Thursday October 11, 2016

Today we had our circle of courage. Lucas did an amazing job in Mrs. Daniels’ room and Ms. Barley’s room learned all about Mrs. Barley! We are really getting to recognize mastery, generosity, belonging and independence. Great job!!

We wrote about our week in our home journals. We are really starting to focus on independent “sounding out”, using the letter sounds we know to write our words.

Ask me … Where is your house on Google Earth?  Take a look!

Home reading book bags: Please enjoy reading these books with your child. We encourage students to point to the words as they read to track their reading, use picture clues, or beginning letter sounds to decode unknown words. You may exchange the books once or twice a week, its up to you and your child’s reading pace.

***These books will be exchanged on THURSDAY and TUESDAY. Please return the book bag in your child’s folder for new books.  If you have a note about the level, please place it in the folder, not in the book bag as the volunteers are exchanging the books and we may not see it.

Reminders:

-Home journals went home today, remember to write a response and return on Tuesday next week!

-We are collecting water bottle lids (clear or white plastic lids) please send them in with your children. 

-We also are collecting leaves for our leaf man project this week. Please collect an assortment of leaves and bring them in before Thursday this week.  Thank you!

Dates to remember:

Friday October 7 – non-instructional day, no school for students

Monday October 10 – Thanksgiving Monday, no school

Tuesday October 11 – Fun Lunch

Tuesday October 11 – School Council Meeting 7pm

Thursday October 13 – Picture Day

Circle of Courage:

Each week one student per class will bring home a sheet of paper describing the circle of courage. We ask that on Friday of your child’s week that he or she brings in something that shows one of the following sections of the circle: Independence, Mastery, Belonging, and Generosity.  See below for what the letter will look like. 

Next week it is Yahya in Mrs. Daniels’ room and Mishel in Ms. Barley’s room.

Circle of Courage Spotlight 

Congratulations, your child has been chosen to be our Circle of Courage student. Your child will have the opportunity to share more about themselves and how they show the four quadrants of the Circle of Courage to help build a caring classroom. Your child will present on Friday OCTOBER 14TH

Once our Circle of Courage student is announced the student will have a week until their presentation date to collect the following items to share with the class. 

Independence  

·         An artifact your child is proud of and demonstrates independence. i.e. piece of art, writing, project, or video of dance  

Mastery 

·         An artifact that demonstrates a skill or activity your child has mastered. i.e. medals, awards, and certificates  

Belonging 

·         Photograph (no more than 3) that shows belonging, i.e. Family photo, playing with others, family vacation, sports team, class photo. 

Generosity 

·         Family Letter: Family members will be responsible for writing a letter to the class telling us how special your child is to you. Send the letter in a sealed envelope to the school with your child on the presentation date your child is sharing. I will read the letter to the class during our circle meetings. The content of the letter is up to you, but you may wish to choose from one of the following ideas: Describe special or funny stories about your child for the class to hear, tell us some interesting facts (no more then 3) we may not know about your child, send silly or special pictures with a letter describing the picture, or write a short story with your child as the main character. You may also send a video for the class to watch if you choose. 

After your child has had the opportunity to share, his or her classmates will recognize your child as our Circle of Courage student of the day by writing about how they see your child demonstrating one of the four quadrants on the Circle of Courage. We appreciate your participation in our Circle of Courage Spotlight and look forward to getting to know your child better and build a caring classroom community!