January 16-20

Hello and welcome to another week!

WHAT WE'RE WORKING ON...

This week the children will be learning about Chinese New Year. We will be reading a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts ("D is for Dragon", "Bringing in the New Year", "Lion Dancer"), singing some new songs, designing and making red shakers, constructing dragon puppets, investigating the concepts of addition and subtraction using 'lucky money', practicing our number formation from 1-30 and talking about dragons (as it is the Year of the Dragon). Students will also talk about the year they were born (2006 was the Year of the Dog). We will finish off our study with a little party and a Dragon Parade with our shakers on Monday (we will dress in 'lucky' red!).

PD DAY

Please note that this Friday, January 20th is a PD Day for report card writing. Children do not come to school on Friday.

NOTE TOTES

Please ensure that your child's Note Tote comes to school each day. This system allows me to stay in touch with you, organize work and newlsetters and most importantly, it teaches your child organizational skills and responsibility. Thank you for your attention to this.

AT HOME READING PROGRAM

Our At Home Reading program is set to start next Monday. Please watch for the folder each week. It will be sent home each Monday and is to be returned (with the book, tracking sheet, Bookworm sticker-tracker, etc. in the ziploc bag each Thursday). In order for your child to earn his/her sticker it MUST BE SIGNED BY YOU (this helps me keep track of who is ready for a new book). The folder also includes an explanatory note outlining the purpose of the program, some tips and some reading strategies to use with your child. Please keep all materials in the folders. Thanks!

JOLLY PHONICS SOUND BOOKS

We have been using the Jolly Phonics letter/sound program in school once a week. This program uses movements and songs to help children associate the sounds with each letter. We then practice forming the letters in our notebooks. To supplement this program, I've decided to send home a smaller version of what we do (the letters and their movements) so that you can reinforce these at home.

Activities to try at home:

1. have your child tell you the letter, show you the movement and make the sound
2. ask you child to tell you words that begin with that sound and then write them in the book
3.ask your child to find and circle that particular letter

Please leave the Sound Book in your child's Note Tote so I can add to it.

SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS

January's order forms were sent home on Friday and will be due this Thursday, January 19. Thank you!

VOLUNTEER READERS

We have a new volunteer reader joining Gillian on Tuesdays. Andre and Gillian are both volunteers with Ottawa Reads and come to us from Carleton University. They are implementing our Board's Early Literacy Program (reading and talking one-on-one with each student using a provided checklist). The children really look forward to this special time. Thank you Andre and Gillian!

COLD WEATHER

Please make sure your child is dressed warmly for outdoor play. Boots and snowpants are a MUST.
Thank you for your attention to this.

LAST WEEK...

The children had a great week retelling The Mitten, setting a scene to music, using ordinal numbers (wow!!) and counting by 10's and down from 10. We have also started our Show and Share Surprise Box and are learning how to 'tally' our guesses. Well done. Thanks for helping.

That's all for now. Please don't hesitate to call or post. Have a great week!

Warmly,
Ms. Cox