Hello families,
I have been bragging on our class left and right because we have just had a really great start to our school year. We have been busy learning the expectations of the classroom and how to care for our materials appropriately. This week we worked on taking care of the library, the practical life shelf, learned about appropriate use of the iPads, how to roll out and put mats away, how to use the map cabinet, and more! We even did our first writing project which we will share with you at Open House. Thank you to those who have been brought snack in already. Having snack for every child, every day, has been really lovely for everyone. We have had enough snack for a snack during the morning work session as well as the afternoon and I cannot thank you enough for this. It makes such a difference when our kids have energy to keep them powering through the day. We are currently doing a lot of SEL lessons (social emotional learning) and we are beginning to focus in on the Montessori Peace Value lessons. This week we learned about "Do right" and we talked a lot about doing right by our classroom and what this looks like and sounds like. Your child should have gone home with a "bracelet" with a single orange bead. Orange represents this peace value and as we learn about each value their bracelets will grow. They are responsible for keeping track of these. We will also be making peace flags for each value that they will be taking home towards the end of September. If your child has not brought in photos yet for their timeline books, please send those in by the end of next week. We are going to start putting together our books that will be used as part of our timeline lessons as well as for our Celebrations of Life this year. The spelling words are posted for next week under "weekly spelling words". The kids will be practicing these at school twice per week on the computer and are welcome to do so at home but it is not homework or required. I'm going to keep our "word work", which is part of our Daily 5 (literacy activities), strictly Montessori materials so that they are not getting too much screen time at school. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to drop by for a chat or send me an email. Thank you for a really great start to our year and have a great weekend! Christine Homan Important Dates: Pyrah's Peak field trip - September 13th at 9am Open House - September 14th at 6pm Picture Day! - September 28th (Forms to go home soon) Leo's Celebration of Life - September 29th at 2:45pm In-Service day (No school!) - October 20th Half-Days/Parent Teacher Conferences - October 25th & 26th In-Service day (No school!) - October 27th Fall Carnival - October 27th
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Hello families, We made it through our first week of school and it was truly spectacular. I am being genuine when I say that this has been the best week of my teaching career. These kids are simply lovely, kind, and so respectful of each other and our environment. I am so excited for all that we are going to be able to do this school year. This week we have been practicing taking out materials, using them correctly, and putting them away in their appropriate place. We have also been working hard on our SEL (social emotional learning) activities to strengthen our classroom community. I often refer to our classroom as a family since we spend so much time together over the course of not only the current school year but THREE years! It is important for us to spend this time learning the classroom expectations so that we can have the best school year possible. If you have not yet sent the field trip form back to school, please do so soon. They are due Wednesday with $7 per person. Currently we need a few more chaperones. I have a few "maybe" chaperones but only one other adult other than myself that is confirmed. Next week we are going to be working on our Montessori peace value lessons as well as continuing to learn how to appropriately use the materials in the classroom. If you have not sent in photos of your child's life (one photo per year), please do so by the end of next week so that we can begin working on our timeline books. Thank you to everyone for your support, it means a lot to me and to our classroom environment. Also: our alternative seating project was FULLY FUNDED through Donors Choose! We should be getting our new seats sometime in the next few weeks. Be sure to come by our classroom and check out our environment if you haven't done so yet. One of our lovely classroom moms suggested I start an Amazon wish list for our classroom. I do a lot of fundraising/requests through Donors Choose and you can always search my name there if you'd like to donate to the cause. Most of the materials I ask for through these things are authentic Montessori materials as they're very expensive and it can be hard to get things through the districts. Here is my wish list link: http://a.co/ausy0ra Have a great weekend, enjoy the fair and your family. Christine Homan Hello families,
It was so nice to meet all of our new families at the picnic and to see familiar faces too! I am really looking forward to getting started this year; we have so many fun things planned! I am sending home a ridiculous amount of paperwork (sorry!) on the first day of school. Please remember that Xtramath, Lexia, and Spelling City are all optional activities for home. Your child will be using Spelling City and Lexia at school 2-3 times per week so I am simply providing you with their login information to use at your whim. The letters with their login information states X amount of time per day/week, please ignore that. However, your child should not be on the programs for long stretches of time and they should be doing the work independently. If they are not successful on their own please have them log off. Along with the computer programs I have sent home a textbook and workbook for each child. GoMath is the district math program and we use it as supplemental work at Denali as our main focus is on using Montessori curriculum. It is just another resource for you to use at home as you wish. If you want to toss it, please do. We have a field trip on September 13th. We will need 6 chaperones for this trip. Please see the "field trip" tab for more information on this. This year we are going to have a snack calendar. I have already put it together and posted it on the "snack" tab. Please check the date your child has been assigned. It will be once a month. If you are unable to provide snack please let me know, I will be sure to provide snack for the kids that day. I am still using the Remind system, as well as this website. If you are not on the text message service, please enroll in it. It's the easiest way for me to send out reminders and quick information at no cost to you. As always, if you have any questions, concerns or you just want to chat you can find me in my classroom after 8am or after school until 4. I'm also quick to answer emails, usually. Here is to another fabulous school year! Christine Homan |
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