Weekly Newsletter 3

¡Hola a todos!     ¡Feliz primavera! I hope you were all able to take advantage of the weather today and  got outside with your families. Tuesday morning, we look forward to a visit from  author and illustrator Scott mangoon. Please make sure to send in any of his books  by tomorrow if you would like them to be signed.     La contraseña secreta (secret password) to come into the classroom this week will  be ​ ​“hola primavera” (hello spring).     A peek at our  week 

In ​Spanish Language Arts​, we will continue working with  words made up of syllables with vowels “e” and “a” as well as  work on our independent reading skills. It’s amazing to see  their stamina grow!      In ​Math​, we continue our formas geométricas (geometric  shapes) two month unit! This week we will be making lots of  connections to shapes in the real world.     In ​Social Emotional learning​, as part of our Open Circle  curriculum, we will continue discussing “including  others”(what it means in our classroom community and  beyond).  

Friendly  Reminders 

Please continue​ to send your child with ​boots​, gloves, hats,  scarves and snow pants! Even as the temperature fluctuates,  we would rather have “more” than “less.” Even though we  may not have snow, we will certainly have mud! Students are  also welcome to keep a change of shoes or their snow pants  at school so that they don’t have so much to carry on a daily  basis.     Many students are coming to school with exciting jewelry  and accessories that can be a distraction. Please use your  discretion and consider asking your child to leave these at  home where they can be enjoyed and kept safe!     If your child is sick or will be absent, please continue to email 

myself, Señora Ponce ([email protected])  and the school ([email protected]) so that  everyone is in the loop!   Action items 

Conference  wisdom!  

Many students already have personal headphones at  school but not all. I was able to borrow a few pairs from  our tech lab but do not have enough for the students who  do not have their own. If you could check with your child  and please send in headphones for them to use, it would  be greatly appreciated!   *These are very involved topics and I’m just offering a few quick  suggestions*   

  Reading in English with your child at home:  1. Reading to and with them nightly and asking them  comprehension questions as you go (i.e. How is the  character feeling? Why? What might happen next?  Why? What was your favorite part? Why?).   2. Take a trip to the library to find “good fit” books for  your child to try and read themselves or with your  support. Encourage them to use picture clues,  letter/sound recognition, and help them to problem  solve when they struggle with a word.   3. English phonics app: Lexia. Login and password are  your child’s four digit student ID number.     Reading in Spanish with your child at home:  1. If you do not speak Spanish yourself, choose books  that you are already familiar with in English so that you  will understand the plot and characters well enough to  ask your child questions. Searching the books on  youtube to hear how they are read aloud in Spanish is  also an option.   2. (Almost) every week we read a Let’s Find Out  (Scholastic) magazie in class together that goes home  with your child. Take advantage of the resources  online to talk about it more using class password:  claypithill2019 h ​ ttps://letsfindout.scholastic.com/  3. The app, Raz-kids has a “reading room” with books in  Spanish that you can listen to with your child and then  read together!     Handwriting (pencil grip and hand strength)   1. Many students are working on handwriting and part of  this is related developing fine motor skills. I reached  out to our occupational therapist for some tips and will 

include them in an attachment in tonight’s email.     Being a flexible thinker and having a growth mindset  1. Even at this young age, many students can develop  “fixed” mindsets when it comes to learning. They get  frustrated when they can’t figured something out the  first time and think that they a “good” at some things,  “bad” and others and that this will never change. Be  patient with them and encourage their efforts more  than their successes (“wow you were working really  hard to stretch out all the sounds in that word, you  almost got it!”). Model making mistakes yourself, and  point out that making mistakes and “failing” is often  the path to learning and success. ​ *Our guidance  counselor will be sharing more specific resources  with me soon!     Incorporating  more Spanish at  home 

Many card and board games can easily be adapted to be  played in Spanish. Some classroom favorites are: Uno,  Monopoly, and Go Fish (a pescar).     Encourage students to use the past “contraseñas secretas”  with you at home! Previous contraseñas: Gracias, por favor,  buenos días, puedo ir al baño, puedo tomar agua, permiso,  buenas tardes, me gusta, no me gusta, feliz año nuevo, yo  tengo hambre, tengo sed, hace frío, hace calor, día del amor y  la amistad, día del presidente, lectura por toda América     Palabras con poder (high frequency words)     Week 1: quiero, él, en, ir, tiene  Week 2: quiere, voy, sé, gusta, ella  Week 3: eres, una, hay, el, está  Week 4: veo, allí, tengo, un, esa