January 6, 2013
Dear Parents,
The shortened week back last week was a great way to get back in the swing of things. The children were very happy to see their friends in class and share what they did over their holiday break. However, we had many children out with the cold and flu. I wish everyone a speedy recovery. I thank you all for taking such good care of your children. This is a hard time of year; several viruses appear to be circulating in the classroom. If in doubt it is best to keep your child home, young children have difficulty sharing toys and belongings; however they are very free in sharing their germs!
This week we will be taking advantage of the warm up in the weather and go outside. Tomorrow, Tuesday, January 8th, we will have our first official outside day. PLEASE help prepare your child for this day by sending him/her to school with the proper outside apparel-winter boots, jacket, hat, mittens/gloves, and snow pants. Children who do not have the proper clothing will not be allowed to go out. The children are VERY excited about this new addition to our daily schedule; hopefully all will be able to participate. We are looking forward to snow angels, building, climbing, running and having fun!!!
We have many activities planned around the theme of snow this week. We will be building play dough snowman in the classroom and comparing their heights, creating shiny icicles and once done we will be ordering these icicles by length. Our science experiment will look at how clean snow really is. Have you ever told your child “don’t eat that snow?” Hopefully by Friday they will be able to tell you how clean the snow is and much more!
Have a great week and enjoy the break in the weather,
Jenny Smith
January 2, 2013
Dear Families;
Welcome Back and Happy New Year to all! After a long and snowy vacation the children are ready for new adventures in reading, writing, and math as well as playing with friends in school!!! They have grown by leaps and bounds the past several months and are ready for the challenges that they will see in the next several weeks.
Most children are now able to spell their names as well as their friends in class names when they see their name cards. We have started to clap out syllables in each student’s names, and rhyming has become an everyday occurrence during circle time and mealtime. During writing time children will be adding more details to drawings and stories and you will start to see more labeling of pictures.
A new routine that will be added this month will be morning math when arriving in the classroom the children are very familiar writing their name in various ways; however they will now have a new aspect added to this routine. Every student will now write his/her name on a sheet of paper, then they will count the number of letters in their name and then use unfix cubes to represent the number. They will then draw the number of cubes on their paper.
This month we are starting an in depth study of hibernation. The main focus of this study will be bears; however we will look at other animals that also hibernate as well. We will read lots of non-fiction books to get more information on these animals. We will supplement these books with stories from fiction books.
As you know, we go outside to play whenever the opportunity presents itself. The temperature must be twenty degrees or above even with the wind chill for us to go outside to play. Please be sure your child wears or brings the following items to school when it snows: boots, snow pants or a snowsuit, coat, gloves or mittens, a hat and a scarf. Please note, if your child wears snow boots to school, they must bring shoes or sneakers to change into. Snow boots are not allowed in the classroom. Please continue to help your child with self help skills this month, learning how to put on, and take off their own outer wear, zip and button, makes them feel so proud.
Have a great week-it’s a short one!
Jenny Smith