Mrs. Dillon's Blog

WEEKLY NEWS FROM ROOM 114

THIS WEEKS NEWS
Sept. 8 - 11, 2009
What a great class we have! I'm enjoying getting to know your children. They are quite friendly with each other but still a little shy to talk in front of the group or to me. This has been a long week. I know they are tired, especially in the afternoon with our warm classroom. They really are working hard.

Much of what we do at the beginning will be review of alphabet letters, sounds, and numbers. Any review you can do at home along those lines will only benefit your son or daughter.
I use a mailbox in the classroom for returning papers. I will try to staple them and send the set home every Friday with the weekly newsletter. Looking through them lets you know what we covered during the week and gives you an idea how your child is doing. Many papers we do as a group together so you will see a circled T at the top indicating "together". Papers in the home folder should stay home unless it is marked with a HW indicating it is a homework paper and needs to be returned the next day.
Thank you for sending the dry erase markers for the small white boards. If you haven't sent one please send a marker at your earliest convenience.

NOTES AND REMINDERS
I will be the "Star" of the week next week. The children can see the routine by my example for the week. A new star will be selected each Friday. A note will go home explaining the routine when your son or daughter is the star.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Scholastic book order due Sept. 11
School pictures Friday, Sept. 11

HOMEWORK
Everyone will be bringing a new little reader home this week to be practiced each night. It is called Can Pig Nap. The bag will also have I See Red, Blue and Yellow book to practice. We will concentrate on the sound of - c/k, n p, and short a. Please impress upon your child how important it is to take good care of the book and it must be returned EVERY DAY!!!. We use them in school every day. There will be some phonics homework papers this week. I will send home the sight words to be practiced each Monday. They will also be listed on my BLOG. There will be a sight test on Friday on the next set of words from our new story. Please continue to practice all the previous words. Making flash cards is a great way to quickly review and see if any words are difficult for you child.
Math: we will continue writing numbers 0-10
Religion: We've been working very hard on making the sign of the cross correctly. I will "quiz" each student next week on the correct words and placement of hands.

NEW SIGHT WORDS FOR THE WEEK
can
at
and
look
the
my

As always, contact me with any questions. Have a good week.
Mrs. Dillon

WEEKLY NEWS FROM ROOM 114

THIS WEEKS NEWS
Sept. 14 - 18, 2009
We have another week of school under our belts and the kids did great! Our classroom is still quite warm but we're all adjusting. Fisher Fest will be upon us this week and over the weekend. ( Sept. 18,19,20)
NOTES AND REMINDERS
Our first "star" of the week is Katie.
Please bring your pictures and Starring Me paper in on Monday Sept. 14.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Meet the Teacher night will be Wednesday, September 16 from 6:30-7:30. I look forward to meeting all of you. You can look through the classroom and the rest of the school that night.

We will be having some fun with apples during the week of Sept 21 - 25 to celebrate the birthday of Johnny Appleseed. Everyone will need to bring an apple to school on TUESDAY, Sept. 22. DO NOT SEND IT ANY EARLIER PLEASE. It will help if we have different colors of apples - not all red. Thanks!!

HOMEWORK
The children will be bringing home the next 2 small readers called "Big Monkey, Little Monkey" and "I Like to Hop" to practice with you. The stories reflect the phonics skills we are working on in class -f, g, l, h, d, k, and short i and o. The classroom story is called My Family's Market. There will be two sight word lists sent home on Monday containing 12 sight words in all. Please continue to make flash cards for all the words to practice. Thanks for making sure the books are returned each day. I have no extras. There will be a sight test on Friday on the 12 new sight words. Look for some phonics worksheets for homework. I am printing HW on the top of those papers to indicate Homework.
In Religion, we practiced the Sign of the Cross. They did very well reciting the words and showing me where to place their hands.
Math - We will work on patterns, sorting, and graphing in the coming days.

THIS WEEK WE WILL REVIEW 12 SIGHT WORDS. Please make flash cards at home and continue to practice all the sight words we've had.

big
have
it
is
in
little
do
like
not
that
to
you

As always, contact me with any questions. Have a good week!
Mrs. Dillon

WEEKLY NEWS FROM ROOM 114

THIS WEEKS NEWS
Sept. 21-25, 2009
We are really doing great in room 114! Everyone seems to be getting used to the routine and I'm getting to know your children - they're not as shy anymore. It was my pleasure to meet all of you at Open House. You should be so proud of your children. They are AWESOME!

NOTES AND REMINDERS
Katie did a great job as our star of the week. Our new "star" of the week is: Will.
Please bring your pictures and starring me paper in on Monday Sept. 21.

UPCOMING EVENTS
This is the week to celebrate the birthday of Johnny Appleseed. We are going to do some fun things with apples this week. Everyone will need to bring an apple to school on TUESDAY, SEPT. 22. PLEASE DO NOT SEND IT ANY EARLIER. It will help if we have different colors of apples - not all red. Thanks!!

HOMEWORK
Monday through Thursday the children will be bringing home 2 readers called, Get the Tent and I am a Bug to practice with you. The stories reflect the phonics skills we are working on in class which will be the consonant sound of j, w, v, x, y, z, q and short vowel e and u. I appreciate your time spent at home working on the sight words. Thanks for making sure the books are returned each day.
There will be a sight test on Friday on the 12 new sight words. We will cover graphing and also finish our first chapter in math. There will be a test given during the week covering : counting, patterning, graphing.
Look for some phonics worksheets for homework.
I would also recommend having the children practice printing the alphabet at home. I stress at school to write their letters from the TOP DOWN. It would help if you reinforced that idea when you see them writing.
I hope you can spend some time looking through the papers that I staple together on Fridays. This will show you what we've been working on and how your child did during the week. Much of what we do right now is done as a class, not individually. If there are concepts that your child is unsure about, please go over the skill with them. Again, thank you for all you do at home. We work as a team to educate your children.

NEW SIGHT WORDS FOR THE WEEK:

get
one
what
two
we
three
up
but
go
where
here
am

As always, contact me with any questions. Have a good week!
Mrs. Dillon

WEEKLY NEWS FROM ROOM 114

THIS WEEKS NEWS
Sept. 28 - Oct.2, 2009
We are beginning our 6th week of school already. Time flies! We have been in school for 22 days.

NOTES AND REMINDERS
Will did a great job as our star of the week. Our new "star" of the week is: Anthony . Please bring your pictures on Monday.

UPCOMING EVENTS
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SENDING THE APPLES TO SCHOOL.
We had fun doing several different apple activities this week including graphing all the different colors of apples. Ask your children about the little house with no doors, no windows, and a star inside. We still have some activities planned for the beginning of the week using apples. A complete Apple activity book will be coming home when we finish all the apple activities.

HOMEWORK
We will begin the 1.2 book on Monday. An information sheet went home explaining the new procedure. Now the children will need to learn sight words and spelling words. Please read the phonics story, The Nap, on Monday and Tuesday night. Please read the literature story, Oh Cats, on Wednesday and Thursday night. The phonics skills for this week will be total immersion into short 'a' and final consonant sounds. The reader will come home each night for the children to practice reading. PLEASE DO NOT HAVE YOUR CHILD READ AHEAD IN THE BOOK. You can go back and re-read stories we've had for practice. THESE BOOKS MUST BE RETURNED TO SCHOOL EVERY DAY. There will be a sight test, spelling test, and comprehension question test to be given on Friday.

I will send home a complete list of all the sight words we've had so far. There will be a sight test on all 36 words during the week of Sept. 28. Please practice them each night.

We will start chapter 2 in Math this week which covers addition readiness: exploring ways to make numbers.

October is the month of Mary and the rosary. We will be learning about them in October.

NEW SIGHT WORDS:
come
down
away
no
will

NEW SPELLING WORDS:
at
cat
sat
ran
an
man

As always, contact me with any questions. Have a good week!
Mrs. Dillon