September 28

It's hard to imagine the summer is almost over. During the past month we've worked hard on improving everyone's handwriting, phonics, reading, and spelling in preparation for the work we'll be doing in the months ahead. I've been very happy and proud of how well everyone has done, and I look forward to seeing their continued growth....
This week we did addition and number review in math class. In phonics we reviewed blended sounds ( ch, sh, th, ck, wh, etc... ) In addition to phonics, we also practiced alphabetical order in class this week. ( The kids actually did well and learned it pretty quickly. ) In reading class we read "Young Amelia Earhart" and several of the short poems throughout book 5.
On Friday we went to the park in the morning for PE class, and in the afternoon we made chocolate chip cookies.
Starting next week we'll be starting the regular schedule and begin working on the new textbooks
( math, reading, phonics, Tops, and science )

August 21st

Hello everyone,
This week I'm happy to announce we have two new students in the Polar Bear class, Estella and Nicole. ( I'm sure Claire will be happy to not be the only girl in class now. ) I hope everyone can say "hi" and give them a warm welcome to Tree House.
Anyway, this week we've been doing more reading and writing in class. For the past week and a half we've been watching the tv show Green Lantern for about ten minutes a day. We finally finished the show on Wednesday, and everyone wrote a short story about their favorite things about the Green Lantern. The class concecses is taht the'te strong, cool, and they can fly.

In reading class we read the stories New Shoes for Silvia and the Story of a Blue Bird. In phonics we're almost finshed with the book!We have two more pages left... We learned about contarctions this week ( I'm, he's, she's , they'll, she'll, etc...) In art class we made zoo collages, and finally we've been doing more work improving the kids handwriting skills. I'm happy to say they're all getting much better at spelling and writing sentences.

Albert has been doing very well in class. He's made a lot of progress improving his handwriting, and he has also gotten much better in art class.

Kyle has been getting much better at reading. He's much more confident, and he's also very eager to read in class.

Claire has been doing very good at writing. Her spelling and sentences have improved tremendously since last year, and I'm sure she'll do an excellent job in the year ahead.

Nicole and Estella both did very well in class today. Nicole was a little shy at the start of the day, but she soon opened up and had a fun time. Estella was also very good in class. She was a little slow eating her snack and lunch, but aside from that she also did very well. I'm sure the two of them will adjust nicely to the Polar Bear class, the other kids in class are all very friendly and nice and I know that everyone will become good friends.

photos

August 15th

Hello again,
This week we had a fun time going to the Museum of Fine Art to see the Pixar exhibit. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend going. The kids really enjoyed themselves, and I was pretty impressed myself. The rest of the week was spent working on reading, writing, phonics, and math.

This week we read You can't Smell a Flower with Your Ear and Owl and Moon in reading class. In addition to reading the stories we also practiced writing short essays about what each story was about. The kids have all made a lot of progress improving their penmanship over the past few weeks, especially Devon.

In math we started learning about measuring and using a measuring stick to see how long something is.

In Phonics we're getting closer to finishing the phonics book. This week we worked on sounds ch and kn ( cheese, choose, chicken, etc..and knock, knee, knob, etc..) CH is pretty easy for the kids to learn, but KN has been a little more troublesome because of the silent "K" sound.

In art class we continued to work on our life size robots.

As I said before, Devon is making a lot of progress on his hand writing. He's paying more attention to leaving space between each word, and is also working harder to write more neatly and clearly.

Kyle had a great time at the museum. He's also been doing great in class. He's getting much better at writing sentences.

Claire learned how to use a measuring stick very quickly this week. She was able to pick up the concept and apply it very quickly in class. Way to go, Claire!

Albert had a great time at the museum as well. He's also matured a lot in class, he's been working much harder at paying attention and staying on target to complete his work. Way to go, Albert!

A New Beginning....

Hi everyone,
Well, it's the start of a new semester... Last year we did a lot of work on improving the kids reading, writing, and phonic skills. This year I hope to improve on these areas, most importantly I'd like the kids to begin to write their own sentences and stories using the phonic skills they have learned over the past year. I'm also hoping to have each child improve their handwriting skills and also write more clear and neatly.
This week we've been working on both reading and writing in class. We've re-read the story Shrinking Mouse, and also practiced writing sentences to explain what the story was about. Last week we also made Father's Day cards and life size robots for art class. And finally in phonics we learned about the th sound ( three, this, that,etc..)

Kyle did very well last week. He's picked up where he left off last semester and is steadily improving his reading and writing.

Claire made a very nice Father's day card in art class.

Albert is getting very good at writing. His hand writing has improved dramatically over the past few months and he's become very neat and meticulous when he writes. way to go, Albert!

Devon made a great robot in art class. He worked very hard on it, and was the first to finish it in class. He was very proud of his accomplishment!