Friday News!

Hello!

Every week seems to go faster than the last…formal reading groups are under way and the kids are REALLY excited to be reading! I don’t know if you remember learning to read, but I do remember! It’s like finding the decoder ring in the bottom of your cereal box! Short books will be coming home in the homework folders…please take the time (only 5 minutes, I promise!) to listen to your child read and celebrate the hard work and learning!

Our field trip Thursday was rained out and rescheduled for Tuesday morning. We’ll be leaving bright and early at 8:15! With the rain and winds, the phone company wasn’t sure if there’d be any technicians available to climb the pole and show the kids the “cherry picker” lift…the most exciting part of the field trip!

More math homework is coming home tonight. This game will stay at home after you and your child play it several times this week. You might find it fun to play again in a few weeks!

You’ll also find a book order in the homework bag. The orders are due on the 20^th.

I’ve updated the blog with photos from this year’s class! If you click on one of the pictures in the slide show it will bring you to the web site with the entire album. The photos will be larger and better quality! Enjoy!

Math Homework Begins...

The very first official math homework comes home today! Bridges calls math homework “Home Connection” and the activities come home approximately once a week, sometimes with less frequency. The Home Connections are usually in a game format. They are meant to be played each day over several days. Sometimes there’s a page that comes back to school but the game always stays at home. I suggest that you find a special place to keep the games to revisit in the future. You could save a shoe box and have your child decorate it to keep the games in one place.

In addition to the “official” homework, you may also find games coming home to provide additional practice on specific skills. Last week I sent a game home with several children to provide extra practice with ten-frames. It was a Bingo game that your child had played several times with me in class. Your child was asked to teach you the game! This type of homework is very motivating for young children and helps teach and reinforce necessary skills. Please try to find time each evening to play a game or two!

Enjoy!

September 17, 2010

Dear Families,

Yet another busy week and the first full week at that! The children seem tired but happy and we’re moving ahead with all areas of study.

During Fundations this week, we reviewed letter names and sounds and even more importantly…formation! We’ve been seeing some, shall we say, creative letter writing! All students are benefitting from the printing review. Both Mrs. McGuire and I have shared with the classes that in order to communicate effectively with writing, letters and words need to be read easily by others. We sky write each letter (ask your child to show you) and then use special Fundations paper with a sky line (again, ask your child to explain), plane line, grass line and worm line to help children form letters properly. They seem to enjoy the exercises!

About homework…until we begin formal reading groups, the reading homework will consist of you and your child sharing books each day. Many of you will still be reading to your child, but ask to see if your child recognizes any words they know on the page. Many children know the words “the”, “my”, “to” and other words and are excited to find those words on book pages! Beginning Monday, I’ll put a reading graph in your child’s homework folder. Each night, please read to/with your child for at least 15 minutes. Have your child color in an apple for each 15 minutes you spend with books! I’ll collect them from the folders the following Monday! If your child needs more printing practice, you’ll find paper and instructions in the homework folder on Monday as well. I usually send home the reading and spelling homework on Monday and collect it on Friday.

Math update…the class as a whole seems to love the Bridges program. Lessons early in the school year are meant to introduce daily routines and review and extend skills from kindergarten. Each day children have “number corner.” It has several calendar activities and then a short lesson. Children are learning to recognize patterns, identify coins by name and value, practice telling time to the hour, in addition to having daily lessons practicing addition and subtraction strategies.

You’ll notice that a fundraising packet came home today with your child. This year our school chose a company called Meadow Farms Fundraising. The directions are on the envelope and seem clear enough. Inside there are directions for online ordering if that seems easier for your family. As always, fundraising is a choice. If you choose to participate in the fundraising, checks are payable to Hinesburg Community School and packets are due on October 1^st. Thanks!

Thanks to Ryann for being our first Star Student of the Week! Her mom, Elisabeth, and her baby brother, Lucas, came in to share all about Ryann! We learned that Ryann likes all shades of blue, but turquoise most of all. Her first word was “shoes” and she’d like to be a horseback riding teacher when she grows up! Happy birthday, Ryann!

Have a wonderful weekend!