"Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future."  -John F. Kennedy

Don't you think Mr. D is dashing in his dancing costume?  This week we will meet him and practice his sound through a variety of activities that involve listening, speaking, drawing, and writing.  We will be working in our printing books practicing writing our names on "stamp and see" magnetic boards, slate boards with chalk using the "wet, dry, try" method of beginning to write letters with a small wet sponge, drying it off, again tracing the letter, writing the letter with chalk and then erasing the letter.  This is a very non-threatening way to master letter writing.  As I mentioned, we will focus on capital letters first and move towards lower-case letters once the children have mastered the capitals.

We are going to begin easel painting this week during reading group rotations, have Art Trek on Tuesday, and will be creating our tie-dye shirts for Friday's Zero the Hero Day:  The 30th day of school! 

A big thank you to all of you stepping up to volunteer in the classroom, help with Art Trek, and help us create special experiences for the children.  We are a Charter School because of activities like these and of course, we couldn't provide them without your help.  Team power!

The Wrinkled Heart
Your child might have mentioned our lesson about the wrinkled heart (thanks to Ms. Handler for sharing this great idea!).  In this lesson we talked about hurtful things people have said to us or hurtful things people have done.  We learned that each time your feelings are hurt it puts a crease, or wrinkle in your heart and though people might say they are sorry, the wrinkles are still there.  This stresses the importance of choosing words carefully and thinking of other people's feelings.  I also mentioned to the children that they can also stop their hands from hurting others but keeping their hands to themselves and breathing in three deep breaths before taking actions that might hurt another.  Monday we are going to read the story "Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon" by Patty Lovell, Illustrated by David Catrow.  Each child will get their own heart and will fold it each time someone in the story says something mean to the main character.  We will unfold them every time someone says something kind or encouraging.  Your child will bring home his or her heart, so please discuss this and practice it at home too.

Please note the schedule for this week:  no school Wednesday and our class has parking duty so be sure to help out with that-keep our school safe!