February 26, 2009

Next week is “I Love to Read” week. I am planning lots of fun activities based on our favorite Dr. Seuss books!!

Today I am sending home the printout report of the mid year PAS Predictive Assessment Series) test that was recently given to your child. Below are some examples of what each skill assesses:


Consonant ¬ ³House, which of the following begins with the same sound as house? Pencil, kite, or hear²

Vowel ¬ ³Find the picture that has the sound /e/ as in see. bend, van, peach.²
Phoneme ¬ ³Find the picture of the word that rhymes with lake: fountain, car, bake.²
Letters ¬ ³Find the lowercase letter, F V g²
Syllable ¬ ³Find the word bad: sit, bag, bad²
Vocabulary ¬ ³Find the picture that shows the sock under the bed.²
L: Main Idea ¬ ³What is this story about?²
L: Story Elements ¬ ³In this story, where does the family live?²
L: Strategy ¬ ³The writer wanted us to learn ________________ from this
story.²

Spring is in the Air!!! Actually, Spring has arrived in our classroom a bit early. This is the time each year when I have to have a ‘boy – girl’ talk with the class. There is lots of giggling and talking about body parts, etc. The choice activity on the playground becomes chasing! I don’t allow chasing for the following reasons – when they try to ‘catch’, someone usually gets hurt or something gets torn. Running together is fine, as long as they don’t try to ‘catch’ someone!  Another problem right now is clothing with my little girls. We spend time each day sitting criss-cross on the carpet. It seems that our pants styles are not meeting the end of the shirt. Things are being exposed that should NOT be!!! The little boys are having a hard time not noticing this. I am having to call down someone daily for pointing out or giggling at a little girl’s ‘gap’ between the bottom of her shirt and the top of her pants. Check at home to see if, when seated on the floor, if their shirts cover ALL skin!!!

March 18th – OUR NEXT ½ DAY: This time AM students do NOT come to school but PM comes as usual.

SKIP COUNTING GUIDE: I am having a number of parents asking for tips on counting by 2’s. See if this helps – this is how I demonstrate at school!

The children need to count by 2's to 20 - but quickly. They cannot obviously be counting the odd numbers in their head. Have them practice this:
2
4
6
8
0

Write these numbers like this (vertical). Have them say 2-4-6-8-10 over and over quickly til they have that memorized. When they gets to the zero that’s 10, they holds up one finger (for 1 ten). We repeat this at school: (like a cheer)
2-4-6-8-10
Now go back and say it again!
Have them say this until they have the pattern down, then go on to 20!
Then show them how if they just put a 1 in front of each number is makes 12-14-16-18-then the zero becomes the next 10 . . . 20! (Pop up the second finger for 20). Then they can do the 20's - (which will be easy - 22, 24 26 28, then bingo - third finger is . . . 30). Then do 30's. They only have to count by 2's to 20 but if they can truly get to 20 and understand the pattern, they can go all the way to 100! If they lose their place in the tens, when they pop up the next number, count their fingers by 10!
MONEY: Here are the rhymes I am teaching to help the children learn the money names and values. Please be practicing at home!
Penny, penny, easily spent -- Coppery brown and worth 1 cent!
Nickel, nickel, thick and fat -- You’re worth 5 cents, I know that!
Dime, dime, little and thin -- I remember, you’re worth ten!
Quarter quarter, big and bold -- You’re worth 25 cents I’m told!


HOME VISTS/Conferences – By the end of this week, I will have met with parents of each child at LEAST one time. At this point, I will only schedule conferences if needed or if requested. If you would like to meet with me, just send me a note to school in your child’s folder or send an e-mail! cjlray@gmail.com
PARENT VOLUNTEERS: We are experiencing technical difficulties with our volunteers. Things beyond our control have caused some parents to either have to change their schedules or not be as consistent with volunteering in the classroom. I totally understand that things come up. I appreciate all the wonderful help that I receive. I depend on my parent volunteers to check homework daily and maintain the independent book check-out system. If I do not have volunteers, the books will not go home and the homework may not be checked.
Currently in AM, I have regular volunteers on Mon. Tue. and Wednesday. I have no one on Thursday or Friday for the time being.
In PM, I have moms on Tuesday, and Thursday. I have floating moms that may come on Monday or Wednesday.
If anyone is able to fill in the gaps, let me know. You will need to fill out the volunteer papers and get trained.
SPRING MUSIC PROGRAM: Mrs. Dolive, our music teacher is preparing the children for our program for parents on Thursday night, March 19. Please make plans now to be here that night. Our scheduled times are 5:30 – 5:50 for AM and 6:10 – 6:30 for PM classes.