Sept 25-29

I am very proud of how well the students handled all of the safety drills we practiced last week.  They were very understanding when they were explained and brave when they practiced.  Of course, we hope we will only ever have to practice these things, but if a situation of any type (weather, fire, intruder) comes up we will be prepared.

Important Dates and Reminders:
9/25: Neon/ Tie Dye Day
9/26: Superhero Day (does not need to be a costume)
9/27:Purple OR Orange and Black Day: Homecoming Parade
9/28: Sports Wear Day
9/29: Kaukauna Wear Day
10/8: Ride to Read
10/17: Heckrodt Field Trip


**Library books need to be returned on Day 5, which is THURSDAY this week!!!!

A few things we could use for the classroom:

• old socks or makeup sponges to use for our dry erase boards
• playing cards
• soap dishes to store cards in
• small portion cups with lids

If you are interested in donating any of these items, please send them to school with your child.  Thanks so much!!

Here is a peek at our week:

Reading: It was very exciting to move into "reading" old favorite storybooks last week.  We were so excited to be able to open these new "gifts" of reading!

One way to support this work at home is by reading stories that are familiar to your child over and over and over again until it becomes a story they can 'read' on their own.   We are continuing our work in storybooks in the classroom as well, trying to say even more on every page to make our words match the text and connecting pages to make our reading sound even more grown up by using phrases like "and then" and "after that."  We will even be looking for and reading words we know and see again and again.


Writing;This week we will be learning to write true stories! This means we will be taking an event from our lives, telling that story and then working to show it in pictures and words across three pages. We will practice this work as a class by writing a few class “true stories” together.  As true story writers we will need to do ALOT of story telling to help us say what happened first, next and last.  We will also use our writing folders to help us generate ideas for our true stories.  We will also work  on showing details in our drawings and will be pushing ourselves to write many letters in words we stretch out.


Math: In math this week our focus will shift from showing number quantity to comparing number quantity.  We will learn about a new math tool called a comparing mat that will help us to distinguish numbers as greater than and less than.  We will also be exploring and classifying shapes.  We will also revisit and practice addition and subtraction and begin working with number formation.  Also, please watch your child's folder this week for a packet of math games to play at home that will reinforce seeing numbers as quantities and taking numbers apart and putting them together.

Social Studies: Check out some photos of our published rules and charts we made to help us really understand the rules!

This week we will learn and practice taking positive  time outs for times we need to refocus our learning and think about the rules.  This is a part of our approach to community and discipline called Responsive Classrom.  Here is the Responsive Classroom definition of time out: Time-out in a Responsive Classroom is a positive, respectful, and supportive teaching strategy used to help a child who is just beginning to lose self-control to regain it so they can do their best learning. An equally important goal of Responsive Classroom time-out is to allow the group’s work to continue when a student is misbehaving or upset. Giving that child some space from the scene of action where they can regroup while still seeing and hearing what the class is doing accomplishes both of these goals.