Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Welcome Back

     Hi there everyone!  I hope you are all ready to get back into the groove of things, because I sure am.  I can't wait to start school this year!  We are going to have so much fun!  Be ready to learn lots of fun stuff, and be prepared in having fun while doing it.
     On the first day of school we will be discussing rules and consequences, rewards, classroom schedules etc., and you will be receiving the materials you will need from me to get started.  It is going to be more or less of a lecture day, and so it will probably get kind of boring at times, but please know that not every day is going to be like the first day of school, where I'll be talking the whole time.  You will find that you will be doing most of the talking and showing me how you learn things.   Please bring a bottled water when you can, because our room can get kind of hot at times, and I want you to stay hydrated.
     We will be jumping right into our subjects on the second day of school, so you will know what to expect out of each subject area.  You will also get an idea of how your daily schedule will go.
     Parents, I do want you to know that I do allow healthy snacks in my classroom and the students are allowed to have them at any time, as long as they are healthy.  I do this for numerous reasons and hope that all of you are okay with it.
     I do want to let you know what we will be learning in each subject area, for the first quarter.  In Writing, we will be learning about the Six Thinking Hats.  We will be starting with Ideas in the Six Traits of Writing, and we will be starting our Four Square Writing method.  In Math, we will be starting out with place value  and comparing and ordering numbers.  In Reading, we will be staring off with the Theme "Who Am I" and reading stories pertaining to this theme.  We will also learn about fluency and decoding words.  In Science, we will be learning about Land Forms and how they are formed.  In S.S. we will be starting off with learning about the early Explorers.  We will be testing the words learned in 2nd through fourth grade for the first two weeks of spelling.  Students will need to know these words in order to do their dictation sentences for their fifth grade spelling tests.  If you ever have questions about what is being taught in our classroom, please feel free to email, or call me at any time.
     I am looking forward to a great year with you and your child and can't wait to get started.
     Thanks for taking the time to read this and once again, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.   Sincerely, Mrs. Little