Week of August 22-26

*DON'T FORGET PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT IS TUESDAY FROM 6-7PM. WE WILL MEET IN THE CLASSROOM.

Dear Families:
We survived our first week of school! Great job getting your kiddos here on time and with bright smiles on their faces. They were all definitely tired by Friday and this is completely normal. It will take them a few weeks to build up their school stamina!

Every week I try to blog about what we have been doing in class, about some of the things to look for in the next week or so, and how you can support the curriculum at home. I will send out an email letting everyone know when I have updated the blog so you can check it out.

Animated Alphabet - This week your students learned their first two characters:Polly Panda and Uncle Upton. They also learned how to read the words pup, the, and is. Please make sure you are keeping all the character pages as they come home, as well as the sentences/drawings we do in class. You can use these as review all school year and summer.
Also, I hope you found the note yesterday about sending pictures to go along with the A.A. characters. I will talk more about this at parent night on Tuesday.

Handwriting Without Tears - This is the name of our handwriting program. This week we started several activities to prepare students to begin to learn and write their letters. We explored wood pieces and made letter and shapes. We also had students color with crayons. Coloring with crayons is an important developmental tool for building hand strenght. If your child struggles with fine motor skills they should be coloring (with crayons) and cutting at home often to build that hand strength.

Math - In math this week we have been working on number identification, and making groups of numbers. This has been done through math trays, drawing scences (which we are saving to put into a book), and movement.

Here are some important reminders to help you start your year off great:
* Read each night to your child before bed. This is an extremely important habit that should be carried out until they will no longer let you do this (i.e. middle school).
* Remember to send your child's backpack and take-home folder each day.
* Look in the take-home folder each night for their day's work and important notes.
* Grandparent's Day will be Friday, September 9 at 11:10-11:45. If your child's grandparent is unable to make it you may come as their guest, or another family member, or special friend (neighbor). Just make sure you return the note and let us know!
* SCHOOL PICTURES WILL BE MONDAY SEPTEMBER 12! See backpack for a note coming home today!