Newsletter October 13

October 13, 2011

Room A News

October 13th, 2011!

What we are learning:
We are still working through the alphabet with Sammy Snake (s), Timothy Tiger (t), Umber Umbrella Bird (u), Vincent Vampire Bat (v), and Willy Weasel (w). We began Reading Workshop by learning how to read emergent storybooks. I taught how to read a book by reading the pictures, using storyteller words as you tell the story, and using the pictures to remember what happened in the story. We also began Writing Workshop—if your child comes home drawing oval people, it is because that is how I begin teaching them. We read about and made dragonflies/fireflies (you can ask your child which he/she made) for Camp Day.

**Each morning, students are responsible for answering the question of the day when they come in the room. Please do NOT read the question to them. You might have noticed that the beginning of the question is the same from day to day. Students have memorized this part (and if they have not, you can prompt them by pointing to the words and asking them what they think it says—this works on tagging, which is a beginning reading skill). The final word is in the picture. If they cannot tell what the picture is, direct them to the first letter of the word and have them think what it could be that starts with that letter. If you need help with this, I’m happy to demonstrate!

What we will be learning:
Next week, we will continue to get ready for Camp Day by making and learning about different forest animals. We will talk about more animal adaptations, including camouflage. We will revisit a germ experiment we begin tomorrow and talk about the importance of washing our hands and cleaning thoroughly. On Monday, we will celebrate the 30th day of school and launch the Read-A-Thon! Ms. Ketryn will be with us once again on Tuesday as I pull students and assess to prepare for our ILP meetings. Tuesday is also a PE day (we have PE every other Tuesday).

Ways for you to support:
• Story prompt: tell your child a story about your favorite book.
• Ask your child the steps of the Peace Path and why we use it. What is it for?
• Please ask your child the movements that go with the sounds of S, T, U, V, and W.
• Make sure you are reading at least 20 minutes a night.
• ENVIRONMENTAL PRINT: Your children know how to read a lot of words! Words on cereal boxes, words on signs, clothing, etc. Please cut these out and send them in with your child. We will have a wall in the classroom dedicated to the words your child is already reading.
• Ask students how to write their numbers (we start at the top). Please make sure when your child is doing the practice sheets at home, they are writing the numbers correctly (handwriting is the only time of day we ask our students to form letters and numbers correctly).

Homework:
Any homework I send is for you to keep at home, please do not send it back to school. Have fun!

 

If you have not signed up for an ILP meeting, please do so: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/ilpsignup

 

Upcoming events
• Family Math Night, Thursday, October 20th, 5-7 pm (please check the OCS Thursday packet for the pizza slip and return to the classroom)
• Kindergarten Potluck (sign-up coming soon!), Lookout for an email on this later today or tomorrow.

A quick note on our morning routine: please help us start our day on-time by saying goodbye to your child as soon as I turn on the music. I aim to start our morning meeting right when the Good Morning song goes on, but it is difficult when there are still parents in the room. Also note that if you come in after the 8:15 bell, you need to stop by the office and get a tardy slip. Thanks for your help!

Volunteering

I need volunteers to clean the classroom on Friday afternoons. You can sign up here: Please sign-up here to help: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/classroom559

Pumpkins

We need pumpkins of different sizes for math we will be doing in the next few weeks. Please let me know if you can bring in a pumpkin (we will need one of each size—from the palm sized ones to big carving pumpkins). If you would like, you can either donate it to the class (we will need 5 to keep) or take it home at the end of the month. Thank you!

Annual Campaign Update
10 of our families have donated to the annual campaign, bringing us to 40%.
I know we had many more donations last night, so I will have updated numbers soon! If you have not already contributed, please help us be one of the classes to reach 100% and help Odyssey maintain our wonderful programs.

Our inaugural Read-A-Thon is finally ready to "Blast OFF!"
That's our theme: Blast off into Reading.

Your kids will be getting a notice with all the details of the event in their Thursday Packets this week. (If that doesn't make it home, we will have the information on the OCS web site soon too.) The event starts on Monday the 17th.

The basic details are 2 goals for the kids:
Goal: Read an additional 15 minute a day for 12 days (or the little ones can have someone read to them.)
Goal: Raise at least $15 in pledges

Two ways you can help me launch the Read-A-Thon:

1. Friday the 14th, 8:30am
I will be hanging up posters and decorating the school to get us ready to go.
Come by and help if you want. I will do this right after drop off on Friday. Just come by the picnic bench area in the courtyard. It shouldn't take too long. Bring masking or blue tape, if you have it. We can always use more!

2. Monday the 17th, 8:30am
We will have a school wide assembly to launch the event.
Every class will get to count down and blast off their own balloon "rocket."
We welcome all parents to stay after drop off. The kids will come to the field for a quick gathering to get everyone excited and ready to read. If you'd like to help before school getting the rockets ready, let me know or just come by. I'll be on the back field early that morning.

This is a new fundraiser for Odyssey. Your participation is all we need to make it very successful. Thank you!

Rebecca Mercado
elirebecca@aol.com
(310) 869-7283
 

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