March 24, 2013

Our Special Friday
The children, Mrs. Lamphere and I had a fun Friday when we celebrated our excellent behavior.  We brought stuffed animals, wore our pajamas, watched "The Love Bug" and ate popcorn.  We also began our newest behavior beehive.  We will be deciding soon what we will earn when we fill our next beehive.

Friday Social Skills Time
We have been working on some social skills challenges in our classroom and have a new strategy for addressing these worries.  On Friday mornings from 10:30 - 11:00 Lorraine Sylvain (Ms. L to the children), one of our behavior interventionists, will be co-teaching with me.  She and I will be working with the girls on using kind words, bossing yourself and not others and being inclusive.  We will also be practicing how to share our feelings with our friends in a positive way.

At the same time, the boys will be outdoors with Mrs. Lamphere and one of our fabulous parent volunteers.  They will work on turn taking and safe ways to play on the playground.  We hope this will help improve how everyone problem solves and gets along.

Boots and Snow pants
Please continue to send boots and snow pants for your children.  The playground will be REALLY muddy this week!

People of the Week
Every week two people from our classroom are our "People of the Week".  They have a special responsibility each day.  This is a fun way for everyone to get to know one another better.  If you are unable to participate, it is not a problem.  The schedule and responsibilities are listed below.  If I have chosen an inconvenient week, please let me know.

Monday:  Share some family photos.  (If you would prefer to email them to me, that is fine. They can also be prints that we can project using our document camera.)
Tuesday:   Show us a favorite toy.  (It must be non-violent and silent.)
Wednesday:  Bring in a favorite story.  (A story that can be read in one sitting.  No chapter books please.)
Thursday:  Fill our estimating jar.  (Our estimating jar is a one quart glass jar.  Be creative.  Legos, shells, marshmallows, hair ties, etc.)  Send the items in a bag and we will fill the jar in the classroom.  Your items will be returned to you unless you tell me otherwise.  Please make sure there are fewer than 100 items.  
Friday:  Bring a healthy snack to share with the class.  Please try to avoid red dye as a student is allergic.  

March 25 - 29:  Aidan and Brianne
April 1 - April 5:  Alexia and Bryleigh
April 8 - 12:  Isabelle and Devin
April 15 - 19:  Arianna and Gabe
April 22 - 25:  School Vacation Week
April 29 - May 3:  Mrs. Lamphere and Sam
May 6 - 10:  Gavin and Jazmyn
May 13 - 17:  Kaitlyn and Olivia
May 20 - 24:  Lucian and Paige
May 28 - May 31:  Rayne and Matthew and Neveah (No school Monday.  Photos AND toys on Tuesday)
June 3 - 7:  Ms. Kittell and Izabelle

Literacy:  We will finish our unit on "Wheels Go Around" this week then we will begin our "Spring is Here!" unit.  We are reviewing the sounds of /d/ and /z/.  We are practicing telling the difference between b, d, p and q.  We are also working with the short i word families (ex. big, rig, fig;  hit, sit, fit).  Sight words include 'for' and 'have'.  

Science:  This week we did some experiments involving two wooden blocks, a dry erase board and a small car.  The children worked with a partner and tried different set ups to see what arrangement would make the car go the furthest.  On the second day, they rebuilt their ideas and sketched them in their Science Notebooks.

Math:  We continue solving problems in our Math Notebooks.  We are also working on understanding the numbers 0 - 20 by using "Tens Frames" to help us visualize fives and tens.  

Coming Events:

Monday, March 25:  Library today.  Please return your library book so you can get a new one.  (Mrs. Maurer AM/Mrs. Eddy PM)
Tuesday, March 26:  Art today. (Mrs. Maurer all day)
Wednesday, March 27:  PE today.  Please wear your sneakers. (Mrs. Eddy all day)
Thursday, March 28:  Assembly today at 1:30 for grades K - 4.  Music today. (Mrs. Maurer AM/Mrs. Eddy PM)
Friday, March 29:  PE today.  Please wear your sneakers. (Mrs. Maurer all day)

Tuesday, April 2:  The School Board and our superintendent, Dr. Barone, have scheduled a Community Forum on the 2013 - 2014 budget.  It will be held in the library at Milton High School.  This will be an opportunity for community members to give input as to why the FY 14 Budget went down on March 5th and to give in- put/recommendations on how to move forward with another budget vote.