| Catherine Varner |
cvarner@bcps.org |
Upcoming Events
January 2nd-School Reopens
January 10th-Happy Birthday Tamia Shealey
January 21st-Schools Closed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
January 25th-2nd Quarter Ends
January 28th-Schools Closed for Students
January 30th-Happy Birthday Cameron Campbell
Winter Weather
Please understand that we will be going outside every day unless it is raining. Therefore, please send in appropriate clothing such as jackets, mittens, scarves and hats. If your child does not bring in a jacket, he/she will not be allowed to go outside. If your child does not wear tennis shoes, he/she is not allowed to climb on the equipment outside for safety reasons. Although pretty shoes are nice, they are not very safe when climbing on the equipment.
At Home
A wonderful website to promote phonics is starfall.com and pbskids.org. You can ask your child to identify letters and ask what sound each letter makes. In addition, you can quiz your child on sight words we have learned. Re-reading the decodable books and the books that we have made in centers helps to build fluency! Don’t forget that practice makes perfect! For math, you can set out a set of objects and have your child count them. You can also have them compare one set of objects with another by using words such as less than greater than, and equal.
Reminders
Please clean out your child’s folder every night. This makes it easier for your child to pack up at the end of the day in order to keep the necessary papers in the folder. School begins promptly at 9:00. In order for your child to eat breakfast, complete morning work and benefit from the instruction that begins as soon as the announcements are over, please have your child in the classroom no later than 9:00am. If the bell has already rang, please go to the office and get a late pass.
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Phonics:
We are beginning to identify letters and corresponding sounds! This really enhances our invented spelling skills. We are able to distinguish what letter makes certain sounds in order to write words! In addition, we are identifying final sounds in words. We will continue to work on our rhyming skills. You can practice little riddles in the car by saying, “What rhymes with hit, but begins with /s/” The children really seem to like these play on words and it’s a great way to practice this skill!
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Reading:
Continue to look for the sight word labels in your child’s folder. Please practice the index card flip book with your child each night. Many are able to determine the words that we learned in the beginning of the year, but the new words have not been as easy. In addition, please have your child read for 15 minutes every Monday-Thursday. We only had 12 out of 23 students meet this goal. Practice, practice, practice!
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Math:
We will continue working on patterning. We are able to construct several different patterns such as AB, AABB, ABB, AAB, and ABC using a variety of objects. In addition, we have been recording our patterns and describing them with our peers. We just started the game of break the train. The students need to identify the unit (the part of a pattern that repeats) in order to break the pattern apart. They also need to identify the number of cars (the unit parts that are broken apart). They seem to really enjoy this game!
During our calendar math in the morning, we have begun adding. Your child should be able to identify what is 1 more than another number. For example, 7+1=8. They are able to look at the 7 black dots and add 1 red dot. Way to go!
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