week of September 3, 2019

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Newsletter (2019-2020 edition)

**There will be a newsletter each week of the school year to keep you updated on classroom and school happenings.  It will be sent home each week (email and/or paper) and then posted on our blog with the link being found on the North Schuylkill website under the Elementary tab and under Staff Emails and Homework Blogs.

**It was a wonderful first week!  We are settling in and learning our new routines and expectations.  Just a few reminders to help our classroom run smoothly:

**Please check folders each day.  Take out any papers on the Left at Home side and complete or sign any pages on the Bring Right Back side as soon as possible. 

**Reading Log books will be coming home this week.  There is no written homework but we expect children to read with someone each night.  Sometimes there will be books in their bag that they can read to you, but most times you can read to them and have your child pick out letters or words that they know.  You can use the books that your child picks from our reading “pool” or read books at home and add them to the reading log located in the folder.  There will be incentives for participation.  We are also sending home a read aloud list to give you some ideas of books that will be helpful in building vocabulary.

**Sight words should be practiced each night in place of written homework.  Begin with the first list.  We will test students and put a star under the list when they have read it correctly and then you can move on to the next list.  Cut out the flashcards as you work on them and keep them in the envelope included in the communication folder.

**Help your child learn their identification number.  This number was sent home with the welcome letter as well as on an index card If you need it again, please let us know.  It will be used to get lunch and/or breakfast, log onto the computers, and check out library books.

**Please send a snack each day.  A small snack and optional drink can be sent in a separate container than a lunch if they are a packer.  We eat snack daily at the end of the day. 

**Don’t forget to send in a dress code appropriate extra set of clothes for your child’s cubby.  Please put it in a bag (a gallon size Ziploc bag works great) and label it with their first and last name.  Please also make sure there is a spare set of underwear in the bag, thanks!

**Please label everything.  Make sure backpacks, lunch bags, coats, etc. are labeled with first and last names.  All money being sent to school must be in a envelope labeled with first and last name of the student, teacher name, what the money is for, and the amount.

**We have been reading a lot of Back to School books and one of our favorites is “The Kissing Hand.”  We even had a scavenger hunt throughout the building looking for Chester the character from our book.  We didn’t find him, but we did get to see where the nurse, office, library, and cafeteria all are located.  We also were treated to cookies from Chester!

**We have started learning how to work cooperatively in groups for Math along with the expectations for manipulatives.  There are important skills to have when working in Math centers.

**We have also built and drew Mat Mat in our Handwriting program as well as learned about Big and Little lines and demonstrated positional words.

**No school Monday, September 2 for Labor Day.  Tuesday is Day 6.

**Thanks for such a great start to the school year.  We are looking forward to lots of progress and are excited to work with all of the students and their supportive families!