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Dear
Parents,
On October 1st, we began to
participate in the Book-It! Program. For those unfamiliar with the Book
It! Program, it is a national reading incentive program for grades K – 6
sponsored by Pizza Hut. Your child has a monthly goal of 5 books. Once
the goal is reached, your child will receive a Free Pizza Award
Certificate, which entitles him/her to a one-topping personal pan
pizza. On the first visit, your child will receive a Book It! Bookbag
tag. On each subsequent visit, the child will be given another personal
pan pizza to recognize his/her reading achievement. If your child meets
his/her reading goal in all six months of the program, he/she is
rewarded at the restaurant with a Book It! All-Star Reader Award. Book
It! will end on March 31, 2010. This program requires nothing
additional to what you have already been doing; I will send home books
and have your child read them to you.
Enclosed is your child’s first math test. Since
the process and format were new to students, I gave full support to many
students. As they learn more about the format of our math test, I’ll
give less and less support. We’ve started a new math unit called
“Everyday Uses of Numbers.” Please find the enclosed “Unit 2: Family
Letter.” It gives a good review of our unit plus some fun games to play
at home to support these concepts.
This was
the first week for our classroom volunteers: Mrs. Evans and Mrs.
Petrosky are volunteering on a weekly basis. Luckily we had Mrs.
Martell on her day off in our classroom. Currently our volunteers are
working one-on-one in the hallway on letter/sound flashcards, sight
words flashcards, correcting errors on assignments or homework and other
various activities. Eventually they will help monitor the classroom,
which will allow me time to work one-on-one or in small groups teaching
and assessing reading. Many of the students are learning the classroom
routine and to be more independent workers. We use inventive spelling;
this helps reinforce our knowledge of letters and letter sounds. Over
the last several weeks we’ve focused on getting to know one another, the
class routine and completing work with “working whispers.” Once our
routine and working whispers are in place, I’ll start working with
students one-on-one to find proper reading placement. This will take
several weeks. Once my assessment is finished, then I am able to place
students into small groups to begin guided reading. I’ll explain more
about guided reading in an upcoming parent letter. |
I
could always use more volunteers, but it doesn’t have to be weekly or
bi-weekly. I need volunteers to assist with reading flashcards, math
flashcards, listen to readers and help fix any errors on assignments.
If your schedule permits, we would love your help at any time. If
possible, please let me know ahead of time. If not, then just stop by
and I’ll put you to work. We also accept grandparents!!
Next week
I will have a substitute on Wednesday, October 7th from 8 –
11 a.m. I am on a child study team. This team meets about once a month
for morning hours only here at school.
For those
of you who are our holiday helpers, you’ll find enclosed in your child’s
folder a copy of holiday parties. I may have had to change a few names
here or there to accommodate everyone. If you have any problems, then
please let me know. In regards to our holiday party on Tuesday,
December 22nd, please don’t go shopping for it yet. The last
several years we’ve been going to the Vogue or Ranch Rudolph instead of
having the holiday party. It seems to eliminate some of the holiday
stress for everyone. I’ll keep you posted.
The
following are dates that you may want to add to your calendar:
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Substitute –
October 7 from 8:00 – 11:00 a.m.
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School
Picture Day – October 13
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Halloween
party – October 30 at 11:45 – 3:00 p.m.
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School Store
– November 6
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Early
Dismissal – November 24 at 12:30 p.m.
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Parent-Teacher Conference – November 24 at 5-8 p.m.
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Parent-Teacher Conference – November 25 at 8-11 a.m.
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No School
(Thanksgiving Break) – November 25, 26 & 27
Warmly,
Shantel
Mrs.
Niederstadt's Class Page
The Main
Elementary Page for 2009-2010
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