January 10th, 2011

Dear Parents,
Time is going by so quickly! The second half of the school year has begun. Report cards will come home in the Monday folders on Jan. 24th. In February we will have conferences with those who want or need one. More on that soon!

*No school this Friday, Jan. 14th for a teacher-in-service or next Monday, Jan. 17th, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The next two weeks we’ll take time to learn about him and the changes that took place in our country due to the Lord working through him and others. I have several wonderful picture books about Martin Luther King Jr. and about a little girl named Ruby Bridges who depended on God to take care of her as she became the first black child in a white school in Atlanta. We emphasize kindness, perseverance, and encouragement with these lessons, remembering that God created all of us! Encouragement is our Christian character trait this month. We’ll learn that God uses us to help each other in many ways, even just with words and actions of encouragement.

Our Bible lessons this week are about Jesus and His disciples. We’ll use a little song to learn their names. The emphasis for the lessons is that God uses ordinary people to share His Word, including us! Our Bible verse is Matthew 4:19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” We get so much wonderful discussion at school when we work on these verses. Our offerings this month will go to Lutheran Women’s Missionary League’s Mission Adventure program. It is a chance for children to help financially to spread the Good News all over the world!

We will really work with numerals 0 through 20 as we measure, add, and count many things and record our work. Many games we’ll play this month involve more and less and comparisons. Encourage writing numbers at home, too. While they do these hands on activities and record their work they are internalizing combinations, what one more or less is, one-to-one correspondence, and many other constants. I’ll be sending some activities home in their homework bags occasionally so watch for anything different. Send the math binder back on Tuesday for a new game. Play the Count to 20 game often, as it is very helpful for them to regularly work with amounts up to 20. Much thinking takes place in that game!

The homework bags are going well. We are getting better at our “fast words” but these are important to get down so we can proceed through those little books at a faster rate. I have put a sheet of our “fast words” in their homework bag along with their new little books. I will try to get new books in their homework bag every other day. Spend a little time having your child read and write these words as quickly as they can. Start with just a few and add more as they get comfortable with them. These words give them power, since they don’t have to stretch out every word they come to and they will have many words they just know. I’m already seeing them in their writing. Many used to write “my” with an “i” and now they get it automatically! Keep writing the little sentences regularly, too, as they help so much!

We are working with “Qq” and “Rr” this week. Since p, q and g are similar we will do some activities that require them to have a strategy for remembering which is which. We’ll even compare them to b and d. They will also learn that u almost always follows q. See if you can find things for the letter show and tell tomorrow – both if you want! These are harder to find things for! Oral language activities are a part of every day. Often we share something with partners, and then tell the class what the other person said. This is harder than it sounds. At first many can only remember what they told their partner! They’re getting quite good at it now, however!

We’re continuing to have fun making and putting up new things to give a winter feel to our room. Check out our marshmallow snowmen in the hall and we’ll soon have winter stories on the bulletin board.

The weather is supposed to be quite cold this week, so please remind them to bring warm mittens, snow pants, hats, etc!

Last week you received January’s book order. Just a reminder that is due this Wednesday, January 12th!

God’s blessings on your week!
Natalie Graumann