*We are reading the words - I, and, the, Frits, fat, flat, fan, can, man, clan, van, pan, lots, got, pot.  Please practice reading these words with your child.
*Please review the Frits book with your child.  Read the story "Frits".  Have your child read you the story.  Please help him/her blend the sounds together to read the words in the story.   Let your child tell you all that they have learned about the letter Ff and fishing.  
*Have your child read the sentence "I got a ______"  What are some words that you can add to finish the sentence.
*We are learning about telling and asking sentences.  Ask your child to give you some examples of each sentence.  What do we put at the end of a telling sentence?  (a period .)  What do we put at the end of an asking sentence?  (a question mark ?)
*Are these asking or telling sentences?  I like the color purple.  (telling)  What is your favorite toy?  (asking)
*In religion, we are learning about families.  Have your child share their family tree with you.  Share some stories about your family with your child.
*In math, we are decomposing numbers 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.  We are "breaking" these numbers into two part or groups.  Then, we are checking our answers by adding the two parts together to get the number we started with.  Example - some of the ways that we can make/show 10 -----  10 = 5 + 5,  10 = 3 + 7,  
10 = 2 + 8,  10 = 4 + 6,......
*We did a blubber experiement.  Did the blubber bag keep your hand warm in the icy water?  Was your hand cold when it was in the icy water?  How do you think a polar bear, penguin, or a walrus feels wearing blubber all over their bodies?
*If you were a hibernating bear, what would you eat lots of before you go into your den for the winter?  (some answers were - steak, broccoli, strawberries, candy, cookies,....)
*We created a Makerspace STEM project.  In design teams of 2, we built bear dens.  There were lots of materials available to build with - marshmallows, toothpicks, uncooked linguine, foam pieces.  Ask your child who they worked with to build their bear den?  What materials did you use?  Did you have to build and then rebuild your bear den?  Did all of your ideas work the first time?  Did you think of a different or better way to build your bear den as you were building it?  Did you have fun?
*Did you enjoy our JanuBEARY Day?  What was your favorite activity?

*****Happy Birthday Veronica.  Thank you for sharing your special treats with the class.  Everyone enjoyed the pizza and cupcakes.*****
*Please read the Tic, Tac, Toc book with your child.  We have practiced reading the story "Tag".  Please listen to your child read "Tag".  Remind your child to read the pictures and the words.
*Who is our newest Superkid? (Fritz)  *What does Fritz love to do?  (fish)  *Who did Fritz teach how to fish? (Lily)  *Would you want to go fishing with Fritz and Lily?
*Practice writing the uppercase and lowercase letter Ff.   Remember Ff is a tall letter.  Ff touches all three lines.  
*Can you think of some words that start with the letter Ff and the /f/ sound?  (fish, fruit, fun, feather,...)
*We are learning to read these words - is, it, dig, sit, last, fist, toss, got, fat, fill, still, flat.  Please practice reading these words with your child.
*In math, we are sorting items into categories.  Grab a handful of small toys or items.  Have your child put the items into two groups.  Compare the categories/groups.  Which category is greater in number/more?
*In math, we are also learning about "what makes sense".  We are using our math logic to figure out the best answer and to explain our answers.   Example  - Does this problem make sense?  5 + 2 = 3  Why?
*How can we spread peace in our classroom?  How can we spread peace at home?  How can we spread peace in our world?  These are some of the answers that the class came up with -  being kind, being helpful, loving each other, being nice, saying kind words, giving compliments, using our good manners, remembering that Jesus loves us and telling others about Jesus' love, following the rules, watching out for others, being a super friend,....  
*Would you want to be a bear scientist?  Read our Let's Find Out booklet with your family.  How do bear scientist give bear cubs a check up?
*What does hibernate mean?  (animals that go into a deep sleep during the winter)
*Why do bears hibernate in the winter?  (because their is not enough food for them to eat all winter long)
*Can you think of some animals that hibernate?  (some frogs, chipmunks, bears, ladybugs, some snakes)



 

Week of January 9th

***Happy Birthday Sophia.  Thank you for sharing popsicle treats with the class.****
***Happy Birthday Lucas.  Thank you for sharing your special treats with the class.****
*Our Superkid trio - Tic, Tac, and Toc like to play games together.  Do you like to play games with your friends?    *How do TIc, Tac, and Toc play the game, Follow the Leader?  We practiced reading the following sentence:  Tic is it.  Tac is last.  Tac is it.  Toc is last.  Toc is it.  Tic is last.  *Please help your child sound out the words and read the sentences.  
*We are focusing on the middle vowels in words.  Just like in our Superkids' names Tic, Tac, Toc.  If we change just the middle vowel and keep the consonants the same, we can get a new word.  Examples - cat, cot, cut or pat, pit, pot, put....  *Please practice making and reading these words with your child.
*Can you find the different word -  list, list, last  -  cat, cot, cat.  We are working on noticing the small differences - word discrimination.  Which word is different?  Which words are the same?  Why?
*Tic, Toc, and Tac remind us about being a good friend.  They like to play together, they share, and take turns.  
*We are learning about Dr. Martin Luther King.  Can you follow Dr. King's example and treat people kindly and fairly?  Remember it is the right thing to do!
*In honor of Dr. King, we painted peace signs to display in our classroom.  The peace sign reminds us to solve our problems peacefully.  Talking things out is the right thing to do!
*In math, we are learning how to look at items and put them into groups.  We are learning how to make different categories.  
*Who are the members of The Holy Family?  (Jesus, Mary, and Joseph)  *Who are the members of your family?  What makes your family special?  What makes The Holy Family special?
 

 Week of January 3rd

*Happy New Year!  Welcome 2023!  
*Did you enjoy our New Year Party?  What did we make and eat?  We made a NYC ball drop out of a cupcake, a coffee stirrer, and a marshmallow.  We had a great time sliding the marshmallow down to the cupcake and then eating it.  Yum!!!  We made a class toast to the new year with some "kid champange".
*Please review your child's Icky book with them.  Practice writing the letter Ii.  Think of some words that start with the i /i/ sound.  
*Who are our newest Superkids?  Tic, Tac, and Toc - are they triple trouple or a triple treat?  What do you think?  Maybe a little of both.  
*What do TIc, Tac, and Toc like to do?  (jump on a trampoline, tap dance, play the tuba, trombone, and the trumpet, play tennis...
*Please practice writing the uppercase and lowercase Tt.  Remember the letter Tt is tall and touches all three lines.
*Our class is looking forward to having some snow.  We made some winter trees with snow.  We learned about evergreen trees, and how they do not lose their leaves and they remain green year round.  Go on a winter walk and look for some evergreen trees.
*In math, we continue to practice our addition skills.  We are adding numbers within 10.  Please practice adding at home too.  Have fun and make a game out of it.
*Who are the Wise Men/3 Kings/Magi?  What special gifts did they bring to Baby Jesus?  How did they know where Jesus was?  What did they follow to find Jesus?
*We reviewed the --ad family words.  Can you think of some words that rhyme with sad?   (lad, mad, had, dad, fad, glad,...)