Important Dates
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Sept. 13 — PFA meeting 3pm
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Sept. 14 — Parent Volunteer Training Workshop 6-7:30pm
- Childcare available!
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Sept. 16 — Picture Day
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Sept. 19 — Scholastic Book Orders Due for Ms. Wendy’s Class
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Sept. 19 — SCOPE 2:45pm Rm 26
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Sept. 23 — Dinner and Movie Night
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Sept. 29 —
NO SCHOOL
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Oct. 4 —
Coffee with Dena 8:20am
Picture Day Friday
Picture Day is this Friday, Sept. 16th! Everyone should have received packets to select their desired photo packages (please ask your teacher if you didn’t receive one). Please make out all checks to “Lifetouch Photography.” Remember that all forms must be filled out and money is due on the day of picture-taking—this Friday, September 16th.
Book Orders DUE
Scholastic Book Orders are due back at school for Ms. Wendy’s class
THIS MONDAY,
September 19th . Any questions, please contact Jennifer Blair at JenniferBlair3@gmail.com.
Teacher News
Lots to Learn!!!
Ms. Wendy and Ms. Jennifer enjoyed talking with everyone at Back to School Night last week!!! We hope all your questions were answered; if not, please either email or call your teacher to have specific questions answered. (Please see back for a re-cap!)
We are continuing our science unit, “Structures of Life,” in which we are comparing and contrasting plant life and animal life. We have been investigating seeds, both in class and in the garden. We observed celery roots, plum and peach seeds, and noted the differences between them. Pretty soon, we will be getting live crayfish in our classrooms which will be very exciting to watch!!!
It’s important to learn how to get along with each other, and so we are expanding upon our “Cool Tools” strategies every day. These “tools” help our children make good choices socially, both inside and outside of the classroom, thus creating a cohesive learning environment on our campus. While everyone gets to know one another, the teachers will also continue their assessments, so that our classrooms can be geared towards meeting the needs of our particular group of students this year.
The teachers look forward to seeing you every week inside our classrooms!
Back to School Night RECAP!
For anyone who was unable to attend Back to School Night, and also for a review of important points, we present for you here a “recap” of Ms. Wendy’s and Ms. Jennifer’s joint presentation.
Regarding classroom instruction, our children are learning something called the “Language of the Discipline” which has them looking for patterns across subject matters, trends, and details as they write (a flower motif is used, containing the main theme inside it and the details of what happened on each petal, as an organizing method for thoughts and written essays). Right now, they are learning how to write “friendly letters” and it would be great to practice letter writing at home by sending letters to faraway friends or relatives.
The children are just starting to do centers and you might see work come home with a slip on top indicating if your child was on task “usually,” “sometimes” or “seldom.” The teachers want you to know, the children are just beginning to understand what the expectations are and so it’s OK if it says “seldom” on task right now—they are working things through and learning how to be accountable and independent and this takes time. The children move around and work in centers (which parents help at) while teachers work with small groups.
In math, we are using the Everyday Math curriculum and it’s a “spiraling program” meaning, each project/task/unit builds upon the one before it. Everyday Math is very hands-on and is congruent with the philosophy that we uphold here at OCLM. You will see these math worksheets come home for homework sometimes—please take time to read the family letters and do the activities described.
Homework: Homework comes home on Monday and gets handed back in on Monday. Please make sure you fill out the Homework Log. What should the teacher see on there? Every night you should indicate that there was at least 20minutes of reading done. Indicate if a worksheet was done or how your child worked on the spelling words for that night (child can choose different activities from the spelling menu). Whatever your child worked on for homework, you will list on that night of the Homework Log. Homework should NOT be “all finished” in one night. There is something called “space separation” when it comes to learning—it’s best to do a little bit each night rather than do it all in one hour one night because the brain absorbs better through the repetition of a bit each night. The log can also be used to let the teacher know if something was too easy or too hard—since a lot of our homework (spelling words, readers through book bags) is individualized, it would be great for the teachers to know this feedback so they can best meet your child’s needs.
There are great Math Games Ms. Jennifer showed us at Back to School Night which can help your child learn—please play these games with your child as much as possible. Also, Ms. Wendy mentioned that if your child can practice “time telling” on an “analog clock” instead of a “digital clock,” that would be best. The children are still learning, for example, what “quarter past the hour” is and what it really means for it to be “2 minutes to the hour,” and an analog clock is best for teaching these things. Remember too, when cooking, there are fractions to be used and also in “real life” too, as we eat pizza, pies, etc. Use these teachable moments to reinforce concepts.
Math Game #1: Addition Top-It
You need a deck of cards. Each person gets 2 cards: 10+10=20 > 1+10=11
Person with greater equation takes the cards, like the game of “War.”
Math Game #2: Bag of Coins
Have a bag of different coins. Get a die and put stickers on it to reflect 1c, 5c, 10c, 25c:
Roll the die, give out that amount. When you have 5 pennies, you can “exchange” for a nickel. Also, have the child put coins in piles of greatest to least.
Math Game #3: 20 Pennies & A Paper Plate
Turn paper plate upside down. Some pennies on top, some underneath. How many are underneath? Child can X off on a chart (how many groups of 5 are in 20?) to help him/her:
Coming Home Soon: Book Bags containing reader books individualized for your child—to be read at your child’s pace and not due back each week, only when finished. Also, Communicators will be coming home soon too, in which your child writes what happened in his/her day and you can also write to the teacher.
Any questions? Please contact the teachers.