Little Blue Bulletin: 1/21-1/25

The Performance is here!
Here are a few important play reminders.
On Monday and Tuesday, please send your child to school wearing black pants, a short sleeve t-shirt, and athletic shoes. We will be providing other pieces for our dress rehearsals.
On Wednesday night, please bring your child to school by 6:10 P.M. He/She should wear black pants, short sleeves, and athletic shoes. Students will meet in his/her family room to prepare for the performance.

Click here for updated calendar!

Morning Procedures:
It's important that students arrive to school BEFORE 8:00 A.M. The drop off is very light between 7:45-7:50. Remember to get a head start on rainy days. We have too many students arriving after announcements start. This is very disruptive to the class, and doesn't give your child significant time to prepare for the day.

Sharing:
Week of 1/28: Your favorite type of weather
Week of 2/04: How you would spend $100

Please look for special sharing project being sent home in the book bag on January 25th. It will prepare for our SPECIAL sharing for the week of 2/11.

Preparation Tips: PLEASE TRY TO COME UP WITH AN INTERESTING TOPIC SENTENCE! Try a question, a poem, or a song. Brainstorm ideas first.
1. Start with your topic sentence to tell your audience what you're going to share about. DO NOT introduce yourself or say "Hello, class".
2. Add 2 or 3 sentences to describe your topic. Use transition words such as first, next, last.
3. Stand up straight, look at your audience, and speak clearly.

Something extra: Bring a picture to show your audience!

Book Bags:
Please remember to return the bag on Thursdays. If you have any questions, please contact your family room teacher.


Language Arts:
Spelling resumes the week of 1/28. Please check in your child's spelling folder for his/her 5 study words. If you have not returned your child's spelling folder, please have it at school on Monday.

In reading investigations, we have been studying about snow. Not everyone gets to play in the snow and make a snowman, so we make our snowmen at school! We read a few stories about snowmen and polar bears; we built a snowman with tear art; and we wrote a similie poem describing polar bears. Children also have been working on making good story connections with the books we have read.

Teammate of the Week:
We continued our expository writing program this week. Each student in our village will have a chance to be "Teammate of the Week". This is a great opportunity for students to share information about themselves with their family rooms. As students learn about the Teammate of the Week, they will be writing an expository paragraph using Step Up to Writing Program. We will be keeping the writing at school to create a book for each child. Not only is this a wonderful memory of our classmates, but a great writing portfolio too.


Math:
We began our new unit on measurement. Students are working on measuring the height and length of objects. We have been using non-standard measurement systems (paper clips, name tags, markers) and standard units (inches and centimeters). Please practice measuring items around your house too!
Don't forget to look for the SPECIAL measurement project coming home on January 25th! It's due on Feb. 7.

Science:
We have been very busy catching drops on rain in our rain gauges, measuring wind speed, and tracking the temperature with our thermometers. Little Blue has many meteorologists in training!

Volunteers Needed:
Chinese New Year is coming. We need some parents to help with projects, donate food items, and prep for craft materials. If you are available, please email your family room teacher.


Have a good weekend,
Little Blue Teachers

Play Madness!

 We are all so busy with the play we will take a short break from updating our newsletter. It is PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE! Make sure to have your child sing for you and practice any lines they might have. Ask them to smile and make sure to speak and sing clearly. Thanks, we appreciate your support at home.

snowmen

Hi,
We have been reading a lot about snowmen. The kids did a great job drawing a snowmen family and we have created a great quilt out in the hall. Make sure to poke your head in and check it out. Let it SNOW!