Week of November 28th!

     I hope all of you had a Happy Thanksgiving!
     I am very sorry for the lack of communication on my part.  The past two weeks I have had computer issues that seem to be taken care of  at this time.  I am sorry for any frustration I have caused.  Please keep in mind, I have been very frustrated at this end as well.  More than once I had typed my blog and then lost all the information.  I was unable to successfully save anything I typed.  Since all these issues, progress report time has passed.  Please check your child's grades online. I was unable to update attendance until today so that may not show up correctly until tomorrow. 
     The past few weeks we have been reviewing long and short vowel sounds.  We also have been working on consonant blends with the letter "r."  Your children have had a lot of exposure to the sounds that "th," "sh," and "ch" make.  When you read at home with your children please take the time to ask your child to tell you who the characters are in the story, where it takes place, if there is a problem and was the problem solved.  These are all strategies we use here at school as well. 
     In math, we have been working on number combinations and specifically addition.  We have also gone back to working with story problems.  The procedures we are using to solve story problems are very important.  The procedures we have set are preparing the children for standardized tests when they get older.  Please review any story problems your children bring home after they have been graded.
     Today is the first Monday of Advent.  In religion, we will be preparing for the coming of Jesus.  Our discussions and lessons will  be around the birth of Jesus.  We also will be focusing on our school wide Advent project.  We will be raising money to help our partnering parish in Honduras purchase uniforms for the school children.  Please have your children do extra chores, odd jobs, or even give up cookie or ice cream money to help our classroom with this activity.  We will be collecting money over the next couple of weeks.  When sending money in please mark your child's name on the envelope as well as what it is for.  Please don't just give your child the money.  Please help me teach them about helping others by doing good not just expecting the money.  We also are having a $2 jeans day this Friday.  The money collected will help purchase a gift we are giving to the parish priest and sister from the our partnering parish in Honduras.
     We also are focusing a great deal on active listening and following directions.  We have been practicing a lot on this so far this year.  I have placed emphasis on the fact that it is not always the correct answer and how quickly we get it that I am looking for.  The children need to follow directions.
    


Homework:
Monday - spelling homework (Please send a note stating you did the homework and how it went.)
Tuesday - phonics reader Jock's Hut and Knock, Knock
Wednesday - phonics reader Miss Nell and Deb and Bess
Thursday - story problem due back tomorrow, Friday, December 2nd!