Room 26 News

 

Room 26 News

May 26, 2010

GOOD-BYE, AND DON’T FORGET TO WRITE...ER, READ!

It is with mixed emotions that I type this last newsletter. I am looking forward to sleeping in and spending more time with my family. But I am sorry to lose this wonderful class! In this final newsletter I will give you brief highlights of the last 2 weeks and address a summer reading program for every child.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, wrapping up, assessing, and reviewing. We had our last reading group day on Tuesday. I will miss reading groups the most! I really enjoy sharing our interesting books with the children.

In math we’ve done lots of review in fractions, problem-solving, money, place value, and computation. The children are doing well. It will be very easy to keep up the children’s math skills over the summer! Your everyday activities can be quite mathematical. If you are buying snacks at the pool, let you child count out the coins. Ask him or her if there is enough money to buy the desired snack item. If you have brownies or pizza, find out what fraction of the treat each person has. Think aloud mathematically and model some easy problem solving when you are cooking, cleaning, or driving. These ideas take absolutely no time or preparation, yet they are very effective applications of the skills your sweeties have learned.

I love the religion lessons we’ve been having. We saw the last Glorious Mystery, the Coronation, on the flannelboard last week and saw Mary crowned Queen of Heaven. I told the children that Mary is kind of an ambassador from heaven and appears to people, usually children, from time to time. We have viewed three outstanding videos about Marian apparitions including those at Fatima, Lourdes, and Guadalupe. The children were riveted to the screen each time. On Tuesday we saw our last flannelboard story of the year – about heaven. We learned that we will meet grandmothers and grandfathers and baby brothers and sisters who may have gone before us. We learned that they will be fit and well, having no more sickness nor pain. And we learned that Jesus is there now, preparing a beautiful place for us.

On the last day we had a great time playing kickball with our 6^th grade buddies. They were highly considerate of our little ones, and a good time was had by all. In the afternoon was our Hermie movie marathon! In this Max Lucado animated story, Hermie is an ordinary caterpillar who dreams about being special. He learns that God has made him very special and loves him very much. In the two sequels we watched, Hermie’s friends Buzz Bee and Flo learn the importance of not bragging and telling the truth. We enjoyed some wonderful treats supplied by Mrs. Benzing and Mrs. Nuerge.

Now I will address a summer reading program for every child. Everyone needs to read over the summer! The library has a summer reading program, and I encourage each one of you to sign up for it. Let the prizes motivate your child to read 4-5 days a week (more is fine!) In August your child will either have improved in reading or will have regressed – I know which outcome we all want! I cannot stress enough the importance of your child reading regularly and learning to enjoy it. They love to be read to, also, and this listening will really improve their comprehension. You can read fiction or non-fiction as you desire, and discussing the story is great – you may be shocked at the great insights your sweetie has about what has been read. I also encourage your child to write some letters either by snail mail or email. Grandparents and teachers love to get mail, and I promise to write back promptly to anyone who sends me mail. Of equal importance is active and imaginative play. Motor skills help develop the brain for reading and thinking, so trips to the park and the pool and the back yard are actually beneficial to next year’s learning.

I hope you have a wonderful summer. I will miss each and every one of the children, and will pray for them daily. I hope they will stop in and visit when they are big second graders.

Mrs. E