1. Week of: September 21 st – September 25 th News to Know LUNCH BOXES: The office has requested that all lunchboxes that are brought to school be labeled. Occasionally, lunch boxes get misplaced and labeling will ensure a quick and efficient recovery. DAILY 5: Over the next few weeks, the class and I are going to walk through each Daily 5 station and what is expected of them. This week we started with the “Read to Self” station and the “3 Ways to Read a Book”. Ask your child about these stations to keep them fresh in their minds. KRT: If you remember, over the summer your child took a Kindergarten Readiness Test at Hatch School. Results for that test will be sent home next week. If you have any questions about the results, please let me know. PICTURE FORMS: Picture day is coming up, that means picture forms will be coming home soon. When you pick the package that you want, you can send the form back to school. There is no need to wait until October 5 th to return the forms. LIBRARY: Please remember that we go to the Holmes Library every Thursday. Please help your child remember their books. Rowdy Readers STANDARDS: This week we worked on the major parts or a book, but not the physical parts. We started our work on the characters, settings and major events of a story. We also started discussions and activities about the difference between fiction and nonfiction text. Some of the books that helped us out this week were: Jazz Baby, Jazz Baby Made From Clay The Best Story The Clever Turtle Chrysanthemum I Measure Myself SIGHT WORDS: We added the new sight word “am” this week. We used it in our journals and found it in many texts. Our sight word list is now up to 3: “I”, “can” and “am”. We will continue adding about 1 word per week. LETTERS and SOUNDS: We completed our mini lessons this week for the alphabet as we designated a motion for each letter/sound. Ask your child if they can remember each motion! Math Madness This week we finished up our work with basic shapes. Students we assessed on shape recognition and their ability to find shapes in real life settings. We then transitioned to working on position words: above, beneath, next to, on, between and in front of. We made books, worked on the playground and used Pete the Cat to help us with these words. Upcoming Dates Friday, September 25 th : Al Fresco Friday Monday, September 28 th : Mr. Dolan’s birthday! Tuesday, September 29 th : Tara Rezai’s birthday! Friday, October 2 nd : Meeko Comer birthday! Friday, October 2 nd : Mira Kaftanowicz’s birthday! Monday, October 5 th : Picture Day Wednesday, October 7 th : Walk to School Day Get to Know Your Child’s Teacher! As I mentioned earlier this week, my wife, Emilie, and I are expecting our first child! Her due date is February 10 th (the 100 th day of school). After the baby is born I will be taking a VERY short paternity leave to spend time with Emilie and our newborn child. During my absence, I will be in close contact with my substitute to ensure that our class routines/procedures are followed and that the Holmes School kindergarten curriculum is followed. We will be finding out over the weekend if we are expecting a baby boy or a baby girl! I will make sure to share with the class on Monday morning.