Thank you to everyone who was able to come to Open House.  It is always exciting for children to share their classroom and some of the things they are working on with families.

For a couple of weeks we have been working on sight words, focusing initially on is, a, and the, which are almost always in our morning message.  Practicing and learning sight words is a great way to work on fluency in reading, as many of these words can't be sounded out, but are words we just need to recognize.   This week each child also got a sight word ring which has five sight words on it.  They practice these with me each day and when they have mastered a word they will get to take it home and a new one will be added to the ring.    Today I sent home a list of the first 100 sight words as a resource for you.  This is not homework- there is no expectation that children will work on these at home-but sometimes children really enjoy practicing them outside of school.  Most kindergarteners focus on list one, but I sent the whole list for children who are learning them quickly or feeling extra ambitious!  It is very exciting when children begin to learn these words and can use them in their writing or to begin reading.

On Wednesday morning we had a visit from Lindsey Vandal, who will be leading us in ECO this year.  We talked a bit about the program (ask your child about the 3 cares) and spent sometime outside looking for critters.  Our first day of ECO is next Wednesday, October 2nd.   We will leave school at 8:15 and be riding the bus to the Wu Forest, which is just over the covered bridge in town.  We will spend our first session getting acquainted with the forest and establishing routines that will be in place every week.  After a couple of hours in the woods we pack up and walk back to school, arriving back around 11:00.  The forest is apt to be cool early in the morning- please make sure your child comes with warm clothing, layers work best.  The ground is also likely to be wet so please also send rain boots or some kind of water proof foot wear.  I will send a reminder again next week!

Children from last year's kindergarten class participating in ECO.