The week of October 3-7.

I hope everyone enjoyed some extra rest over the long break!  I was able to get back to my healthy self with the extra days!  The kids seemed all rested too!  We had a great day of learning!  This is a long blog, so I hope you find time to read it!  Lots of information!

I had 100% come to conferences Wednesday!  Thank you so much for taking off work and/or time out of your day to visit with me about your wonderful child!  Working together we will be able to get your child ready for first grade by the end of the year!  If you ever have any questions about how your child is doing or what they could work on, please shoot me an email.

I spoke to you all about our new "school/home" program called Istation.  I hope you were all able to get your child on it over the break.  I believe there were a few of you that I didn't mention about how many minutes I would like for them to get on it at home.  I would like them to be on it 40-60 min. That's only 10 min. a day or 15 min. for 4 days.  If you make it a routine to get on Istation before getting on other games or watching tv, they will have their time quickly!  It will really help with their phonics (using sounds to make words) and reading!  I plan on trying to give out certificates, but need to figure it all out first.  I will let you know more about that later.

2nd quarter sight word flashcards.  These came home in their folders today.  Please check their backpack if they are not in there.  We had our first 2nd quarter word today:  for.

Spelling City.  This is a game that I put on the sidebar of my Blog.  It has first and second quarter words on it to play games to make learning them fun!  If you click on the "play games" button, your child can play many games.  Then, click on the "free" button on the side so they can play free games.  You will want to play around with these games first and it would be good to have a list of the 1st and 2nd words handy to look at.  I have attached a list with both quarters on it.

Other games on the Blog.  Two more great learning games for your child to play after finishing Istation are:  "Starfall" and "ABCya".  They are also on my Blog sidebar to go to.  They both have math components.

Apple Day!  Please remember to send in one red apple per person by Friday. Thank you!

Reading this week!
Theme story:  Building Buddy!  The kids will do a retelling test over this story next week.  We will be talking about the 5 finger retell:  1. characters in the story  2.  the setting (where and time)  3.  what happened in the beginning  4.  what happened in the middle  5.  what happened at the end
It would be great comprehension practice if you also do the 5 finger retell at home after reading a book with your child!  Don't forget to review the "Parts of a book" when you read to your child.  We are working on the author, illustrator, and publisher jobs, and pointing to the title and illustration. 

Vocabulary:  positive, special, bone

Phoneme blending:  We will use the "body walk" when sounding out words.  We will touch our head with the first sound "c", touch our shoulders with the 2nd sound "a", and touch our waist with the third sound "t" and then blend it to say "cat".  You will see your child doing this more when sounding out cvc (consonant-vowel-consonant) words.

Letter of the week:  short a (make an alligator action with sound)
sight words:  was, for, see (not a required sight word, but good to know!)  We just learned the rhyme today:  when 2 vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.  We will say this when we see two vowels together like "ee" in see.

Color of the week:  Brown  (Brown day will be Thursday instead of Wednesday since we have school pictures Wednesday.)  So, the color snack will also be on Thursday!

Math this week!
Topic 3  Six to Ten~ We are reading, counting, and writing 6-10.

Math packet.  You will find a math packet in the folder today over the numbers 6-10.  Please watch how your child is writing the numbers.  They really need the practice, but if it's not written correctly, then it will take longer for them to write.  To make an 8- make and "S" and go back home.  To make a 9-- make a "c", go back up, and big line down.  Return by next Monday or when done!

Coming up!

Wed., Oct. 5             Student pictures today!

Thurs., Oct. 6           Wear Brown today!, Skating Party  6-8 pm

Fri., Oct. 7                Apple Day!, Mother/son Glow Party @ 6:30, Urban Air
Wed. Oct. 12            Wear black today!
Wed., Oct. 12           Party Coordinator Meeting for those leading parties, 6:30 in cafeteria
Thurs., Oct. 13         Party Coord. Meeting if you couldn't attend last night, 9:00 am in cafe
Fri.  Oct. 14              NO SCHOOL- 1/2 inservice, 1/2 workday for gradecards
Mon. Oct. 17            NO SCHOOL- inservice day
Wed., Oct. 19           Wear white  today!
Thurs. Oct. 26          Wear orange today!
Fri., Oct. 28              Author visit--1:00-1:30 (bring your child if you'd like)
Mon. Oct. 31            Halloween Party!  Bring costumes to school and we will change at 10:30.                                       We will parade through KDG rooms at 10:45.