that keep them close to the text. I love seeing the children practice the concepts that are modeled during the read-alouds during their independent reading time! This week our mini-lessons will focus on the jobs that partners have, learning that smart readers reread books, readers use strategies such as picture clues to help them when reading books they have never seen nor heard before, and practicing making our voices sound like characters would sound like by noticing how characters are feeling in the pictures and in the words. When you read with your child at home, practice these strategies!

In Writing Workshop, we are getting ready to publish our first piece of writing! Today the children spent time going through all of their writing done so far and chose a piece of writing that they love and they think others will enjoy hearing or reading. We will spend the rest of the week "fixing it up" for publishing which at this point means rereading, adding to the drawing, adding to the words, coloring the sketches, and making a cover. Then we will share them as a class at our first celebration.

In handwriting this week, we are playing a magic c mystery letter game to help us remember to "start the letters at the top" when writing. We will also be learning some physical motions with our hands to help us size and place our letters correctly. Please send in a clean sock for your child to use if you have not done so. We are still missing quite a few!

In math we played "2 Fisted Penny Addition" for sums of 10 today. It's a great way for the children to "see" and understand math facts! Please play this at home as often as you can. The directions were on last week's blog. We will also be introducing unit labels for numbers, calculators, and the analog clock this week.

In science, we began our study of the Human Body today! To kick off the unit, we read the book Parts by Ted Arnold. If you haven't read it, it is hysterical! This unit will last through the month of October as we study the heart, skeleton, muscles, brain, skin, and so much more! I told the children many of the exciting things we will be doing. You should have seen their faces! Priceless! One of Shorecrest's wonderful upper school science teachers, Lisa Peck, will be bringing animal body parts to share and dissect with us as we learn about them. So cool! I also want to thank those of you who have offered to come in and share your expertise with us. The children and I can't wait!

Things to remember:

Word cards (sight words on ring) need to be worked on all week and returned on Thursday.

Picture Day for the Lower Division is tomorrow! If you want to order pictures and have not returned your envelope, please send it in with your child tomorrow.

International Peace Day is Wednesday, September 21. We will be having a special assembly that morning. Please join us.

Parent and teacher conferences are on October 6.

Students in grades JK-2 will see "The Adventures of Stuart Little" on Friday, October 7 at 1:00 in the Janet Root Theater. You are welcome to join us.

Please send photos of your Summer Travels for possible inclusion in the 2012 yearbook. Please send your photos by September 23rd. Email your photos to: nap@shorecrest.org.

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Eva D'Agostino (12:00)
• Wednesday - Math Game - Susannah or Brian Malison (1:00)
• Thursday - Library Check-out - Natalie Ames and Kimberly Burke
• Friday - Parent Reader - Kevin Williams or Marion O'Mullane(2:15)

Have a great week! Susan