January Newsletter 2018
Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed your holidays and your time off together. It’s nice to see everyone again! As we begin the New Year, I want to make sure that students remember to bring their indoor shoes back to school (in case they took them home over the holidays) and that they are dressed appropriately for the weather. With the deep freeze we just experienced, as well as all the wonderful snow we have, please ensure that your child has outdoor gear that will keep them warm and dry (snowpants, waterproof boots, waterproof mitts, hats, scarves). Sending an extra pair of gloves and socks are always helpful to keep in your child’s locker just in case.
This month, we will be starting a new weekly routine with our Weekly Words of the Week. Every Monday, your child will write down five new words (from our Dolch list that is specified per grade). We will practice our weekly words during Bell Work, andI will be looking to see if they can use these five words in their writing. If your child could practice writing their weekly words at home, as well as writing a sentence using those words, it will help reinforce their learning at home.
Home Reading: We will continue to graph our home reading until the end of the term. Our graph has grown quickly and we have some students who are off the chart! I encourage regular reading at home, but next term, we will not be using our Home Reading Logs any more.
In Language, we are actively exploring the writing process. I hope our families enjoyed the stories that your child worked so hard on before the break. We will continue to explore brainstorming, creating a first draft, peer editing, revising, editing and publishing a final draft. As we read, visualizing will be the comprehension strategy that we focus on. When reading at home, you can ask your child to point to the words that help them to make pictures in their minds.
In Math, we are currently exploring different types of patterns. We’ve spent some time talking about growing, shrinking and repeating patters. We are exploring different ways to represent patterns (e.g. using manipulatives, pictures, actions, number lines, on a graph, and on a table).
In Social Studies, we are continuing to explore Living and Working in Ontario (Grade 3’s). We’ve spent some time looking at maps and understanding the difference between continents, countries, provinces, and cities. If you have any extra maps at home that you could send in, that would be appreciated!
Grade 2’s are beginning their new Science unit with Mrs. Froats’ on Simple Machines. We will be sending home more information for an “at-home” project shortly.
We have an upcoming P.A. Day on January 26th. Our next Believe in Achieving Assembly will be on February 1st. Our focus is: I can stop, think, and plan before I act.
Looking forward to a great month ahead! As always, any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me!
Happy New Year!
Mrs. Hoy