Weekly Update

Hi Everyone!

Who's tired?  I'm happy to be back with the kids, happy to be back to a routine, but not so happy to be tired again.  #lovemykeurig

We've had a fairly easy transition back to our school routines and procedures, which is a testament to the character and behavior of your children.  Here's a look at the upcoming week, and some other information for you.  

Odds and Ends:

• Please be sure your child is reading for 20 minutes every night.  Please be sure to talk with your child about what he/she is reading.  Remember...because a child can decode a story doesn't mean he/she can comprehend a story.  Retelling, predicting, and connecting are as important to reading as decoding.
• The weather is getting chilly...I think...or at least it's becoming unpredictable.  Please be sure your child has a heavy coat, hat and gloves everyday for the possibility of outdoor recess.
• With cold weather comes chapped lips.  Feel free to tuck a tube of lip balm into your child's backpack.  I don't let the kids keep lip balm at their desks because it typically becomes a distraction, but we have enough breaks throughout our day that it's very easy for them to grab it from their backpacks, use it, and return it.

Valentine's Day Party:

• Mark your calendar...our classroom Valentine's Day party will be Friday, February 12th from 11:30-12:45.  All families are welcome to attend.  Details and volunteer opportunities will come soon.  Meantime, the kids are welcome to exchange Valentine cards at the party.  It's completely voluntary, and historically, the majority of the class participates.  If your child brings Valentine cards, please be sure he/she has one for every student in the class.  If your child wants to attach a little "something" to his/her Valentine cards, please don't attach candy... little items like pencils, erasers, tattoos, stickers are fine.  I'll send more details and a class roster home in the January 28th Thursday folder.

Book Character Parade:

• If your child attended Kindergarten at Pinebrook, you may remember the Book Character Parade.  We will be having another parade this year; it's scheduled for Thursday, February 4th from 8:15 - 8:45.  Families are welcome to attend.  I sent the information home in yesterday's Thursday folder, including a paper for you to sign and return indicating both your acknowledgement of the event and the book/character your child will portray.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  **Please note that participation is mandatory.**  

Homework Update:

• I have the new homework packet ready to go, and will begin sending it home on Monday, January 11th.  The biggest change is that you'll need to check your child's agenda each week for his/her sight words.  Please log your child's reading and sign his/her agenda while you're checking for sight words.  I am asking the kids to use a computer 2 times per week -- once for Reading and once for Math.  If this is difficult for you to facilitate in any way, please let me know.  We can come up with an alternative.  Please let me know if you have any questions after reading over the packet.

*Word Study / Sound of the Week Update*:

• Beginning next week, we'll be taking an experimental break from Word Study for a few weeks to focus instead on a particular vowel "sound of the week".  Our goal is to focus on both the sound and the correct way to read/spell that sound in our work.  I'm finding that for the majority of students, the work done in Word Study is simply NOT transferring to their writing.  While the theory of Word Study is that the kids will generalize and transfer learned spelling patterns to their everyday writing, the reality seems to be more about rote memorization, which does next to nothing to help them evolve as writers.  I don't know for sure whether Sound of the Week is the answer, but I do know for sure that I'd like to try something different.  If I'm being completely honest, sometimes my head hurts from trying to wrap my brain around some of the Word Study sorts....and then I think, "If my head hurts, and I'm the 41 year old teacher who has seen all these sorts before, how must the 6 year olds and their parents feel?"  That said, please let me know if you have any questions/concerns.  Your child will have a note in his/her agenda each week letting you know the sound of the week.  We'll start by reviewing short vowel sounds so I can get the kids into the routine of sound of the week at school; there won't be any written homework related to sound of the week.

Focus Areas for the Upcoming Week:

• Reading:  We will talk about characters' points-of-view in the stories we read.
• Math:  We will continue our place value unit.
• Writing:  We will continue writing our How-to's, in which we teach our reader to do something.
• Social Studies:  We will finish talking about Maps, and begin talking about the USA.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.  Enjoy the weekend...and sleep in!  :)