John C. Daniels

Dear Parents,

We’ve finished another month of school. The class has settled in and learned our routines, despite an interruption from Hurricane Sandy. There are no more tears in the morning and the kids seem very happy to see their friends as they arrive at school each day. October was a busy month for us. We learned about fire safety and community helpers, continued to work on AB patterns, learned and practiced the letters and sounds A-F, sorted objects by different attributes (color, shape, size) and started learning to use the computer. We have been to PBS Kids and Starfall. We will continue with these websites through the year.

November is another busy month for us. We will be continuing with patterns, learning direction words, learning the letters and sounds G, H and I, and learning about Thanksgiving. Please make sure that you have a copy of the November calendar that I sent home. We have lots of days off. Next week we will have parent conferences. The sign up sheet will be above the sign-in book. If none of the times listed work for you, please let me know so we can schedule a mutually agreeable time.

Just a reminder: Our Halloween parade and party will be Wednesday November 7^th. Please send your child’s costume to school in a bag. We will help them change in and out of it. If you do not wish for your child to participate, please let us know.

Mrs. Iovanne, Miss Ariane, Miss Barbara, Mrs. D.

March 1, 2013

Dear Parents,

We have completed our fundraiser for Jump Rope For Heart and the orphanage in Haiti. Once all the money is counted, I will let everyone know how much we raised! Thank you so much to everyone that contributed!!! Pajama Day was not only a successful fundraiser but a fun day as well! I think we reached our $50.00 goal!!

This month we will be reviewing all letters. As stated before, continue to review these letters at home. Some “tricky” letters are the vowels, y and x. Ask your child to sing you the “Vowel Song” for review. Also remember, when reviewing letters, that the letter x makes several sounds. We primarily have focused on the x sound of /ks/ as in fox. When working on the letters at home, ask your child not only for the letter sound but words that begin with the sound as well. You may further challenge your child by discussing the ending sound in words as well.

Our theme will now change to “Stewards of Our Planet.” The students will begin exploring the importance of recycling and how garbage and pollution affect our Earth and many animals. We will be working on our Science Fair project, which will also relate to the importance of recycling. For our science fair project, we will be testing whether rechargeable or regular batteries work better in a flashlight.

Since Dr. Seuss’ birthday is on Saturday, we will be celebrating with a Dr. Seuss week next week. We will be reading many of his books, and focus on rhyming skills. We will also be discussing his illustrations as well. If you have any extra Dr. Seuss books that you would like to share, please do so! Please write your child’s name in the book so I can return to you at the conclusion of the week.

Thanks! Ms. D.

January 7, 2013

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a restful and fun holiday break. It’s nice to be back to school and seeing everyone again. Please remember to check the news, radio, or New Haven website in case we do have a snow day or delay at some point.

This next month we will be working on the letters g,i,j,n,k,l,and w along with their sounds. Please note that some of these letters are a review. We continually review the letters we did the past month as well. As stated before, continue to review these letters at home. We will continue to work on beginning sounds and recognizing words that have the same beginning sounds, however the activities are becoming more challenging. Furthermore, students will begin to work on ending sounds and word families. In regards to mathematics, we will continue to work on recognizing and ordering numbers (1-10) along with using appropriate adjectives to describe different animals (tallest, shortest, etc.). We will now introduce ABC patterns (i.e. red, blue orange, red, blue orange) along with continuing to practice ABand ABB patterns. Furthermore, we will continue practice using the concept of measurement.

Our theme has changed to “Amazing Animals” During this time we will continue to discuss dinosaurs and then move into discussions regarding different animal habitats and other amazing animals. This theme perfectly fits into our overall magnet theme of “Where In the World” as we will discuss different habitats and their locations around the globe.

We begin our “Jump Rope for Heart” fundraiser. All proceeds go to the Jump Rope for Heart foundation and an orphanage in Haiti. Our gym teacher, Mrs. Wright, organizes the fundraiser so any questions regarding exactly how the money is divided may be forwarded to her. Please bring in any loose change you would like to donate. We will also be selling healthy snacks in class to reach our goal of raising $50.00! Furthermore, there is also a “Newtown Fundraiser.” The gym teacher at Sandy Hook in connection with Red Robin in East Hartford is selling bracelets in order to raise money for memorial lamps and indoor recess games for the students of Sandy Hook. I have a hundred bracelets to sell!! Please let me know if you are interested; bracelets cost $3.00. These are both great fundraisers to help the students understand how to “pay it forward!”

Ms.D.

On Nov. 20 we hosted a Harvest Dinner for our parents and children. We had a great family turnout and we thank Winter's parents along with several other families who joined in cooking and sharing this delicious meal! We hope that we can host another dinner like this in the spring.

We are now focusing on our magnet theme, Where in the World, learning about weather. We're also practicing rhyming and using weather symbols for math patterns. All children continue to thrive and are growing by leaps and bounds, acquiring new vocabulary every day!