Family Newsletter

Dear Families,

It was great to meet with you last week and the week prior during our conferences. Many of you expressed an interest in sight words so I included some sigh word lists inside your child's Friday folder this week.  Next week, I will send home some of these words inside short phrases so your child can practice these words in a different way too.  We started practicing sight words and high frequency words at school last week and the students love this practice.  They all have small word booklets in their book boxes and practice finding these words in word hunts and word graphs as well.  Your child also brought home a reading game called "Reado" this week as well.  It is completely voluntary, of course, but I hope this game will create opportunities for you and your child to enjoy literature together in a new, interactive and fun way.

Reading and Book bags:
Thank you for reading with your child at home.  The students are very proud handing in their logs on Fridays.  I wanted to remind you to talk to your child regarding the book bags.  If your child prefers to read books from home, he/she does not have to pack books from school.  Please remind your child to tell me or Ms. Kendal.

Writing:
The students are working hard in writing.  They are currently learning about how to create interesting beginnings to their stories.  Last week, for example, we learned how we can use different sentence starters to get us going in writing.  The students practiced using phrases like "One day..., " "Not so long ago...", and "Last week..." to name just a few.  Next week, the students will learn how we can use words and pictures to write about the setting.

Technology:
The students continued "traveling" around the world using google earth and geotracker last week as well.  Mrs. Pius joined our class.  The students created dot-to-dot continents, then used the chromebooks to go on a world-wide scavenger hunt.  Ask your child to explain what the Golden Gate Bridge or the Eiffel Tower looks like!

Reading Buddies:
Our Kindergarten reading buddies in Ms. Davison's class joined us in our classroom last week.  What a treat!

ABS Buzzy Celebration:
The students at ABS filled the BeeHive again.  This time, we celebrated with a pumpkin decorating competition.  The students in our class voted to make a bee, showing our school mascot.  We won!!!!

Here it is and some of the other entries:

Harvest Soup:
ABS celebrated Harvest Soup last week as well!  We had a wonderful time eating lunch together, listening to Mr. Bolger and Mr Andrew play music while also saying hello to some local police officers.

Have a great weekend.

Best,
Maria