8/21 class newsletter

News From Mrs. Denny’s Class
August 21, 2009
denny@lpatucson.org

Newsworthy Notes
8/24-9/9: Entertainment Book Sale Begins. Our class can win great prizes if we are the first class to turn in our orders.

8/24-8/28: The Book Fair will be set up in the cafeteria all next week. It will be open after school from 3:15-4:30 Tuesday through Thursday.
The book fair will also be open during open house.

8/26: 6-8 p.m - Open House.

8/31: Picture Day. Please come dressed in the school uniform.

9/2: 1st Dress down day. Your choice if you bring one dollar. (Remember…no spaghetti straps, short skirts or flip flops.)

9/7: Labor Day. No School!

Homework: Your child will have independent reading, math and spelling every night. On some nights, students may have unfinished work or a study guide for an upcoming test.
I have asked the students to get their reading calendar signed off each night after they have read 20+ minutes. They know that any adult who sees them read may sign their calendar. We will do this for at least the 1st and 2nd quarter until the students have developed a nightly reading habit.
Please help your child complete their homework by providing a quiet place to work each night and a reminder to bring their work to school each day.

Curriculum Notes:
Students have been taking beginning of the year assessments. It has been noted that many are still weak in their math facts (especially subtraction, multiplication and division).
I have asked students to make it a goal to practice on their own. Once they know a fact, they should be able to answer it in under 3 seconds. We discussed some fun web sites that offer excellent ways to practice. Please encourage your child to practice:
www.funbrain.com
www.playkidsgame.com
www.freerice.com
www.math.com

We kicked off our Saxon Math program this week. We completed lessons 2 & 3 which focus on numbers and numeration.

We have started our Character Counts lessons. We reviewed the 6 pillars of character and will be working on a separate pillar each month. We will begin with Trustworthiness and move on to Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship.

We have begun to read The City of Ember. What a great story to start the year. Students are learning “good reader” strategies, and we are integrating writing into our story time.
If your child still does not have his/her copy of the book, please try Borders, Barnes & Noble, Bookman’s or the public library to secure a copy.

We will take our 1st spelling test this Friday. Unit one included 2 spelling dictation sentences; however, I will not be testing the students on dictation until later in the year. We will continue to practice dictation with each new unit introduced.

Students will also be responsible for knowing the definitions of 5 vocabulary words every 2 weeks. We are in the process of learning: miscellaneous, dismissal, sequence, expanded form, and pluralism.

We began Social Studies this week with an expository text scavenger hunt. Students will be learning strategies that will help them read expository text with greater ease this year.


Parent Information:
I wanted to let you know what a joy your children are to work with. They each have their own talents and special personalities.

A little about me…
I have been involved in education for over 20 years. I have my master’s degree in education and am currently working on my reading endorsement.
I have a husband, Steve, as well as two boys in Jr. High and High School. We spend a lot of time at football fields and in basketball gyms.

If you need to contact me for any reason, please email me at denny@lpatucson.org or call the school office at 721-4205. I will check my email once a day, so I may not get back to you until the next day. Thank you.

PLEASE help your child to arrive at school on time. When he/she is late, it impacts their entire day. They miss out on the morning routine and instructions for the day and feel flustered about trying to catch up. I am hoping you will make it a top priority.

IMPORTANT
Volunteers: Please note that in order to volunteer at school (including field trips), you need to fill out a form and be finger-printed. You can pick up the paperwork at the front desk. Dates to be fingerprinted will be posted at the front office. Once you are cleared, you can begin to volunteer. I’ll let you know when we can begin.
For those who mentioned they would like to help with some fine arts resources, we now have a music and art teacher this year who will be taking over that role. The students are very excited about this!