Room 110 Newsletter February 6, 2012
Dear Families,
Thanks for guiding the kids in preparing 100s Day projects. The children were creative, and
participation was great! Several children (mostly the ones who made their projects out of Froot Loops
and couldn’t wait to eat them) have taken projects home, but most projects are in the hall in front of
the classroom if you’d like to take a peek.
Our next bit of first grade excitement is the field trip this Tuesday, 2/7. We’ll walk to Popejoy Hall on
the UNM campus to see a musical presentation of Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, complete with
African drumming. Ms. Anderson recently read the book to the children; it is an African version of
the Cinderella story. Children will diagram the European and African stories’ similarities and
differences when we return. Please be sure children are dressed warmly, in layers, on Tuesday. It’s
important that they wear comfortable walking shoes (e.g. sneakers are great, “dress-up shoes” are
not so). All children, including those on the free/reduced lunch plan, should bring a lunch, with
water, unless we previously arranged otherwise.
Parents who volunteered to attend the play with us are those of Alex, Anya, Benjamin, Daniel,
Harrison, Nathan, Peyton, and Trinity (one per family)—thanks, folks! Parents, please meet in the
classroom at 10:10 a.m. We’ll eat at UNM, attend the play, back by around 2:00 p.m.
What’s up in Room 110? The DRA reading testing is done. I enjoy the one-on-one testing with the
children, but it sure is nice to get back to regular reading groups. We’re continuing to work on silent
–e and word suffixes in whole-group reading lessons. Please help children focus on
ing/ang/ong/ung and ink/ank/onk/unk welded sounds as they complete their Fundations homework
this week, as our next Fundations test is just a week away. Our current chapter book read-aloud is
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I’m using this book to give children a feeling for what the lives of
many American children were like in the time of Abraham Lincoln, whom we will study later this
spring. Ms. Anderson will teach health this week; she’ll work with the kids on understanding the
importance of a healthy diet and exercise. In math, children are continuing to work on math facts,
and on building and adding numbers using base-10 blocks.
Attached is a list of classroom names for children to use as they fill out valentines for each other.
Children are of course not required to exchange valentines, but most of them like to. Our class rule:
If you send valentines to anyone, please send to everyone, so that no one feels excluded. If you’d
like to contribute to a classroom party, please let room mom Ashlie Ferrari (Trinity) know:
ashlie_ferreri@yahoo.com . We’d love to have parents donate a couple of sweets, some fruit/protein
(fruit and cheese kebabs, or??), juice, paper plates, cups, napkins.
Best, Kak and Stephanie
Alex Jasmine
Anya Landon
Benjamin Matthew
Daniel Molly
Emily Nathan
Emma Peyton
Ezra Ryan
Femi Sofia
Harrison Trinity
Zoe
