January 18th, 2011

Dear Parents,
We have another busy week ahead! This week I will be gone again Thursday and Friday for a conference on how to encourage Cognitive Learning. Mrs. Al-Haj will be here again. She did a fantastic job with the students last time and they are excited to have her back! Don’t forget PTL night at Chuck E. Cheese this Thursday, from 3 to 9PM. If any child has a fear of mascots, please let me know ASAP so we can make other accommodations for them when Chuck-E-Cheese visits our room on Thursday. On Saturday at 10AM Zion has a MOM’s Bible study group and they’d love to have more moms!

We are working with “Ss” and “Tt” this week. Try to find things for tomorrow that begin with either one. In Writing Workshop they are learning to put space between words, use capitals at the beginning of sentences, and punctuation at the end. There is still the fast word list in your homework bag. Whenever you have a chance, play games with these. See how many in the first list your child can read quickly. Then have them write them as you say them. Write them on paper or use refrigerator magnets. Just have fun! Go on to the other lists as they are ready. For those who want a challenge I have other lists, so let me know! These words free them up so they don’t have to stretch out every word. Please make sure your child has their homework bag in their backpack every day!

Last week we learned about Jesus disciples. This week our Bible lessons are about Peter and others catching fish, with Jesus’ help, from Luke 5. We’ll learn that Jesus helps us, too, in many ways, and He helps us help each other. Our Bible words to learn are Ephesians 5:20 “Always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Our winter community project is “Pennies for Patients.” Today the students received paper banks to save our coins and bills in to help families dealing with childhood cancer and to help fund research. Noah’s sister from Mrs. Withee’s class is an Honored Hero this year. You can find her picture on the posters in the hall. We will see which classroom can bring in the most, as they find that fun.Next Wednesday the 26th our class will be leading the chapel at 2:15pm. Please join us if you are able!

We will continue to learn about Martin Luther King this week. I have some great simple books about him and the times he lived in. They have been very interested in this. Teaching nonviolence is important at any age and so this seemed a great time to add some lessons on bullying. We have an excellent video series that teaches young children what bullying is and ways to deal with it. Mrs. Withee and I work hard to be vigilant and catch situations that we can turn into learning lessons and keep children happy and safe.

This week we’ll start our water experiments. The children will discover that water flows down and takes the shape of the container it is in. We’ll become water molecules and learn that water can be a solid, liquid, or a gas. We’ll predict which objects will float and which would sink. We’ll freeze water outside and bring it in to watch it melt, adding salt to one to see just why they do that on the streets and sidewalk.

I will not be sending a new math game home this week. Keep playing the new games I’ve put in. The ladder game is great for using numbers up to 20 and seeing the relationships, what is one more or one less. In our lessons we go back to counting, counting, counting! There is a method to all our games. They are learning to internalize combinations, especially combinations up to 6 this week. When they play Collect 10 and Build It they are learning all those ways to make 10. This way they learn to add on quickly and begin to internalize combinations, even if they don’t write these as addition facts yet. When the time comes they will find them so easy because the foundation has been set. We’ll use the abacuses, too. They are measuring and comparing all the time, also. A great time to play thinking games is in the car. Have them add on to a number “6 + 1” or “8 +2.” Or have them use their counting backwards skills. First count backwards from 20 many times. Then have them begin subtracting 1 or 2 from a number “8 – 1” or “10 – 2.” You decide what your child needs practice or is ready for!

Enclosed is a form so you can order the classroom book that our class has been working very hard to create. Every child has written and illustrated a page in the book. They wrote what they want to be when they grow up. It really is a keepsake! Check out the ones from past years outside our classroom. This is the only opportunity to order the book. Please return these by Tuesday, January 26th.

If you need summer daycare, be sure to get your spot. Return that sheet Mrs. Green sent at the beginning of January.

God’s blessings on your week!
Natalie Graumann