December+Newsletter

Dear Families,

I can’t believe December is already here! Time just flies by! We are all continuing to work hard. All of your children are so flexible and adapt to working with different teachers and parents. Adults are always walking in and out and it doesn’t seem to bother them one bit!

In reading groups, your children continue to make steady progress. They all have been working hard. During this time, as a small group, we first activate prior knowledge. This means we talk about what they already know about the topic of the book. Then we do a picture walk through the story to discuss what the story might be about. We cover the words and concentrate only on the pictures! This is extremely hard for first graders who are just so excited about reading! We stop through the picture walk to make predictions about the story. We continue to practice using different reading strategies while reading. As the text gets more difficult, the focus turns from decoding to comprehension. The skills and strategies of comprehending a story are focused on while reading the text. Making connections between our lives and the stories we are reading is the first step. When you read at home, stop at different parts of the story to see if it reminds your child of anything. You can begin by modeling and say “This reminds me of…..” or “I read a book once that was similar to this story.” We all know this is the age where children love to talk about their lives and what is happening in it. Sharing stories and making connections during reading groups is always a favorite! This also goes along with our comprehension program called Making Meaning. We are working on making connections to the stories and then turning to our partners and sharing. By working with a partner and sharing, we are all able to talk and discuss the story.

The retelling of a story is something else we continue to work on. This is our second chapter of the Making Meaning program. Remembering characters names, where the story takes place, as well as the problem, and solution of the story are all main points of a retell. This is a difficult skill for children to learn. After you have read a story with your child, ask them to describe details from the story.

Your child’s first report card this school year will be distributed Thursday, December 13th. On the first report card you will see some N’s (Needs Improvement) or I’s (Improving). Do not be too concerned with this. As the year goes on, you will see a lot of the N’s and I’s change to S’s! (Satisfactory) In first grade we do not give S+ or S-. Please call me if you have any questions about the report card.

**//__ Upcoming Events __//** Chaperones are: **//__Mary Walsh, Eva Counter, and Drew Yurasek__//** Chaperones, please arrive to school at 8:30 a.m. Thank you all others who volunteered. Unfortunately, we can’t take everyone with us this time. There will be other opportunities for you to chaperone the next field trip!
 * Tuesday, December 11th: Author Visit
 * Wednesday, December 12th: Field trip to The Science Center in West Hartford
 * Thursday, December 13th: Report Cards Distributed
 * Monday, December 17th: holiday concert rehearsal: 1:45


 * Thursday, December 20th: Town Meeting 2:00

Come join us! Enjoy your holiday season! Wishing you and your families a healthy and happy new year!
 * Friday, December 21st: 4th grade play: Snow Day: 9:00 a.m.
 * Friday, December 21st: 1st grade Holiday party: 11:30-12:15

Sincerely, Keri Sciuto