Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Welcome October!

Here we are at the end of the first month of school already! Time certainly does "fly" here at GMCS.
As sent on the talkmail yesterday, the Boys and Girls Club will be closed Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week. Retakes for school pictures will be done on Wednesday, October 1st. As well, my homeroom and Kindergarten students will have a visitor on Friday morning. Ann Chudleigh will be coming to do a follow-up "lesson" on the butterflies we watched for her. we were very fortunate that Mrs. Chudleigh offered the pupae to me to "babysit" for her. It has been a magnificent opportunity for the students to see, up close, what happens during the "birth" of a butterfly.
Thanks again for your continued support in homework with your children. The repetiton of the concepts I am teaching is imperative to the students' learning. Have a great week!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Wednesday already!

Well, here it is the middle of the week - and it's been a beautiful one so far. Please send in $1 with your child to help support the Terry Fox Run, which we will be doing as a school on Friday, Sept 26th.
I hope, by now, that your child is settling in to the routine of the school year. Please remember to send the yellow "Sounds" duotang back to school each day, and the blue "Homework" duotang when the homework is finished, Thursday at the latest.
I find that all of my Kindergarten students seem to be doing well with the work we do. The sounds need to be reviewed each night - please make sure they do the action related to each sound as they say it. Thanks for your help in this. Have a good week - what's left of it.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Another week!

First of all, I apologize for the butterfly picture that isn't there - I keep trying , but haven't yet found the way to put it on - I'll find out and try to get it on this week. As I write this the third monarch is getting ready to eclose (come out of the pupa). I bet we'll be setting it free tomorrow!
This week Mrs. Jones and I are welcoming Kate Richardson as our Kindergarten Support Worker. She will be with us for 20 weeks, helping in a variety of ways to make your child's school year go better.
Please remember to practice the new sounds and return the yellow duotang with Sounds sheets inside each day. We do a new sound each day and practice is important for them to learn their sounds and the letters connected to them. Also, please note that the homework is a two-sided page this week. I appreciate the time you spend with your child in doing this to the best of his/her ability.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Butterfly!

This is a Monarch butterfly that came from it's pupa over the weekend. We have three pupae in my classroom, given to us by Ann Chudleigh, who has raised 7 Monarchs from eggs this season! We are grateful to her for sharing with us and creating such a wonderful learning experience.
Here is a monarch butterfly that was "hatched" in my classroom - compliments of Ann Chudleigh
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in full swing

Well, here we go - the first full week of school. This week we start learning our letter sounds. Please practice the new sounds each night - we will do one letter each day, Mondays through Thursdays, and review them on Fridays.

Your child will bring home his/her homework duotang today. Please send it back on Friday morning, so I can have time to prepare it for next week. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Monday, September 1, 2008

WELCOME BACK!!!!!

Welcome to school for a brand new year of learning! I am so glad to be back! I hope you are, too. This week we will be getting used to our new teachers and classes. There will probably be a fire drill at some time this week. Please remind your child/ren about how to stand at the bus stop safely, and encourage them to remember and follow the rules we followed last year. We encourage each student to attend school regularly - there is so much we do each day, every day missed is a gap in their learning.

There are many items coming home in the agenda bags this first week, especially the first day. Please look each item over at length - return the Highlights, Owl, etc. forms, as we can get items for our classrooms with the returned ones (whether they are YES or NO). Book orders for my homeroom are due back by next Monday, Sept. 8th.

Have a GREAT first week back!