Dear Multicat Families! 🧡🎃

Happy Sunday, Multicat Families!

Welcome to a brand-new week of learning, growing, and making great choices! 🍁 We hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. This week will be a busy and exciting one in our classroom as we continue building academic skills, practicing positive behaviors, and preparing for our upcoming assessments.

Please take a few minutes to review our weekly learning objectives, important reminders, and upcoming events. Thank you for your continued partnership and support! Together, we can make this a GREAT week! 🌟

📅 Important Dates & Reminders

📝 Benchmark Testing Week!

Our students will participate in benchmark assessments this week. Please review the testing schedule below:

• Monday, October 19: Science Benchmark

• Tuesday, October 20: ELA Benchmark

• Wednesday, October 21: Math Benchmark

• Thursday, October 22: Report Cards Sent Home

• Friday, October 23: Fall Picture Day! 📸

These assessments help us understand each student's progress, identify areas of strength, and determine where additional instruction and support may be needed.

😴 Help Your Child Be Ready to Test!

A good night's sleep can make a BIG difference! Please help your child prepare for testing by:

• Getting a full night's rest each evening.

• Eating a healthy breakfast each morning.

• Arriving at school on time and ready to learn.

• Offering encouragement and reminding your child to try their best!

Please remind your child that we are proud of their effort, perseverance, and growth. They do not have to be perfect—they simply need to do their best! 💪🏽⭐

📚 What Are We Learning This Week?

💚 Social-Emotional Learning (SEL): Making Positive Choices

Topic: Self-regulation, responsibility, and making good choices.

Objectives:

• Identify emotions and recognize how feelings affect behavior.

• Practice calming strategies when feeling frustrated, angry, or overwhelmed.

• Demonstrate safe, respectful, and responsible classroom behaviors.

• Follow classroom expectations and use appropriate ways to ask for help.

Activities: We will practice identifying our emotions, reviewing our classroom expectations, role-playing positive choices, and using coping strategies such as deep breathing, taking a break, and asking for help.

📖 Reading: Building Strong Readers

Topic: Phonics, decoding, sight words, and reading comprehension.

Objectives:

• Practice identifying letter sounds and decoding words at each student's instructional level.

• Read and recognize targeted sight words.

• Answer questions about stories, including who, what, where, when, and why.

• Build reading fluency and comprehension through guided reading and repeated practice.

Activities: Students will participate in small-group reading, phonics practice, decodable text activities, sight-word games, and interactive read-alouds.

✏️ Writing: Expressing Our Ideas

Topic: Sentence construction and written expression.

Objectives:

• Form letters and write words using appropriate handwriting skills.

• Construct words and simple sentences based on individual ability.

• Practice capitalization, spacing, and punctuation as appropriate.

• Communicate ideas through pictures, words, sentences, or assistive supports.

Activities: Students will participate in modeled writing, sentence-building activities, handwriting practice, and individualized writing tasks.

🔢 Math: Developing Number Sense

Topic: Number recognition, place value, addition, and subtraction.

Objectives:

• Identify and represent numbers using visual models and manipulatives.

• Practice counting and understanding tens and ones.

• Solve addition and subtraction problems at each student's instructional level.

• Explain or demonstrate mathematical thinking using objects, drawings, or number models.

Activities: Students will use counters, ten frames, number lines, and other hands-on materials to strengthen their mathematical understanding.

🌎 Social Studies: Understanding Our World

Topic: Community, citizenship, and our roles in the classroom.

Objectives:

• Identify ways people contribute to their school and community.

• Describe responsible behaviors and how rules help keep everyone safe.

• Practice cooperation, respect, and taking turns.

• Recognize how individual choices affect others.

Activities: Students will participate in discussions, visual sorting activities, and role-playing scenarios about being responsible classroom citizens.

🔬 Science: Exploring and Discovering

Topic: Scientific thinking, observation, and describing the world around us.

Objectives:

• Observe and describe objects, events, and changes in the environment.

• Use pictures, words, or demonstrations to communicate observations.

• Practice asking questions and making simple predictions.

• Develop scientific vocabulary and follow directions during learning activities.

Activities: Students will engage in observation activities, visual investigations, and hands-on learning experiences appropriate to their instructional levels.

🧼 Life Skills: Independence and Responsibility

Topic: Personal care, classroom routines, and independent living skills.

Objectives:

• Follow familiar classroom routines and directions.

• Practice handwashing and maintaining personal hygiene.

• Organize personal belongings and classroom materials.

• Increase independence with daily tasks while requesting help when needed.

Activities: We will practice daily routines, hygiene procedures, cleaning up materials, and completing tasks using visual prompts and step-by-step directions.

Instruction will be differentiated to meet each student's individual learning needs and IEP goals.

📝 Parent-Teacher Conferences This Week

Family-school communication is an important part of student success! We will be holding parent-teacher conferences this week to discuss your child's academic progress, social-emotional development, classroom participation, and individual goals.

💻 Virtual conferences via Zoom are available for families who cannot attend in person. Please communicate with me to confirm your conference time and receive the Zoom meeting information.

We look forward to partnering with you to celebrate your child's progress and discuss any areas where additional support may be helpful.

📬 Progress Reports & Report Cards

Progress reports and report cards will be sent home this week. Please review your child's information, celebrate their accomplishments, and reach out if you have questions about grades, IEP progress, or areas for continued growth.

Your encouragement at home makes a difference! ❤️

🎉 Friday's Positive Choices Celebration!

We are ending our week on a positive note! 🥳 On Friday, October 23, we will have a special treat to celebrate students who have demonstrated positive choices throughout the week.

We will recognize students who work hard to:

• 💚 Follow classroom expectations.

• 🤝 Show kindness and respect to others.

• ✏️ Try their best and participate in learning.

• 🧘 Use appropriate coping strategies.

• 🌟 Demonstrate responsibility and safe behavior.

Please encourage your child to make positive choices every day. We want to celebrate effort, growth, self-control, and perseverance!

📸 Reminder: Friday is also Fall Picture Day, so help your child come ready to smile!

Thank you for being such an important part of our Multicat classroom family. Your continued support, communication, and encouragement help our students grow academically, socially, and emotionally.

Let's work together to make this a week full of learning, kindness, confidence, and success! 🍂🧡

With appreciation,

Ms. Hughes
Multicat Special Education Classroom
East North Street Academy

“Every day is a new opportunity to learn, grow, and make a positive choice!” 🌈✨