Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe that we are half-way through the school year! I hope that everyone had a blessed Christmas this year and enjoyed some down-time with your families.  As I write this, it occurs to me that I did not post once during the month of December! So sorry! Hopefully that's just proof of how busy we all were- including our class at school.  The CASA Christmas program and brunch were wonderful as well as our fun-filled Christmas party, Polar-Express watching, field-trip going, and craft making days!

Now that January is upon us- we are cracking down! Ha- not too much, but I do always feel like the months from January through about Spring Break are the least busy, therefore a time of real academic growth in all students.  I began doing running records on all the children last week.  This is where I read individually with each child to see where they are in the reading process.  At this point, each child is at the emergent level, meaning that they are using picture clues to understand what is happening in the story, reading some sight words, and recognizing patterns in the writing.  This week, I will be sending home a beginner level book along with a letter with reading information and a reading log home with your child.  This is purely introductory and is by no means intended to cause you or your child stress! The children usually get very excited about having their own book to read.  These do not have to be returned every day, but at least once a week.  Once they return it, they will get a new one to take home.  Each child will progress at their own levels, often memorizing the stories in the beginning, which is also completely fine!  The letter that will come home will explain more, but as always, please let me know if you have questions!

 We began our unit on Winter last week and will continue that this week, followed by our unit on Nursery Rhymes after that.  We will be learning about time, money, as well as skills in addition and subtraction this month.  In writing, I am encouraging the kids to write one complete sentence in their journals each day as we also discuss capitalization and punctuation.  The sight words that are being introduced each day are also very helpful when writing, as they are posted on the Word Wall in our classroom.

I will do assessments again in February, but will not do conferences again until the end of the year.  If you feel that one is needed though, I am more than happy to meet with you!

Oh- and one quick reminder... it seems as though several in the class have been bringing toys to school lately.  This is really against CASA policy and tends to become an issue when the toys are pulled out.  This includes dress-up attire as well.  If your child wants to bring a ball to play with on the playground, that is fine as long as it stays in the backpack until the end of the day.  Also I don't have a problem with a comfort-type lovie if they need that. When your child is the Star Student, they may bring their show-and-tell on one day during that week, but that is really the only exception.  Thanks for helping me out on that!

May God bless you all today and always!