Welcome 2016!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and holiday season!  I'm looking forward to this new year and all the fun things I have planned for the kids.  As a quick reminder, Miss Rachel Clegg will be substituting for me the first week back after the holiday break.  She met all the children in December at circle time and will do great!  If you need to call or text her, you can reach her at 801-668-4438.

Here are January's calendars.  Please be sure to read the class news at the bottom of both calendars!  :)

MWF 10am-12pm JANUARY 2016 Value of the month: Responsibility

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
3	4 Capital “J” Units: Calendar/Days/Months Positions Numbers: 8 (Starting sight words today!) snack: Chloe	5	6 Lowercase “j” Units: Calendar/Days/Months Positions Number: 8 Show n' Tell Bags: Kacen and Claire snack: Claire	7	8 Review games for: -All letters learned this school year -All numbers 0 – 8 Snack: Annie	9
10	11 Capital “W” Number: 9 Number Games! snack: Kacen	12	13 Lowercase“w” Number: 10 Number Games! Show n' Tell Bags: Natalee and Tanner Snack: Tanner	14	15 Math to the Moon: Counting, skip counting, and simple addition Assessments snack: Kinzlee	16
17	18 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day No School	19	20 Letters Kk Number: 11 Unit: Nursery Rhymes Old King Cole Boys are “KING” today! Snack: Tyce	21 Assessments <----------------- -------------------->	22 Unit: Nursery Rhymes Vowels Review and sounding out words. Show n' Tell Bags: Brooklyn and Kinzlee snack: Brooklyn	23
24/31	25 Capital “Q” Girls are “QUEEN” today! Number: 12 Nursery Rhyme: Queen of Hearts Snack: Natalee	26	27 Lowercase “q” Number: 12 Shape: Heart Show n' Tell Bags: Tyce and Natalee snack: Mie	28	29 Fun in the kitchen Making Tarts (from the nursery rhyme Queen of Hearts) snack: Miss SueZan	30

January 2016 T/Th class

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
3	4	5 Capital “J” Units:Calendar/Days/Months Positions Numbers: 8 (Starting sight words today!) snack:Ava	6	7 Lowercase “j” Units:Calendar/Days/Months Positions Number: 8 Show n' Tell Bags: Ada & Bennett snack: Macie	8	9
10	11	12 Capital “W” Number: 9 Number Games! Snack: Ada	13	14 Lowercase“w” Number: 10 Number Games! Show n' Tell Bags: Ava & Cooper Snack: Jaxson	15	16
17	18 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day	19 Capital K Number: 11 Unit: Nursery Rhymes Old King Cole Boys are “KING” today! Snack: Cooper	20 Snack: Tyce	21 Lowercase k Number: 11 Unit: Nursery Rhymes Show n' Tell Bags: Embry &Taj snack: Taj	22 Assessments <-----------------	23
24/31	25	26 Capital “Q” Girls are “QUEEN” today! Number: 12 Nursery Rhyme: Queen of Hearts Snack: Embry	27	28 Lowercase “q”Number: 12 Shape: Heart Show n' Tell Bags: Kenzie & Daphne snack:Daphne	29 Assessments <-----------------	30

Welcome to 2016!

The value of the month is Responsbility, {RESPONSIBILITY: Doing what we have said we will do; being accountable for our actions and consequences because we know right from wrong; being dependable and reliable; not making excuses or blaming others.}

I will be teaching them the sign language for Responsibility and talking to them continually about it during snack time and pointing it out when I see the students using the value (like picking up toys, hanging up their coats and backpacks when they come in, cleaning up after themselves at snack time, etc.) I feel that this will be a great addition to our class conversations. :)

Two big things that we will start this month and an announcement!

Sight words: The school year is half way through now! Can you believe it? And the kids are doing great! We are going to start sight words in January. Sight words don't require the child to know the entire alphabet with each sound that's made, because they aren't “sounding out” the words. I will help them with learning to sound things out too, but for right now, it's just to sight read. So what I have been doing (and feel free to do this at home) is taken five words and during circle time and recap time, I go through each one. i.e. I hold up the word “in” and I say, “This is the word 'in'. What is it?” And they all respond, “in”. This is the word 'up'. What is it? And they all respond, “up.”. I know it sounds a little crazy, but I promise it works over time. It's a technique I learned in a literacy group just out of college.

The sight words for January are: I, in, is, it, big, we, up

Number Recognition and Simple Addition: I will be working with them on patterns and counting/recognizing numbers up to 12 this month. I would love it if you could listen to your child count and see if they are getting those in order. Ask them questions when you are driving together or doing activities together. If you have 2 forks on the table for dinner and there needs to be 6 forks, how many more do you need? I don't expect them to know that off the top of their head, but I'd like them to start seeing the real world application of it. Get those wheels turning even more. :) Towards the end of the month, I will be doing mid-year assessments. I will be doing these during class time and then will send a report home. At the end of April, I will do one more assessment which parent(s) can attend if they wish.

Coming in May 2016: Some of you may know, but some may not, so I wanted to make sure it was out there! I found out in autumn that I am due with a baby on May 12^th. I am still working out how to handle the month of May since this beautiful surprise landed me due two weeks before our usual preschool graduation. (Yikes!) Thanks for your patience and understanding. :) I really appreciate it.

Looking forward to this awesome new year!

Miss SueZan 

(P.S. For the MWF class.  There's a professional development day on the Weber County schedule for Jan 15, but I still plan to hold school that day.)