Reading

The importance of reading to children cannot be over emphasized. The importance of reading to children is significant in child development, and reading books to little ones at an early age is essential. In fact, reading childrens stories aloud is one of the most important activities we, as parents, grandparents, teachers, and care-givers, can do for our kids. The importance of reading to children plays out in a myraid of developmental, emotional, and learning issues from bonding and security . . . to learning to read . . . to future success.

As your child gets older and can understand the stories you read, take time to ask questions, e.g. What do you think will happen next? Do you know what that word means? Which character is your favorite? You can have her retell the story or make up a new one with the same characters.Reading to children is so crucial that parents should find time to do it every day. You will be surprised at how creative you can be at finding time to read aloud to your child. Read while waiting to see the pediatrician, having a treat at a restaurant, waiting in line at the store, or cooking dinner. Instead of watching the news, turn off the TV and read aloud. You can read aloud in the morning before school and, of course, at bedtime. Read a story aloud while waiting for the bus. Make tapes of yourself or another family member reading stories and play them in the car on the way to school or daycare.

Older siblings, relatives,

and friends may alsoenjoy reading aloud. When your child is ready, encourage him or her to read aloud to you and the rest of the family. This will pave the way for a love of reading.

Math Attack

We have been working hard with different combinations of coins. The children are doing a great job. If you have coins in your pocket or purse, lay them out for your child to add. Extra practice will help them to become successful with money.

Book A Night

Book A Night is a program to help your child's reading increase with speed and fluency. Please work with your child for ten minutes a night. If your child is reading a chapter book, sign a chapter a night until the book is done. If it is a smaller book have your child read the book that night and send back the next day for another one. I work on the honor system. The children check out one of my books and bring them back. If they loose one of my books, I ask that they replace it.

Math Sharks

• I wrote and received a grant last year and was able to purchased 6 math sharks for our classroom.
• Using Math Sharks is a way to build skills through math practice. It is timed drills, non-stop feedback with lights and sounds!

Children Builds Math Skills Fast! It is a portable electronic game and a full-function calculator that really makes math easy and fun! Students play against MathShark's clock with random or sequential drills. Math Skills include: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Fractions, Decimals, and Percents. MathShark's progressive levels build and sharpen mental math skills from basic math facts to pre-algebra practice. Students can improve at their own pace with a timed, no-fail game format. Lights and tones make math exciting and learning effective!

Listening to Reading

As teachers we are dealing with a generation that is totally wired. Students who grew up in a techno-drenched atmosphere that has trained them to absorb and process information in fundamentally different ways than we ever did. This generation of students are armed with cell phones, laptops, and iPods, instead of spiral notebooks and No. 2 pencils.

We compete with social technologies --such as blogs, wikis, mys space, facebook and other media-syndications. This media allows anyone to shift from consuming to being a media creator. This technology gives students a powerful media-authoring tool. As teachers, student centered learning means relinquishing a degree of control, but doing so also makes it possible to help them learn in more effective ways than ever before.

We have six ipods that we are using in our classroom for listening to reading as well as educational podcasts. The children are using the ipods for comprehension, fluency, and interests in science and social studies. We hope to get more ipods for our classroom through donations and grants.

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Welcome Class 2009-2010

It is so exciting to start a new year with such a wonderful group of students. I am looking so forward to working with your children and truly want to thank you for trusting them in my care. Our future is in their hand and great leadership and leaders will come from them.