Wednesday!

Another busy day!
Today we added the sound for 'h'.  Check to see if you child can show you the action, tell you the sound and print you both the upper and lowercase letter.  Remember, letters start at the top!

Homework:  For most of your children, it's reading My Yellow Book 3x.  A few have both the Red and Yellow book as they weren't finished their red books yesterday.  Really try to practice these little reading books as it helps to foster sight word recognition and left to right reading and writing.  Note that your children are trying to spell the words themselves!  I am proud of their attempts!

The students had both Health and Library today with Mrs. Hunter so most have library books.  If they did not receive a book, their books must be overdue.  I'll note this in the agenda tomorrow.

PRACTICE THOSE APPLE WORDS!!!!!!!!

Tuesday Update

Today we reviewed the letter sounds of 'a, s, t, p, i, n, c, k,' and introduced 'e'.  Review these sounds at home as well.  They should be able to tell you the letters and sounds.  If not, practice these often so your child doesn't fall behind.  We will move quickly past letter review and into vowels, blends, etc.

I hope you are having fun with the book bags.  Thank you for noting in the agendas items that are damaged or need replacing.  I appreciate the good care taken with the bags.  After Thanksgiving we will begin our actual Home Reading Program.

Printing - we are focusing on a few key printing skills and you can help reinforce this at home.

1.  Pencil grip - old habits are hard to break but the correct pencil/crayon grip is:  pencil pinched between the tips of the thumb and first finger with the other fingers underneath supporting the pencil.  Please correct your child's grip if they are 'finger wrapping' (not holding the pencil with the tips of the finger). 
2.  Letters start at the top!  We will begin really focusing on the correct formation of letters in your child's name so....... time to break the old habits!  ALL letters start at the top!   The only exception is lowercase 'e'.  We teach this letter by:  start in the middle, bat the ball out straight, run around the bases almost back to home.  Get your child to show you!

Apple Words
I was very pleased to see that all the Apple words were out of the agendas!  I assume this means they made it home.  Remember to practice for 5-10 minutes each night this week.  The children were very excited to tell me how many words they knew!

School Supplies
If you haven't sent them - please do!  We go through pencils and crayons quickly!  Also, please send extra clothes and a paint shirt.

I am really enjoying the students!  They are very eager to learn and quite cooperative.  We have had some minor incidents between some of the boys.  I don't always hear of things that happen on the playground so please remember your child to make sure to tell ME about incident they are involved in (but not tattling on others).  I can't really address issues that happen last week if I don't know about them and, days later, the students don't even remember what happened.  I try to deal with minor incidents at school but I will contact you if I think it's necessary.
Finally, if you have any questions, give me an email and I usually can get back to you right away in the morning.

Monday Update

Hope everyone had a chance to get outside over the weekend and enjoy the beautiful fall weather while it lasts!

As promised, I sent home the Apple words!  These are really the first 10 Fry Sight words.  We have been working on these words at school in our 'tubs' and on the Word Wall.  I will test all the students on Friday to see how they are progressing on the words.

 

Please practice the following 10 words for this week.  The words are:  a, it, is, of, the, and, in, to, you, that. 

On Friday I will test your child on the above words.  If he or she passes 8/10 words or more, I will then attach another sheet of words to their test sheet.  You can then substitute those ‘apple words’ to the 10 words already given.  Please do not practice more than 10 words at a time.  This is too overwhelming for them at the beginning of the year. 

If your child does not know 8/10 words I will ask you to practice the same ten words again for another week.  We will continue in this pattern for the rest of the year.  Some children will learn the words very quickly and others will not.  This is absolutely fine because they will be learning at their own rate.  I will keep you aware of their progress and let you know if I have any concerns.

When your child has completed all 25 ‘apple’ words (Level 1A) we will go on to Level 1B ‘sun’ words. 

At school we also practice these words initially but after a while the children will only receive practice at home so it is very important that they begin practicing each night for 5-10 minutes.  A good sight word vocabulary is essential for them to become fluent readers.

Please check your child’s agenda for his or her sight word testing mark.  I try to assess this each Friday. You will also notice that I test on the color words that we practice in class.  These aren’t sent home in the apple words.  I will not send these words home to practice as I want to know how well the children are attending to the words we are using in our writing each day.

Please call me if you have any questions!  Remember to keep practice time short, daily and fun!  Some strategies are:

Swat! – use a fly swatter to swat the word (they love this!)

I spy – I spy a word that starts with “r” (sound).  They should be able to find it and tell you it.

Memory – turn over the word that the parent says.  Count how many turns it takes and beat your record or play against the parent.

Put the words on the frig or a door so they are easily seen.

Count the letters in the words and order them from most letters to least.

Practice printing the letters on a chalkboard, wipeboard, paper etc.

Mrs. Burzynski

Apple Words

Re:  last post.  Didn't have time to send Apple words.  I'll send them Monday!

Book Bags!!!!!

September 14, 2012

Book Bags

Today your child brought home a Book Bag.  These books and activities are intended to help foster the habit of reading daily with an adult. 
1.  Each bag is different but all contain a book and some kind of activity to foster reading or math skills.
2.  Each book is designed to be READ TO your child but many children will be able to read along with you and may be able to read the book to you after an initial reading.
3.  Each book and activity needs to be completed with an adult.
4.  Each bag needs to be returned after 1 or 2 days or we will run short of bags.
5.  Please put the bag in a safe place where smaller children can't damage it.
6.  Make sure all materials are back in the bag.
7.  Add the sight word or words to your child's Word Ring.  If he or she already has that word on the ring, don't add it again. 
8.  Keep the word ring at home.  DO NOT SEND BACK IN AGENDA, BOOK BAG OR LIBRARY BAG.  The children can just review these words at home.  I don't test on the words but it helps them to build a larger sight word vocabulary than just the Apple words.  I suggest keeping the Word Ring with the Apple words.
9.  If there is an activity worksheet, send it in the agenda and I will look at it and admire it and send it back home again with a sticker!
10.  If something appears to be missing from the book bag, please note it in the agenda.  Thanks!

11  ENJOY THE BOOK BAGS!  THEY ARE MEANT TO BE FUN!

If you have any questions, just email or call.
Mrs. Burzynski

Apple Words
I am also sending the Apple words to cut out.  I am sending only the first 10 words and you can beginning practice them with your child. 

Have a great weekend!  I'm off to Edam to watch my daughter play volleyball!