We have a busy week here at Magrath Elementary School. Our schedule of events includes our Scholastic school book fair in the library, which begins Wednesday and runs through Friday. Students have the chance to win individual prizes and buy great books and other items. Our grade one class is scheduled to visit on Wednesday morning from 10:30am till 10:45am (immediately after Division I recess). A large part of the profit earned is kept by the school, so any support you can offer is appreciated. It is a family event so everyone is welcome to come browse and buy. We hope to see you there!
On Thursday evening we are having our first celebration of learning. This is an opportunity early in the year for parents and teachers to meet for a few minutes to solidify our relationship as partners in learning for your child. If successful communication can be achieved between home and school, than greater success will be achieved by our students. We encourage you to take the time to come down and visit with your children’s teachers. If you are unable to make it on Thursday night, please let Mrs. Thomson know an alternative time we could get together and have a short visit. There is a form attached to this newsletter that will allow us to better focus our conversation. Please fill it out and bring it for your own benefit. It does not have to be handed back to the school.
On the other side of the form is a cursive printing worksheet. This is a reference guide to be kept at home. When you are working on printing activities with your child, help them learn the proper way to grip a pencil (there are a few acceptable methods – if you want more information, feel free to ask) and to form letters. Ease in printing is an important building block in developing ease of writing. This visual guide can aid in teaching your child the strokes of upper and lower case letters.
Last week we hosted a teddy bear picnic for Friday lunch. I would firstly like to thank P. Z. for the wonderful treats she provided the students. Also a special thanks to Mrs. R for volunteering in our room for the morning. We had an enjoyable run for the Terry Fox fundraiser – every student in our class completed a walk/run of at least 2 laps (about 2 km) and some completed much more. Please return the pledge forms with your child as soon as possible. Our school is working each year to improve our Terry Fox run, and any suggestions you have would also be appreciated.
Some important information regarding lunches – students who bring food that needs to be heated up at lunch may do so in the school cafeteria. However Friday lunches are eaten in the classroom where we do not have access to a microwave oven. We would encourage you to send food that can be enjoyed cold for the Friday lunch/snack.
I would like to extend a quick thank you to all of the parents who are donating recyclable items to our classroom supply. We’ve had cartons and paint shirts and buttons and other wonderful items, but we would always welcome more. Before you throw it away, consider donating it!
We have just finished several topics of study in school and are beginning to explore some new ones. In science we have completed our study of Autumn and are now beginning to explore the five major senses: hearing, sight, taste, touch and smell. We have some fun experiments and learning planned. We are now done the floor hockey unit in gym and are taking a small break working on gross motor skills before moving on to basketball after Thanksgiving.
In October we will be focusing on math skills that involve counting numbers and identifying numbers by their numerals and words. Any fun activities you can do at home to help advance your child’s number sense will greatly aid their success at school. For more ideas, or if you have any share, please contact me. Here are some easy ones – include your child in cooking with recipes – learning measure amounts is fun if done while cooking. Give your child a weekly allowance and help them learn to count and spend it. Even a small amount, such as a quarter, will improve their number sense.
In Language arts, the students decided they would first like to study the Ancient Egyptian Pyramids. If you have any information you would like to share about this topic, please let me know. The next topic of study will be Magic.
Our spelling words for the week are: him, did, use, car, two.
A fun try-it: Use a crafty material such as pipe cleaners or straws to bend and shape the letters of the different words.
Friday lunch this week is tacos. There will be small slips coming home each week that allow families to order Friday lunches one week at a time. If you have already submitted your order for the whole year, please just recycle these.
Another quick reminder – library book renewal day for our class is on Fridays. Please make sure your student brings their books back on that day. They will be unable to check out new books until all books are returned. Zippy books need to come back read and signed every school day.
If you are interested in ordering from the second book order forms, please have those returned by Friday, October 17, 2008. The first book order should arrive any day! Next week is Thanksgiving Monday, and there will be no school that day due to the holiday, but we look forward to seeing you again on Tuesday!
No comments:
Post a Comment