“Yea!, it’s the weekend!”  I think almost everyone in the classroom has said this today.  J  We have been working so hard on learning new routines and learning new materials as well.  We all deserve a three day weekend!

This week we have started Social Studies and are learning about how to get along with others.  In this unit we have been talking a lot about what to do when someone bothers you, someone says unkind words, and we have been practicing how to be a good friend and student as well.

For shared reading, we have been talking about school and getting along with others too.  Our key words that we have learned about were: learn, share, and friends.  We have practiced writing about this as well as reading stories to go along with this topic.  During this time block in class we have been working on phonics and phonological awareness skills.  This week, our focus letter was the letter Mm and we have practiced rhyming words and listening for the number of sounds in words.  We have also practiced recognizing the letters U, S, M, R, and C and practiced making their sounds.

We have kicked off our apple unit in class.  During the next couple of weeks, we will be learning all about apples.  We have read several stories about apples and have learned many apple facts.  See if your child can tell you how an apple grows.  Our centers this week focused on apples.  The class practiced rhyming, writing numbers and coloring the correct number of apples to match the numbers, we also worked on our last shape- the cube.

On Thursday, the kids had a speech and hearing screening from Mrs. Larkin.  If she has some concerns about your child, she will be contacting you. 

Finally, on Friday, we are so close to finishing up our animal island book.  This has been a favorite of everyone in the class!  I have attached some notes from the PTO and Mrs. Douce for you to read below.  I hope everyone has a fantastic and relaxing three day weekend!  See you on Tuesday!

Below is a note from our PTO:

It has been a wonderful start to the year at CE and so fun to see the students excited about school.  The PTO is an essential partner in making our school a special place for students to learn, grow and thrive.  Throughout the school year, we rely on the PTO to help support and enhance our programming.  The PTO has already helped to provide numerous volunteers and funding to support a successful back to school kick-off.  A few examples are listed below:   

• Bus Greeters to help escort students to class
• $100 Teacher Grants for staff to buy new items for their classroom
• Coordinating the Ice Cream Social
• Staff Appreciation – School Kick-off
• Teacher iPads

Please take a moment to click on this Google Survey for our PTO.  You will have the opportunity to fill out your information for the PTO Directory and learn about volunteer opportunities the year.  We would love for all parents to complete this short survey.

From Mrs. Douce:

***Attention families:  If you are in need of a computer at home for your student, please contact Mrs. Douce, Student Services Coordinator, at 844-0168 or jdouce@ccs.k12.in.us.  A program called Net Literacy will be donating refurbished computers for families in financial need.  Please contact Mrs. Douce by September 15^th if you are interested.