Just Some Fun...

We had our first mystery reader this past week.  The children loved having a guest come in and read a story to them...I think they were very excited that it was someone different than me for once :)  I am looking forward to having a lot more mystery readers coming in over the next few weeks.  If you are interested please let me know.  You can email or call the school and leave me a message 943-6929.  I will get back with you as soon as I can to set up a time.

We also read "Zin, Zin, Zin a Violin" this past week and learned about sound.  We also completed an art project with making a violin using tissue paper and water.  The children loved this project.  Monday will be the culmination of our sound theme with using various instruments to create our own orchestra!  It should be a lot of fun!

Class Picture Day...

We have Spring pictures and class pictures on Tuesday.  Your child should have brought home a form last week.  These are my favorite pictures because it gives me a great memory of both classes.  It also saddens me when this time comes around because I know the end of school is coming closer.

Penguins...

We had a great day last Wednesday when the Cincinnati Zoo came to visit and help us learn about penguins. We read "If You Could Go to Antarctica" and learned about the weather, animal life, and other cool facts.  One of the animals which live in Antarctica are penguins and the zoo helped us learn penguins live in the southern hemisphere.  We also fixed a misconception that polar bears live in Antarctica.  This coming week we will work on our informational reports regarding penguins!

Valentine's Day Fun...

We had a lot of fun at our Valentine's Day party last Thursday!

Reading Groups...

The children are doing a great job working with their reading.  I am impressed by their ability to blend words.  The children should still work on this concept to help build their fluency.  Our goal is to have children reading simply words like the way we, as adults, read them.  Simple words are CVC words (consonant-vowel-consonant...dog, cup, mat, log, etc).

Vocabulary...

This week we are reading "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and discussing character!  On Monday we took pictures from the story and discussed them with our friends about what we think the picture is showing us.  We were discussing new vocabulary from the book.  We learned about porridge, cottage, and clambered.  The children loved talking with their friends about what they thought the picture was showing us.  We will continue to read other versions of Goldilocks and will compare and contrast the story!

Word Typing...

We have had a blast last week typing simple words.  The children have been working on their keyboarding skills and also working on segmenting words (hearing the sounds in the words).  This is an excellent way to practice at home.  You just have to enlarge the font size in word and have your child type a word you give them.  You can even practice their sight words.  It is exciting if you an your child search for a picture for the word or have them print it off and draw a picture!