September 2, 2016
Dear Parents,
Next week we will be learning about families and how families are alike and how they are different. Discuss your family with your child. Discuss customs and size and emphasize the uniqueness of it.
___ Recite”My Family.”
”My Family”
Some families are large.
(Spread arms out wide)
Some families are small.
(Bring arms close together)
But I love my family
(Cross arms over chest
Best of all!
____ I would like for you to send a family photograph for us to display. A snapshot is a good size to send. I will return it to you within a couple of weeks. I promise to take good care of it!
____ The VIP activity is to discuss your family. Talk about ways that you have fun together, work together, help each other and show love for one another. Tell your child about your parents and grandparents. Talk about brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles. Next, have your child color the apples. You write the names of your child’s immediate family members (parents, brothers and sisters) on the apples. An adult will need to cut out the apple patterns. Have your child glue the “apples” on the tree. Return this to school. Make sure your child’s name is on it.
_____Then fill out the family survey. We will use the information for graphing and other activities this week. (Please return the survey as soon as possible.)
____ Handwriting: Please help your child practice writing his/her name. The only letter that should be capitalized is the first one. Let your child copy the letters Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, and Jj on the enclosed sheet. After your child has written the letter, have your child say the letter name. Please use a pencil. If your child is having trouble holding his/her pencil correctly, wrap a cotton ball around it.
____ We will concentrate on the letters Kk, Ll, Mm, and Nn next week. We will continue to review the letters Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, and Jj and the sounds that they make. Have your child find these letters in books, newspapers, magazines, etc. Let him/her write them. Ask what sound each of the letters make. Give your child a word that begins with a letter on which we have worked. Ask him/her to name the beginning letter sound for that word. You may go to my website and have your child play alphabet games to help with remembering these letters.
(anderson1.k12.sc.us, then click on schools, then click on West Pelzer, then click on classrooms, then click on my name. Then find the websites that are located on the left side of the page.
____New words: The new word in our reading series is “I.” The song we use to teach it is enclosed. Keep this in your child’s “Songs to Learn By” folder. The children have to learn a lot of words to be ready for first grade. Please review them as we go along. The song is on my website. You can go to my class page and find the “sight word” section. Click on “I” and the song will play for you.
____Review: colors, birthdays, shapes, shape descriptions, days of the week, months of the year, and counting to at least 20. Riding in the car is a good time to review things like this!
___ Math Focus: Your child has been counting sets to 5, writing numbers to 5, and creating sets up to five. To review these skills, have your child complete the math homework pages 21, 22, 33, and 34 and return them to school. The directions are written at the bottom of each page. Make sure your child writes his/her name on the pages! (There are math links on my website to practice numbers in a fun way!)
____Please complete the “Communication Connection” with your child. You will find it in the VIP folder. Make sure that your child tells you something about the week that you can write down in the middle section. Then you write your observations in the third section. Return this to school. We will use it for a month and then start a new one.
___Traveling Book Club: Write the titles of the books you read to your child. If you read the story more than one time, write the number of times that you read it beside the title of the book. After you read a story, let him/her retell the story to you. As you read to your child, he/she will learn to love books. I will add these books to your child’s book list. Your child should have a total of 25 books read to him/her at home by the end of the first nine weeks. If you read one book each night, you will easily meet this goal!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Reminders
*Children who eat breakfast in the classroom should be at school by 7:45am. Those not eating breakfast at school should be here and in the classroom before 8:00am. We begin our morning work (which introduces key concepts and is the basis for all of the day’s work) promptly.
____Monday, September 5 is a holiday. No school.
____If you have not paid for your child’s school fees ($15), please do so as soon as possible.
____Lunch numbers-Please help your child learn his/her lunch number. He/she will begin using it soon.
Your Partner in Education,
Alyson Fricks
Parent’s signature: Child’s name: