Ms. Nicky and Ms. Sydney’s News

 

I hope you all had a wonderful and restful winter break!  I have enjoyed the time off, but am ready to see all of your wonderful children again!  For the next 3 weeks, we are going to continue our STEM Unit of Study on Health and Exercise.  We have had some great learning experiences this unit, including having a nurse come in and talk about ways to stay healthy, as well as having a yoga instructor come in and do a yoga class with the students.  Hopefully, they are sharing what they are learning with you at home!  Our next Unit of Study will be Weather, where we will be talking about the different characteristics of each season.

 

STEM Profile of the Month:  Curious

“I am eager to learn and ask questions.”

Books to encourage being curious:

Curious George by H.A. Rey and Margret Rey

Why?  by Richard Torrey

 

Home-School Connections

Since we have made it through the first round of the alphabet, we will now start placing a heavier focus on math concepts.  I have noticed that most students are still struggling with counting to 20, particularly in the area where the numbers don’t really follow the “rule”.  Students are either skipping some of the numbers, or saying things like “three teen”.  One way to help with this is to ask your child to count to the number that they are struggling with so, for example, if your child always skips 15, or says something like “five teen”, ask them to count to 15.  This will naturally cause them to say that number.  Once they routinely start getting that number, ask them to count to 20.  If they skip another number, repeat the process of having them just count to that number they miss.  Don’t forget about number sense, though-it’s not enough for them to be able to count to a certain number.  It’s also important for them to understand what the number means, so also have them count objects and once they’ve counted them, ask them questions like, “So how many do you have altogether?” Or, “How many would you have if you added 2 more?”  Numeral identification is also tricky for them, so if you get a chance, point out numerals in their environment, and ask them what they are.  We will continue working on all of this in class, as well.

Important Dates

January 2:  Return from Winter Break

January 4:  PTO Meeting (6 p.m.-8 p.m.)

January 10:  Library

January 15:  NO SCHOOL (MLK Day)

January 16:  Makerspace

January 18:  PBIS Reward-Board Games in the gym

January 24:  Library

January 25:  PTO-Sponsored PJ Day-Bring $1 and wear your pajamas to school