Welcome Back

Welcome back from winter break!

I enjoyed seeing the kiddos again and hearing all about their time off of school!

It is always hard to come back to the structure and routine of school after so much time off.  This week has been a bit challenging in regards to behavior, but hopefully now that we are back in the groove next week will be better.  

To help with a smoother week, here are some things we have been working on if you'd like to remind them at home as well:

*Being an active learner--this means participating in discussions rather than staring off into space or just sitting and listening (at least I hope they are listening haha)

*Not "crashing words"--this is what we say when students blurt out and interrupt others who are speaking.  Coach C calls it "word bullies" and he said they had trouble with that in P.E. as well.  We want to make sure we are listening to our teachers and peers and raise our hands/take turns when speaking

Being safe on the playground--lots of tackling/unsafe hands this week, using the slide appropriately (on our bottom and feet first) and lining up as soon as the whistle blows 3 times

A look at our learning this week...

Fundations: we are finished reviewing the correct formation of all uppercase letters.  This means your child should be forming ALL lowercase and uppercase letters correctly every time they write (not just at Fundations time).  

Shared Reading: the children really loved the nursery rhyme we added to our poetry folders this week Baa Baa Black Sheep.  It featured our word wall word yes in it.  We also read a couple fun big books with the words yes and no in them: He Said No and What is at the zoo?

Daily 5:  literacy centers and daily reading groups are back in full swing!  I love this time of the year because reading really starts to "click" with the kiddos and they really start to take off with their skills!  Next week we will begin sending home "reading homework" every Tuesday and Thursday.  This is a way for them to show off to you what they have been reading during their group time.  More information will come home about this on Tuesday.  

Writing Workshop:  they have so many writing topics to keep them busy for weeks thanks to all of the fun they had over winter break!  I enjoy reading the stories they write!  This week we began to focus on putting spaces between our words when we write.  

Math: so many fun, hands on things in math since returning from break!  We have learned about the penny and dime, balancing, weighing and capacity, counting by 10's and a new game called "I Sea Ten" that helps us find ways that make 10 (it is with underwater animals, hence the spelling of "sea").  Check your take home folder for more ways to practice math at home.  

We enjoyed meeting our 3rd grade buddies in Mrs. Freese's class today. We spent some time together today reading and getting to know one another.  We will do things with them throughout the rest of the school year.