Hello, Room 13 Families! 

Our first 7 days have been very full. We are all getting back into the swing of being at school and what that looks like for their schedule each day. Our most commonly asked questions were: "When is snack?" followed up by "When is lunch?" and then a close 3rd place was "When do we go home?" Students are adjusting to the routines of the school day and Day 7 showed real progress compared to Day 1. :)

Here are some of the learning topics that we discussed over the past week:

• Being a Safe, Responsible, and Respectful Superstar

• Being a Bucket Filler (someone who fills someone else's imaginary bucket with positive words. A bucket dipper takes from someone else's bucket with unkind words.

• Zones of Regulation: You can ask your child for an example of what it means to be in the red zone, blue zone, green zone, or yellow zone. We have been discussing the blue and green zones regularly.

• We started our Math curriculum, Eureka Math. Our first module starts out with a review of number bonds and we also discussed the concept of "one more."

• We read so many read aloud stories and we used those as launching points for conversations about being a friend, what bullying looks like, what being grateful looks like, and what it means to be an encourager to a friend who is feeling down.

• We also reviewed sound segmentation (the sounds you can hear in a word and saying them one at a time in order) and rhyming words. 

I look forward to seeing you at this year's Back to School Night! This special evening is designed for adults only, as teachers have all prepared presentations for parents/guardians to meet the teacher, learn more about the curriculum, grade level expectations, and answer any questions regarding those topics. As a parent of three kids, I understand the logistics involved in attending an event designed only for adults. Thank you for making accommodations and attending this very important event! 

6:00-6:30 pm: 3rd-5th grade classroom presentations 

6:35-6:55 pm: Principal Welcome to all families

7:00-7:30 pm: Preschool-2nd grade classroom presentations

Thank you to those who purchased the school supplies through the EPI supplier at the end of last school year. Thank you to those who also sent supplies with your child at the start of the school year. I supplied the remainder of students with all the supplies that they will need, so they do not need to bring anything else from home. Students love to bring fun supplies from home, but those can be a distraction, so the school asks that additional school supplies remain at home, or stay in your child's backpack for homework on-the-go. 

Did you know our class has an Amazon Wish List? You can view it by clicking here. This is a completely optional way to support our class through the year. We will always take donations of Kleenex and Hand Sanitizer with open arms! Thank you so much!

Homework is an optional educational activity. Students are not required to complete homework, but 15 minutes of daily reading is strongly recommended. 1st Grade homework is comprised of a small packet of pages that review concepts already taught in class. The packet will go home on Mondays in the weekly "Homework Folder" and are due back in the folder each Friday. Homework has not started yet, but it will begin next Tuesday.

If your child is really excited to start homework, you can let them know that Mrs. Colón would be so happy if students were to practice the following activities as much as possible. (They can even turn in their "homework" to me or you can help them email me a picture of their chosen project they completed.) 

• Writing their name, starting with an uppercase letter, followed by all lowercase letters

• Holding a pencil with the proper pencil grip (Adorable YouTube video).

• Cutting paper with scissors safely. Click here for a scissor safety video.

• Counting up to 20

• Cambrian School District has a program that is used to help students identify emotions and understand them. It is taught that feelings are not good or bad, it's just important to understand them, name them, and process them in an effective, productive, and safe manner. 

• Over the past week, I introduced the four zones and some students shared stories of when they were feeling different zones. We also analyzed the characters in our read alouds to name the zones the different characters were in. 

• The Zones is an ongoing, daily topic that we will speak about throughout the year.