Our first fabulous full week

We had such an amazing and busy week down in South America! The students have learned the routines of the school and classroom very quickly. Each day we have made new friends and have dived right into Readers and Writers Workshop!

The students were given their very own writing journal this week. As they have been returning to school they have been looking fabulous! We have seen such a wide variety of decorations: Pictures, stickers, book covers, wrapping paper, ribbon... The list goes on and on. Thank you for taking the time to help your child add a personal touch. These will now stay at school for them to journal in everyday.

Another new item students were given this week was their PLANNER. Please check and sign the planner daily. This is a great tool for you to know how your child's behavior was and is so important for our communication. I will write reminders and notes for you and your child. We talk about 'student responsibility' in class and failure to bring your planner to school results in not being able to particpate in Lunch Club on Friday.

The weekly newsletter also went home on Monday with The Connection printed on the back. It is extremely important that you read both so you are informed on what is going on in our classroom/school for the week.

FOLDER UPDATE: We are still in a great need of the 3-prong (duo-tang), 2-pocket, plastic folders in red, green, yellow, and blue. I know how hard it has been this year to find these and I appreciate you continuing to check for them each week. The folders need the 3 prongs in the middle and two pockets for all their papers. We need folders for each child for reading, writing, homework, and math. I have heard a rumor that Office Depot currently has them. Thank you again for your patience and dedication for hunting them down.

Other than the folders, the classroom is really stocked well for the year. The Ticket Tuesday collection is wonderful and Mrs. Tsengas and I appreciate everyone who has brought in their materials and picked up composition notebooks as well. Thank you all very much!

HOMEWORK: You know it's a good sign when each day last week I was asked"When are we starting homework?' Well, it is arriving this week! Your child will bring home their homework folder and inside will be papers for you on the left, and homework in the right. It will be checky twice a week on Wednesday and Friday. Obvioulsy we won't have homework on Monday this week so Tuesday's homework will be checked on Wednesday. On Friday, we will check and discuss Wednes. and Thurs. homework.

The homework is based off of what we are learning in Skills Block and incorporates our weekly spelling words. Please encourage your child to complete their homework with their best effort and discuss and questions they might have with them.


Their spelling words for the week will also be in their folder. We have weekly spelling tests on Friday. A great tool to help them study their spelling is www.spellingcity.com
Directions for the website will be in their Homework folder. Basically you go to 'Find my List', enter my name (Evanko), select the week, and you can play games with our spelling words. I love this site and the children really seem to enjoy it as well. I also listed other helpful sites on the right side of my blog.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your long weekend and feel free to write a note in your child's planner for me or send an email.