Specials

We are well into our second week of school and this week Specials were introduced. Both classes have enjoyed our Librarian Mrs. Rodriguez, our PE teacher Mr. Gaffney, and our Music teacher Mr. Silverman. One of our specialists joins us in the classroom for 10 minutes each day so that the students have exposure to story time, songs, and some additional physical activity. All three of the specials have been a hit!

Mrs. Rodriguez read Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed and The Wheels on the Race Car (which is a variation on The Wheels on the Bus) during her story time with us and the kids had a lot of fun chiming in with both stories.

Mr. Silverman led the children in a follow the leader game with a song to go along with it. They walked, hopped, skipped, and marched around the room singing and doing different movements. There were lots of giggles!

Mr. Gaffney did some exercises with the kiddos and they may have even worked up a sweat! Good thing he reminded them that chair pushups are only allowed during PE class! :0)

We also started our Fast Track Phonics Program this week and have worked on the sounds /m/ and /a/ so far. Starting next week, we will also have a letter of the week that we will focus on, but our phonics program introduces several sounds each week so that the children can learn the sounds and letters at a faster pace. The phonics program incorporates some video elements which both classes loved. Our letter of the week activities will review the letters that we have already done in Fast Track Phonics and will involve other skills and projects.

Each sound card has a picture that incorporates the formation of the letter. There is an "animated alphabet" video clip where we see that picture in action. This is meant to help the children connect the image on the cards (which are posted in the classroom) and the sound that the letter makes. So far this week we have done the /m/ card for which we say The man marches on mountains and the /a/ card for which we say Alphie asks for apples.

Alphie the Alligator is a puppet that is used with the program and the kids learned some "games" that we play with Alphie to help them become readers. We Say It Fast (Alphie uses his special Alphie Talk to say each individual sound in a word and the children say the word fast) and we also Break It Down (I say a word and the children say each sound in the word). Both of these skills are very important for reading and spelling/writing. Another aspect of the Fast Track Phonics (FTP) program is learning how to write the letters. Some students are tracing letters and others are writing them independently. As I monitor progress, I am looking at how each child is holding his/her pencil, whether or not the can write their name, and how much support they need to write letters.

Both groups are doing a great job remembering their morning routines. When they arrive at school they hang up their backpacks, check in with the attendance chart by turning over their picture, and then sit down at their tables for seat work. You will see a lot of coloring pages coming home in the Friday folders, but please don't think all we do is color! I use coloring activities in the morning because the children can work on them independently which makes me available to talk with parents, collect bus notes etc. As we continue to build skills, morning work will probably start to look different.

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Also, as a heads up to parents of children in the PM class, I will be having a substitute on both Tuesday and Wednesday next week as I am participating in a training. The training does not start until 1:00, so I will be with the kids and the sub for the first part of their afternoon session and then she will takeover from 1-2:25. I am having a good friend of mine, and wonderful teacher substitute for me. She has over 16 years of teaching experience and we actually worked together in Germany at the international school which is where she taught last. She has been in class several times already volunteering and she is an excellent teacher. I know the kids will love her, but I will be there for the transition so they understand why she is there.