Family Newsletter

Dear Families,

Here is our week in review:

Social-Emotional Learning:

• This week, the students participated in another restorative circle.  Restorative circles are times when all students have an opportunity to share their feelings and ideas.  They are learning the routines and structures of our circles and they are doing an outstanding job.  Ask your child to explain our center-pieces, the importance of the talking piece and how the zones of regulation help us get ready for circles.

• This week, the students learned about feelings.  They learned that all people experience different feelings. Sometimes those feelings are conflicting and they differ between people.  People can react and experience the same situations differently. We read the book “A Little Spot of Feelings” by Diane Alber to learn more.  The students had the opportunity to act out different feelings and be “emotion detectives” to figure out what feelings their friends acted out.  The students learned that facial expressions, body language and tone of voice/volume give us clues.  They also learned that we can show empathy and kindness by anticipating other people’s feelings by adjusting how we interact and act in any given situation.

You Can: 

• You can support your child’s emerging understanding of different emotions at home by encouraging your child to name his/her emotions.  Having the ability to label one’s emotions allows young children  to start understanding what they are feeling and why they are feeling that way, which helps them make more responsible decisions in managing those emotions.  Encourage your child to use nuanced words.  For example, if your child says “I am mad” encourage your child to use more descriptive adjectives such as frustrated, furious, agitated, irritated or angry. Young children do not have the vocabulary yet to describe and label their emotions so explicit instruction, patience and time must be given to our young learners as they start to learn these social-emotional skills.  Always validate your child’s emotions and help your child name them.  Share your own too.  Young learners benefit from seeing the trusted adults around them model the same social language and expectations.

Reading:

• This week, the students used their chromebooks to access Lexia, our online reading program.  Lexia provides opportunities for students to practice high frequency words, phonics, fluency, and reading comprehension.  Your child has an informational sheet on how to access Lexia from home with passwords/usernames.  Please keep this log-in information in a safe place at home for continued home access.  Thank you.

• The students applied decoding skills to short CVC words this week.  With guided help and practice, the students learned to track letters and print to sound out the corresponding sounds to read shorter words and texts.  Some of these texts will come home next week. 

You can:

• You can support your child’s reading at home by reading out loud every day.  Research shows that when emerging readers hear fluent reading and practice matching sounds to text, they make powerful connections for future reading success. Please consider helping your child log into Lexia at home too.  10-15 minutes/session is all that is needed.  Have fun reading at home!

Writing:

• In our word study/ Fundations classes, the students have continued to work on phonological awareness skills and learning to blend sounds together.  This week, they practiced using multi-sensory tools to blend 3 letter sounds together.  They even blended some 4 letter sounds together.

• This week, first graders continued to practice letter writing and matching the sounds they hear to each letter correctly. In first grade, we integrate phonics instruction along with phonological awareness skills and penmanship practice.  Our curriculum is called Fundations.  We do not send home spelling lists, but you will receive some practice pages along with periodic parent letters in your child’s Home Folders (this week’s folder contains the first parent letter).  This week, we are also sending home some letter formation guides.  These are just extra resources for you to have at home and not intended as “homework”.

You Can:

•  In first grade, one of the expectations in writing will be to adhere to lower case writing and save the upper case letters for the beginning of sentences, names and places. You can encourage lower case writing at home too!

Math:

• You can support your child’s subitizing skills and strategies at home by encouraging your child to group objects into smaller groups for more efficient counting.  How about taking a handful (or two) of legos and instead of counting them by ones to find the total, encourage your child to group them before counting?  How about using dice and looking at each side.  Can your child quickly identify the pattern represented for the number 5?  Can that pattern of dots be replicated and found in a larger group of objects?  

• You can support your child’s learning about the importance of having a growth mindset by supporting your child when a specific task feels challenging.  Rather than giving up and immediately stepping in as a parent to help/solve the perceived problem (within reason, of course, always considering the situation and their young developmental age), ask your child what can be done.  Can another solution be attempted?  How about taking a quick break before continuing?  How about taking some deep breaths first and then trying again?  It can be difficult as a parent to give your child the time to figure things out by themselves, but they are very capable of showing these strategies in our classroom.  Practicing and experiencing a little frustration and then overcoming that to return to the task at hand leads to self-confidence, resilience and perseverance. Praise them for having a growth mindset and for showing effort.  

News and Reminders:

• We started extra PE this week.  For the next 4 weeks, our class will have an additional PE class on Thursdays as part of a school-wide rotation schedule.

• Our ABS Open House is on 10/1 between 6-7pm.  ABS will host a school-wide scavenger hunt so please keep that night open for some socializing at ABS!

Have a great weekend,

Maria