January Updates

Howdy Cowpokes' Parents!

This month has come and gone so quickly!  We have had a very productive month.  I finished reading assessments and I am so thrilled with the progress I'm seeing in the kids.  Thank you so much to each of you for being involved with your child's education, and for taking the time to read with him/her each night.  Your dedication and child's hard work is really paying off.  In guided reading groups we are reviewing reading strategies like looking at the picture cues, getting your mouth ready with the first sound, skipping the word and coming back to it, and thinking about what would make sense.  I noticed during assessements that while reading words is becoming an easier task, comprehension is still lacking.  (Remember, it doesn't matter if you can read the words if you can't understand what they mean!)  As you're reading with your child, make sure you're talking about the story.  We're working a lot this month on story elements like characters, setting, problem, and solution.  These lead to great discussions about the book and help build comprehension.  

Our kids are doing a great job recognizing shapes around them including circles, rectangles, squares, and rombuses (rombi? LOL).  They are also able to identify 3-D shapes including spheres, cubes, rectangular prisms, cylinders, and cones.  Next week we will start to identify and count like coins. 

Next week we will celebrate the 100th Day of School on Thursday, February 3rd!  If you have any 100 piece puzzles that you would be willing to let us borrow (not keep) please send them in on Wednesday, February 2nd.  I will send them home after school on Thursday.  I would also like have the students bring in sets of 100 to sort.  It would be best if their items could fit in a small ziplock bag. 

Notices & reminders....
--Don't forget to put your child's name on all of their winter items like hats, gloves, coats, and scarves.  Our lost and found grows larger every day!
--Please be sure to be initialling your child's RED folder every night, as well as emptying it's content.  Also, Thursday folders should be returned signed and empty.

Happy trails! :o)
Mrs. Chamberlain