Week of December 12, 2011

Dear Parents:

First, I want to say thank you for your participation in the gift drive. You were all so very generous! You helped your child to see and "feel" the true meaning of giving. What an awesome sight in the new gym to see all the wonderful gifts for all of the families! Thank you for making our adoptive family's holiday a brighter one!

In case you haven't heard about our class elf, BillyBobJoe, I've included a picture of him! He is quite the character as you can see!

Reminders!

Our holiday party is this Friday! Remember that your child should come to school in jammies ready for our Pajama Breakfast Party! You can come in your jammies, too! All parents are welcome! Remember that the children will be having PE that morning, so please make sure they have on or bring tennis shoes. It is also Spirit Day so if your child would like to change into spirit clothes after the party, please be sure to send them in. We also have our lower school holiday sing-along in the theater at 11:00. Again, you are welcome to join us if you like! Dismissal is at noon on Friday.

Please be sure to return the word ring on Thursday. We MUST have the rings returned to school before the holiday break.

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - 12:00 - Mai Nguyen
• Wednesday - Math Game - 1:15 - Natalie Ames * Note time change!
  
• Thursday - Library Check-out - 12:00 - Kimberly Burke and Ana Brinkley
• Friday - Parent Reader - We will do this at the party in our jammies and with our pillows!
  

What's up this week in 1-4?

Reading/Language Arts: We are working on words with the r-controlled vowel sound /ur/ spelled er, ir, and ur. This is tricky and we will not take a formal spelling test this week, but rather practice the words together all week. When reading with your child, see if they can recognize words with the /ur/ sound and notice the different spellings. The grammar focus this week is on using he, she, it, and they correctly in sentences. As readers we continue to think and talk about what we read with our partners as well as with ourselves. When your child reads with you at home, please take the time to let them talk about what they have read. This helps us to understand what we read.

Math: We are working on building good fact habits. Ask your child about "fact power" (instant recall of the sums of 1 digit numbers without having to stop to figure them out). We will finish Unit 4 this week. Please look for your child's Unit 4 Checking Progress to come home in the next few days and please continue to review the skills at home. We will begin Unit 5 in January. During the month of January, we will focus on Place Value: Tens and Ones; Greater than, Less than; More than, Less than number stories, Dice Sums; Turn-Around Facts (3+2=5 and 2+3=5); and What's My Rule? It will be a BIG and important unit!

Writer's Workshop: We continue to write personal narratives, working with our partners as coaches, just like in reading workshop. We work together to help plan our stories, add more detail, and make our writing easier to read. Our partners are helping us to not only write more, but write more clearly. A good writing partner is also someone who takes care of our feelings. It is an important job!

Science: As our solar system unit continues, this week we will be focusing on the constellations.

Can you believe this is our last week together in the 2011 school year? The time is flying by! I wish you all a wonderful Christmas or Hanukkah with your family! It is a great time to read, play games, and just enjoy your time together!

I hope to see you on Friday at our Pajama Breakfast Party!
Susan

Dear Parents,

"Never settle for less than your best! You are responsible for you!" This is our class motto that we recite each morning and talk about frequently. The children and I have agreed that these aren't just words to recite but words that we live by in our class. Therefore, the children and I have agreed that sloppy work will no longer be acceptable, whether done in the classroom or on homework. If the child and I agree that they did less than their best in terms of neatness, the assignment will need to be redone. I anticipate that the "neat writer of the day" award will become very competitive and that is a good thing!

The children are getting so excited to see how our gift drive bins are filling up! What a great way to make the holidays brighter for a family in need and, at the same time, reinforce the life skill of generosity with our children. Don't forget the gift drive ends this Friday and the children will be carrying the gifts to the new athletic center that morning. The joy of giving will never be so evident!

The children are also getting excited about our upcoming pajama party! It will be on Friday, December 16th beginning at 8:30 a.m. Your child may wear his/her pajamas to school that morning. It is also spirit day, so they may change into spirit clothes before PE. Please be sure to send in sneakers and socks to change into as well! We will be going to the Lower School Holiday Sing in the theater at 11:00. All parents are welcome to join us for the pajama party - (come in your PJ's too!) - as well as the holiday sing.

Even with all of the excitement of the season, we are still working hard in our classroom. Here is a glimpse of what is going on this week:

Reading/Language Arts: The phonics focus is on the digraphs /kw/qu and /hw/ wh. We will also be practicing more with the inflections -ed, and -ing. Our high frequency words (word card words) are about, books, family, name, people, read, work, and writing. Last week we looked at the genre of realistic fiction (made-up stories that could happen in real life). This week we are talking about biographies (stories about the events in the life of a real person) and will compare the two genres. Our comprehension focus will be on sequencing the events in the stories we read. Knowing the order of events can help us to better understand the information. In grammar, we will be learning when to use the words I and me. In Reader's Workshop, we will work on "retelling" to help build our reading muscles and understand what we read. Readers retell by using character names and details so that retelling makes sense. Please practice retelling with your child when reading at home.

Writer's Workshop: We will continue to work on personal narratives and making our writing easier to read.

Math: We will talk about timelines and developing fact power by working on strategies for addition and subtraction. We will also continue working on telling time to the quarter hour. Telling time is a skill that requires lots of practice. The children brought a laminated analog clock home today to use when practicing at home. Please do this often with your child throughout the year!

Science: We are into our unit on the solar system. If you have not brought the 4 inch styrofoam ball and empty toilet paper tube, please do so as soon as possible. Thank you to those of you that have sent in extras! If anyone has anything that you would like to share with us about this unit, please let me know!

We will also be attending two special productions in the theater this week. On Tuesday at 1:00 we will see "Hans Brinker" and at 1:00 on Wednesday we will be attending the Lower Division Chorus production called "Welcome to the Jungle". We are so lucky to have these experiences at Shorecrest!

Volunteers this week:

• Tuesday - Art - Natalie Ames - 12:00
• Wednesday - No math games due to the chorus show
• Thursday - Library checkout - Kimberly Burke and Ana Brinkley - 12:00
• Friday - Parent Reader - Kevin Williams/Marion O'Mullane - 2:15

Have a terrific week!
Susan