Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Craft Supplies Needed

Do you have extra craft supplies at home?  We would like to make a center that the kids could use their creativity!  We are looking for toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, buttons, cards, ribbon, cupcake liners, stamps, etc.  We would appreciate any materials you donate!  Thank you for your help!

Friday, September 25, 2015

September 28-October 9

Picture day is on Wednesday, September 30!


Important News
  • Remember to send your picture envelopes to school on Wednesday!
  • Thank you for remembering to send back the book buddy bags every day!  
Language Arts

We will begin a unit on apples that will last two weeks.  We will be reading several stories, fiction and non-fiction, about animals and the seasons.  This works perfectly with our Lake Farmpark field trip.  During the field trip, the children learned how to make apple cider from the apples at the farm.  They had an opportunity to taste apple cider!  We will continue practicing fluency with the Apple, Apple on the Tree poem in our poetry folder.

Phonemic Awareness skills:  letter names, letter sounds, ending sounds, syllables

Practice sight words!  We would like the children to be able to read 5 sight words by the end of the first quarter (October 15).  The words are: a, it, in, on, at

Math

We will continue our unit on counting.  We have learned some strategies for careful counting.  Ask your child to share these strategies with you.  Also, we are practicing counting from any given number.  We have been practicing counting by 10s to 100.  We are also working hard to learn what number comes next when crossing over a decade.  What number comes after 29, 39, 49...

Monday, September 21, 2015

Book Buddy Bags

Your child will be bringing home a "Book Buddy" or "book in a bag".  Right now, the book inside this bag is one that we chose for him/her.  We will begin guided reading lessons in the next 2 weeks.  Then, the book inside this bag will be the one your child received small group instruction on during guided reading.  This book MUST be returned tomorrow.  When guided reading begins, we will add  2 bookmarks with the reading strategies that your child is learning in guided reading.  The students have not received instruction on all of these strategies just yet, but will as the year progresses!  Please encourage your child to use one of these strategies when they get stuck on a word.   The letter you see below is also included in the book buddy bag for your reference.  Happy Reading!



Dear Parents,                                                                                                                   
“Book Buddy Bags” are an important part of our reading program.  Several days a week your child will bring home a guided reading book in the bag, home to practice.  This book will be one that he/she has practiced with me in our small guided reading group lesson.  Please have your child read the book as part of his/her homework.  It is extremely important the book be returned to school the following day.   We will be using it again for our guided reading groups.
At this stage of reading the story has a very predictable text (I like red, I like blue) and the pictures are very important, as they support the child’s “reading” of the words.  At times your child may forget the predictable part of the text (I like).  If that happens, you can help them by reading the first few pages together.
When working with your child, please encourage him/her to:
·         Point to each word as they say it (this helps develop their one-to-one correspondence)
·         Look at the pictures if they get stuck
·         Go back and re-read if they get confused (you may help them by saying “I like…). Then have them read the sentence again on their own.
·         Get their mouth ready for the first sound in the word
Learning to read is a lot like learning to speak. You must:
·         Believe your child will learn to read
·         Praise and encourage your child’s every attempt. Just like you did with their first words
·         Reread books over and over and over….
·         Make reading a relaxed and enjoyable experience
·         Let them see you reading.
Please be careful NOT to:
·         Get impatient or upset when reading with your child (if you or your child is frustrated put it away for another time)
·         Expect your child to sound out each letter.
·         Cover the pictures to prove your child is “really” reading.
Don’t worry if it appears your child has memorized the text…That is a Good thing!!  Just be sure they are pointing to each word as they say it.
A note of responsibility: The children are taught that these books are precious and their responsibility (not Mom’s or Dad’s).  It is their responsibility to keep them in great condition and to bring them back every day.  The “Book Buddy Bag” will keep them dry and protect the pages from being ripped as they are put in their backpacks.  Once they have finished reading their books, please remind them to put them right back in their backpack.
Thank you for all of your help and support as we begin our adventure in reading.
Happy Reading!!!!! 



Wednesday, September 16, 2015

September 21-25

Guidance Lessons
Tami Mazzella, our guidance counselor, will begin lessons in our classrooms this week.  She will be focusing on the following topics: Buddy Bench, Respect, Responsible, Problem Solving, Listening & Following Directions, Bucket Filling/Kindness, Perseverance, Making Mistakes, Tattling vs. Telling, Bully Prevention, and Acts of Kindness.  

Important news:
  • Please send an extra set of clothes to school.  We will keep them in our classroom in case of an accident like a lunch spill, muddy clothes, etc.
  • Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @kindernews44202 and send back the Facebook invitation letter with your email if you are interested.
RAZ kids
Have you logged in and tried out this fun reading app?  We sent home information with your child's password last week.  If you need help logging on, please let me know.  The students enjoy earning stars to build robots and rockets by reading and answering the quiz questions.

We will continue with our Language Arts theme (farm) and Math skills for one more week.  

We hope you have a great week!

Friday, September 11, 2015

September 14-18

Important News
  • Please put all notes to the teacher or office on a large sheet of paper.  Small notes (like post-its) tend to get lost.  Thank you!
  • Thursday we are taking our field trip to Lake Farmpark!  Please make sure you dress for the weather!  We will be walking outside rain or shine!  Also, please pack your child's lunch in a disposable bag. 
  • Please practice tying shoes.
Homework
  • Review letters and sounds with your child daily.  How quickly can your child name the letters? 
  • If your child knows his/her letters and sounds, practice the sight words.  Start with only a few words at a time. 
  • Ask your child to name the characters and/or setting in a story you read together. 
Field Trip Volunteers
Mrs. Haughey--Mrs. Bindus, Mrs. Horvath
Mrs. Gallucci--Mrs. Courtad, Mrs. Cost, Mrs. Kacmar

Language Arts
We will be learning about the farm.  We are reading several stories about the farm and farm animals.  We will be using these stories to learn about characters, setting, cause and effect and sequencing.

The focus for the next 2 weeks includes:
  • rhyming
  • letters and sounds
  • final sounds
  • syllables
  • Left to right directionality
Sight words--a, the

Math

In math, we are learning addition and subtraction to five with materials.  Also, we practice counting from any given number to 100 forward and backward.

Friday, September 4, 2015

September 7-11

Browsing Boxes
Each student in our classroom has his/her own basket of books.  We use these baskets to do an activity called "Read to Self".  For this activity, each child finds a quiet spot in the classroom with their browsing boxes to read the books inside.  Each child has several books in the basket.  Some of the books are chosen by the student according to his/her interest (princess, baseball, animal, Clifford, etc.)  The other books are on their reading level.  If your child would like to bring a book from home to put in his/her basket, we encourage it!  This is the introduction to one of our Daily 5 literacy centers.

The students were taught that there are 3 ways to read a book.  The first way is to read the pictures.  We modeled for the students how to use the pictures to read the book to themselves.  The second way is to read the words in the story.  The third way is to retell a story that they have heard before.  Some students may have a book in their basket that they have read before such as Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  Now, the student can retell the story as he/she reads the pages.

Mindset
The staff at Aurora City Schools have read a book called Mindset by Carol Dweck.  In this book, we learned about the importance of building a growth mindset in our students.  People with a growth mindset believe that basic abilities (intelligence for example) can be developed through dedication and hard work.  This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.  In a fixed mindset, people believe that intelligence and talent are fixed traits.  They believe that talent alone creates success without effort.

This year, we will be focused on encouraging a growth mindset because it creates motivation and productivity.  It teaches children to welcome challenges, to persevere and accomplish things they may never have believed they could do!  We are teaching them that mistakes are ok, because we learn from them!  We are teaching them that they may not be good at something YET, but they will be, with hard work and effort!

Please contact us if you have any questions or are interested in learning more about Mindset.  We are even willing to loan you our book!  It is a great read!  We love it as teachers and as parents.

Note: We will add the various Mindset messages to our blog each week if you are interested in talking with your child about it at home.
Important Notes:
  • No school on Monday, September 7!
  • Friday is September 11 so wear red, white and blue!
  • We do not need to wear our bus tags anymore.  Thank you for always remembering to send it to school each day!
  • HOMEWORK--Have you played a rhyming game with your child?  Practice rhyming by asking your child if two words rhyme.  (Do cake and rake rhyme?) Also, try asking your child to think of a word that rhymes with a word you say.  (Can you think of a word that rhymes with sun?)
  • Mrs. Haughey's class has a student teacher!  Amy Rankin will be teaching with Mrs. Haughey until December.  She currently attends Kent State University.
  • Please check the calendar daily to see the good news about your child's behavior!
  • Mrs. Haughey's Class ONLY--Please remember to send in a picture of your child if you have not done so already!  Thank you!
  • Please return the Lake Farmpark permission slips to school as soon as possible!
Language Arts
This week our stories will be about our five senses.  We will be reading both fiction and non-fiction books.  We will be experiencing all of the senses, except tasting, during our activities this week.

We will continue our practice of phonemic awareness with our "blue book" activities.  We will focus on rhyming.

Math
We are working on saying the number before and after any given number from 0-30.  What number comes before 18?  What number comes after 12? We 

Science:  5 senses


Pictures from this week...
Sorry, only 2 this week!