Each day when the children arrive there is a morning message and a question, which gives them an opportunity to sign there names on the white board. One of the questions this week was "Do you have a favorite book?" Everyone responded in the yes box and there was a lot of conversation about some of the favorite books. Over the course of next several weeks I would love everyone to bring in a favorite book to share with the class. Before I read the books to the class I would like the children to tell the class the title of the book, the author, and why they think it is such a great book. Please help your child pick a book and think about why it is a favorite. These can be sent in anytime and we will start sharing one or two each day.

Please remember our field trip next Friday!

Today in your child's blue folder there is a reminder of our field trip next Friday, October 7th. Please let me know if you would like to join us!

Also please remember picture day this Friday.

Yesterday we brainstormed a list of living things along with reasons we think they are living. The list included flowers because they grow, foxes because they have babies, lions because they eat meat, fire because it moves, and turtles because they swim. We then talked about some of the needs of living things: water, food, air, and light. Today we revisited our list and compared it to the needs of living things. It seems like fire needs food (wood) and air, but we know that fire doesn't need water, so we concluded that fire is not a living thing. We will talk about other things that might appear to be living but are actually non-living in the coming weeks.

Today, sometime between 8:15 and 8:45 our last caterpillar shed it's skin and became a chrysalis. We noticed at the very end of the process- we didn't see the skin being shed, but did observe the chrysalis wiggling around and setting into the chrysalis phase. I am guessing we will have our first butterfly by the end of the week.

We also continued our discussion of living and non-living things today and read several books about this. Through our discussions we are slowly refining our conceptions of what determines if something is living. Today we learned three things that living things need. See if your child remembers any of them!

Today we began the Fundations program, which focuses on phonological awareness and handwriting. In your child's blue folder there is a picture of the correct pencil grip that we are working on along with a packet that shows the letter formations for all of the lower case letters. We will be working on 2-3 letters each week for the next 12 weeks, until we complete the alphabet. The packets are just intended to be a resource for you- I don't expect children to practice at home, but if they are interested in writing you can encourage appropriate pencil grip and letter formation.

Please remember that Open House is this evening from 5:00-6:00. We have created a checklist of things your children would like to show you!

Tomorrow I have a follow up class for a course I took this summer so I will not be in school. I talked to the class about having a substitute and what the day will look like. Emily will be with them all day as well.

The class is focused on inquiry science, with a big emphasis on science notebooks and discussions. We have already started working in our science notebooks and this morning we had a fantastic discussion about what our caterpillars need to survive. It led to several great questions that we will begin to investigate on Friday or next week: is milkweed alive, and does the milkweed last longer if it is in dirt compared to when it has been cut and is in our butterfly house.

We also had a fantastic session of Writer's Workshop today. The children are really becoming engaged in the writing process and are eager to share what they write with the class. Several students shared stories today that didn't have words, but when they shared they read them like books. One of the was about a "hideous alien monster", another about a giant t-rex, and one about a group of patterned butterflies flying into the blue sky overhead. This is definitely a group of writers with lots of stories to tell! It is very exciting.

We have started establishing our routine for stations each day. So far the stations have mostly been focused on things children can do independently, so the emphasis can be placed on learning the routine. Some of the stations we have had so far are sand table, listening to books on CD, play dough, drawing self-portraits, observing the caterpillars, and exploring math manipulatives. So far we have just had one station each day, but soon we will have a rotation with two stations per day. These generally last for about 15 minutes and the children rotate through them in groups of 3-4. Ask your child about some of the stations he/she has worked in so far.

Many children brought home a book today call Children In Mrs. Beattie's Class (some chose to keep their copies at school). These are based on the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear and will help us learn each other's names and practice reading with highly predictable text. We have extra copies in the room, so your child is welcome to keep the one that come home.

Today we had multiple conversations about keeping our hands and bodies to ourselves. We have talked about this a lot in the first two weeks, but many children still tend to solve problems physically rather than using words. We will definitely keep working on this and I appreciate any conversations you can have with your child about it at home.

If your child has not brought in his/her artifact bag yet, please send it in tomorrow. I think we have four children who still need to share. We have learned so much about each other from these any many children are noticing things they have in common with classmates. I'd like everyone to finish sharing in the next few days.

Remember picture day is Friday, September 30th. Picture forms can be sent in any time and can be given to me or Kathi.