September+12,+2008

This week has passed so quickly, it hardly seems like Friday. We have made it through our first five-day week. Your children are settling into the school routine easily. You should be very proud of them. You may have noticed your child has been more tired lately. This is all part of the school year adjustment. It is a long day for many of our students.

Your child brought home library books on Wednesday. During the week, please read the books to your child. Reading to your child for about 15 minutes should be a daily event. Research shows that whether a child has been read aloud to on a regular basis is the single biggest predictor of a child's success in learning to read. Designate a good, safe place to keep the library books at home. Returning library books should be a responsibility that your child shares with you. Each time we visit the library, the children check out 2 self-selected books, providing that 2 books are returned from the previous week. Thanks in advance for your support.

The first week on our community snack schedule went well. Thank you for your help in keeping the portions small and the snacks simple. Thank you as well for the paper good donations. We are set for a while. I’ll put out another request when supplies run low. Please know that I appreciate all you do for the classroom.

We have 2 chrysalis left to change. Several butterflies emerged this week. The children are learning about the fall migration of the monarchs. We read a book called, Gotta Go, Gotta Go. Your child should be able to tell you where the monarchs from NH go.

Our classroom discussions are leading to the development of classroom rules. We began by sharing what we hope to do in kindergarten this year. Some children want to paint, work in blocks, learn about animals and the earth,make new friends and learn to read. Others are interested in being outside, studying nature and doing arts and crafts. In order for everyone to get to work and learn, we need classroom guidelines – classroom rules. We will continue the discussion of what we need to do so everyone can work and learn together.

We began to do some work for our project about the Very Hungry Caterpillar. This will be a collaborative project between our class and Mrs. Mason’s classes. First we have to prepare the paper that we will use for the pictures. We used spray starch and tissue paper to create the colored paper we need. More work will continue next week.

It is very important that you let us know your child’s drink and lunch choices for the week. The children do not remember to tell us. We need the written record. Some children have not had a lunch ordered because we did not know about the request.

=****Kindergarten News****=