December 5, 2007

Dear Best Buddies,

Tis the season to be writing thank you notes. What a life skill! I have a rule at my house that it(the gift) can't be used until you have written a note of appreciation. This really works! Occasionally they even write one without my prompting.

Bear of the Day is back by popular demand. Yes, the students wanted to take Beav home and write their won story. My only task for you as parents is to help your children revise and edit  the story. I expect every sentence to have capital letters and correct punctuation. I also am encouraging them to "stretch" their sentences to make them more interesting. Ask them about sizzling words! ( Adjectives are words that describe nouns.) Please refer to your child's "words to learn" lists and reinforce our basic priority words, short vowel words, and words that can be phonetically spelled.

For those of you have been visiting the CRCT website, don't worry if your children don't know everything. There are a lot of skills that we have been not introduced at this time of year. However, we will teach these skills in the very near future.

We have been telling time to the nearest minute. Please reinforce telling time by asking your child to tell you what time it is throughout the day. An analog (face) watch is a great gift idea. I received my first watch when I was in third grade.

Other small gift ideas may include: new crayons, pencils, erasers, stationery, and stamps. You may want to ask your child if they need these items  at school as well. And of course, books are always a special gift.

We are also counting change with money. The concept is to count up from the price to the amount you started with.  At school, we have "The Beaver Grocery Store". You could set up something at home as well. What about buying T.V. time?

Congratulations to our Reflection Medal Winners: Alyssa(3!), Anna, Richard, and Matthew. We know you can make a difference...

Congratulations to Parker for winning the Sally Foster  Funky Monkey Drawing. ( to arrive soon)

Don't forget that in lieu of the December Book Report, the students are writing about a favorite tradition they enjoy. This can be a family reunion in July. We will begin sharing as they start coming in, however, they are not due until December 19, 2007. Please refer to the blue half sheet that came home on Friday in their "Buddy Folder".

Please sign the poetry folder. This lets me know that the children are reading the poems to you and explaining the skills that we covered . Review all of the poems in the folder and count it as your child's twenty minutes  of nightly reading.

I will be sending a math page that tells about The Etowah Indian Mounds in Cartersville, Georgia. Because of your children's background knowlege on Native Americans, this wouold be a great family field trip over the winter holidays. There are so many places to visit right in our own backyard!

Thank you again for working with your children at home. I feel very fortunate to have a partnership with you.

Kind Regards,

Deanna Beaver