March news

We've had a busy month! So much going on!  We had a great visit from author, Matt De La Pena! It was fun seeing one of the Harlem Wizards doing cool ball tricks!

A leprechaun may have snuck into our class?!  We're not quite sure but we were left a message to search for something special...and everyone got a Lucky Leprechaun Award!

We had a great visit from Johnny the K!  He sang songs, wore silly hats, and talked about being kind/ respectful and even talked about our Nine Nice Mice!  He selected friends from our class to come to the front and help him!

Great job with helping your child with the RAZ kids website.  They are feeling proud to be "readers"!  Remember this is just another fun/engaging way to support your child, not something that is a daily expectation. 

February news

February has been busy! We made predictions about the groundhog!  It was pretty close!  We talked about the tradition in Pennsylvania and about Punxsutawney Phil!

Love is in the air!  We had a great Valentine's Day party!  Many thanks to Mrs. Paris, Mrs. Tessier, Mrs. Conti and Mrs. Cerra for all their help!  The kids loved the crafts and decorating the cookies!  Thanks to those who sent in supplies to help make it a wonderful party!

The kids have been enjoying listening to the books that the mystery readers have been bringing in!  They get so excited!

I really appreciate the prizes for the treasure chest!  They are fantastic!  Thank you for the sponges that have been sent in as well!  They are going to good use!

We've been talking about our next "Nice Mouse"...Felipe the Friendship mouse.  We talked about ways to be a good friend and that you should "treat others the way you want to be treated".  Speaking of friends...

Hard to believe we have our next vacation tomorrow!  Enjoy your time together!

January news

The year is flying by!  We are at the halfway point?!  How did this happen?  Lots of great hats today!  The kids have been having fun with some "new" (old) toys from MY playroom!  They have been enjoying Lincoln Logs, Marble works, books etc from a big clean up happening in the Nickerson playroom!

In math we continue to work on our addition skills and will be moving on to subtraction!  We've been segmenting and blending words.  Hopefully you saw the Fundations handout that shows you how your child segments a CVC (consonant vowel consonant) word.  It will help them with reading and writing!  In Writer's Workshop we are writing "Informational" (or "how to") books.  We've done some group books together, how to get dressed for winter, how to wash your hands, and how to make a peanut and butter jelly sandwich.  It is important in our how to books to use the words first, next, then, and last.  We looked at some kids' cookbooks from the library and noticed how there are steps and they need to be in a certain order.

IF we have no snow days our 100th day will be on February 8th! Be on the lookout for an optional activity you can do with your child for the 100th day.

Our Valentine's Party will be on the 14th.  You will be receiving a class list shortly.  Please make sure to send in a card for each student.

With all the germs that go along with cold season we have been washing the tables A LOT!  If you would like to donate some more sponges, it would be appreciated!

November news

November is flying by!  We have been busy!  We saw a great performance and learned a lot about Veteran's Day from Captain Wilson and her son Noah.

We continue sounding out words and doing our best guess spelling.  In Writer's Workshop we've been writing "stories", some are made up and some are real.  The children are getting better at isolating sounds!  It is a lot of work!

We'll begin sorting and classifying objects when we return from break.  We'll continue with rote counting, number printing, counting objects and partner games.  The partner work is so important!  We work on taking turns, being honest (you may roll a 2 and want to say you got 5...) and being a good sport.  After playing a game we always shake hands (no matter the outcome) and say "good game". 

We had a wonderful feast!  It couldn't have happened without all the support and help from you!  Many, many thanks for the supplies and delicious treats that were sent in.  The kids had a lot fun!  Here are a few pictures from our feast.  Everyone will have pictures in their memory books!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  

October news

It is hard to believe October is almost over!   We've been busy working on new letters each week!  Learning how to print them and their sounds.  We started working on a weekend update every Monday too.  We're drawing pictures and using our "best guess spelling" to write the letters we hear.  Everyone is working so hard (especially since we haven't learned all the letters yet!) We are also adding sight words to our word wall.  Right now we have the words a, am, an, and, at, can, I, in, is, it, in, on, to, and see.  We've been building these words with tiles, playing sight word tic tac toe and circling them in our morning message. 

We've been talking about characters (animals or people) in the books we've been reading and how many stories have a "problem" that needs to be solved. 

In math we continue looking at numbers 1-10, practicing the formation by using number poems, counting objects, and using 10 frames to help us.

Of course we always have time to play with our friends and work on being a good friend.  Our value this month is responsibility.  We have been talking about what that means and what that "looks" like.

We had a marine biologist visit us today for the Ocean World program!  We got to hold live sea creatures!

Our Halloween parade and party is Oct 31st please make sure your child brings his/her costume in a labeled bag.

First Day!

We had a great first day today!!  We did soo much!  We had our snack, we did calendar, we listened to the Kissing Hand  we made our own kissing hands, we took a tour of the building, we went to art, we had recess and lunch, free time with our friends, went on a scavenger hunt in the class and ended the hunt with picking something out of the treasure box!  We were busy!  It was a HOT day but everyone worked hard and did a fantastic job!

Thank you to all who have sent in their paperwork, supplies, smocks, and rest time blankets!  I appreciate your attention to this!  If you have missed something please try to send it in this week.

I gave each child a plastic folder to put any notes or papers from home in.  Please let your child know if there is something s/he needs to give to me.  This folder should stay in the backpacks so papers/work can be taken home each day.

Here are some pictures from free time today...