Goodness Gracious Gosh Oh Gee, Golly It Would Be!
Dear Parents,
We hope you enjoyed your long, relaxing Labor Day weekend with family and friends! We jumped right back into learning on Tuesday without missing a beat.
We bid a farewell to Oswald, as the kids completed their workbook on his fascinating odd animals and said hello to a new friend, a dog named Golly! Golly loves rummaging for food in garbage cans and he’s always hoping to find something in Cass’s leftovers, silly dog! With the introduction of Golly, the class has been learning to write upper and lower case G’s, as well as learning the /g/ sound. They’ve come up with some clever words for our board: goodness, gardenias, green, gold and gown! On Thursday we constructed green garbage cans with Golly and on Friday we spent time finding pictures that start with the /g/ sound to fill our garbage cans. We also made hats with big floppy ears so that we could all look like Golly for a day!
The class has also been really focused on math this week, as we continue learning about geometry. I worked on introducing solid figures such as rectangular prisms, cones, cylinders, cubes, and spheres into the lesson, as well as talking about corners and sides to each one. I had the children play a quick game with me where we each walked in a line down the sides of the rug or within the classroom and when we bumped into one another, well, there’s your corner! They had a good laugh over that activity.
In social studies this week I taught the class about maps and compasses. We started off the lesson by learning each direction (Never Eat Soggy Waffles, right!) The best part was having the kids all use a real compass as we went on a walk around campus! Did you know Wood Acres has a giant compass rose in the quad? It was a fun learning excursion and we all took turns guessing what direction our compass would say as we rounded each building.
We began our first Science lesson this week and discussed how Science is all around us. The children observed and explored as a Scientist would! Next week we will head to the lab to check out and learn about all the tools we will be using this year!
Last week in Art we finished up our spaceships! We thought it would be a great addition to our geometry lesson too! This week in Music we were singing penguins, pirates, and baseball players, oh my! The kiddos danced and sang their hearts away! The kids are still working on their fine motor skills in Technology with Mrs. Butcher by using the mouse. If any of you are interested in the games Mrs. Butcher uses in class, please let us know!
We also had our first Book Buddies meeting on Friday with Mrs. Sieba’s six-grade class! The children all paired up with their book buddies and ate lunch together! What a surprise for Fabulous Fun Friday!
Last but certainly not least, a huge thank you to all of you for celebrating my summer birthday for our Fabulous Fun Friday! What a surprise and fun treat from you all! Thank you so much for bringing me back to my childhood with a delicious cookie cake and to top it off, it had a beautiful peacock on it! I feel extremely blessed to have you all as parents this year! Thank you, thank you!
Before I go, there are a few important reminders:
We have officially kicked off our mystery reader program on Shutterfly! This is such a fun way to surprise your child in the classroom and read their favorite book to their friends as well. You can sign up for a time slot (Friday’s from 8:45 a.m.-9a.m.) on Shutterfly. Please be sure to sign up only two times so that everyone has a chance We hope to see you each week for this special treat!
Our VIP schedule will also be up on our Shutterfly account! Our very first VIP will start the week of September 9!
Also, be sure to sign up for parent-teacher conferences on September 23-24 on sign up genius! If your child has a sibling at Wood Acres, there is no need for you to sign up as I will coordinate with their teacher. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to speak with each of you and your child’s journey in learning at Wood Acres.
And last, but certainly not least, the word of the week is: GLADIOLAS!
With love,
Ms. Porto and Ms. Kathie
