Hello families. I hope your weekend proved restful. We are delving into our beautiful curriculum and you may have heard your child talk about the moral or lessons form Aesop's Fables, or perhaps they have identified our 7 continents, or maybe told you a number story. It is an exciting time because more and more our scholars are meeting and following expectations and procedures which allows us to get into the beauty of learning. Thank you for all you do as I know the routines and habits of homework and home life change when your child is in school. Continue your efforts as you support them and guide them.
Here is a look at the week.
CURRICULUM NIGHT:
K-2 Curriculum night is this Tuesday, August 22nd from 6:00 - 7:00 pm. This is a parents only event.
Curriculum night is not an open house. Headmaster Washburn will be presenting information at 6:00. After her presentation, parents will be able to go to their child's classroom where the teachers have planned interactive mini lessons. We will present the lesson in a similar manner as we would during the school day. After the mini lesson night, we will present some general information about the first grade curriculum and we, hopefully, we will have time to answer some general questions. If you have specific questions, particularly ones about how your child is doing, please e-mail me and we can schedule a separate time to address them.
Since curriculum night is not set up as an open house you may find it difficult to pop in and out of different classrooms if you have more than one child at the school. A couple of suggestions based on what parents have done in the past is:
1. Choose the classroom / grade level that you feel would be most beneficial for you to visit.
2. A spouse or other family member can visit one classroom while you visit another.
GROWING IN INTEGRITY WHILE TAKING TESTS AND WORKING INDEPENDENTLY:
Conversations about the virtues and well as integrating and identifying virtuous behavior in ourselves and others occurs continually. Through discussion, our class has identified integrity as "doing the right thing even though no one else is looking." It continues to amaze me how students, at such a young age, are able to not only understand the virtue, but identify the virtue when they or their classmates behave with integrity.
Last week we discussed that one of the ways students can show integrity is by looking at their own paper or tests and not copying classmates' work. This can sometimes be challenging as they are developing belief in themselves. In the 1st and 2nd grade classrooms, integrity during tests and independent work is very important. There are consequences for looking at another student's paper and copying someone else's work. Before each test, quiz, and independent assignment, students are reminded to keep their eyes on their own papers and not look at anyone else's work. Any student who does look at someone else's paper and copies answers, etc. will complete the assignment but will receive a zero for a grade. We will also contact parents to let them know what happened so we can work as a team to keep it from happening again.
READING BLOCK (DAILY 3)
During our reading block we have been working hard learning foundations lessons to become an independent reader. One of those lessons include: "Three Ways to Read a Book." Those 3 ways are:
1. Read the pictures. (Go through the book and tell the story based on what pictures you see.)
2. Read the words.
3. Retell the story (Going back and retelling the story using both the words and the pictures as a guide.)
These three different ways allow struggling readers to feel successful and allows all readers to explore a book with more depth.
MATH:
This week we will begin Unit 2 - Number bonds. An "Friendly Notes" information sheet will be sent home in your child's homework folder on Tuesday. Please keep this information sheet at home to use as a reference.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Tuesday Aug. 22 - K-2 Curriculum night from 6 - 7. (This is for parents only.)
Tuesday Aug. 29th - Family night at Peter Pipe Pizza 4:30 - 7:30
Friday Sept. 8th - School Picture Day
Please read The Athenian Echo for more details about the events.
I look forward to seeing you at curriculum night!
