Dear Parents and Guardians,

Happy Week 21! We are excited to continue learning and growing together as we move through the school year. Below are a few important updates and highlights for the upcoming week. Please see the menu for January (breakfast and lunch). 

🍎 Snacks Needed
We are currently running low on classroom snacks. If you are able to donate, we would greatly appreciate any individually wrapped snacks (chips, crackers, granola bars, fruit snacks, etc.). Thank you so much for your continued support—our students truly benefit from having snacks available throughout the day. No peanuts please. 

🎉 100th Day of School Celebration
We will be celebrating the 100th Day of School on Tuesday, January 20th! Students are invited to dress up to celebrate (for example: dressing like they are 100 years old, wearing a shirt with 100 items, or school-appropriate fun 100-day attire). We can’t wait to celebrate this exciting milestone with your child! Staff will also be participating in the 100th day, and I have some activites planned around the theme of 100. Here are some examples of pics that I think are so cute: 

Folders Return: Several students have lost or not returning their communication folders, and I have to replace them. Please make sure that you return the folders weekly so that we can communicate with you. If we have to replace more than 3 communication folders, I will not be able to send anymore home due to cost. We send student's work, any permission slips, behavior/communication logs home through those folders. 

📚 Learning Focus for the Week

Social-Emotional Learning:
Students will be learning strategies for self-regulation, specifically how to calm their bodies and minds when they are feeling dysregulated. We will practice identifying emotions and using coping tools such as breathing, taking breaks, and asking for help.

ELA (Reading):
We will continue working on reading comprehension, phonics skills, sight words, and listening to short texts while answering questions.

Writing:
Students will practice sentence writing, responding to prompts, and expressing their ideas through pictures, words, or sentences, depending on their individual learning levels.

Math:
Our focus will include number sense, counting, basic addition and subtraction, and hands-on math activities to strengthen understanding.

Science:
Students will explore simple science concepts through observation, discussion, and hands-on activities.

Social Studies:
We will work on understanding community, routines, and classroom expectations, along with age-appropriate social studies concepts.

Life Skills:
Daily life skills instruction will continue, including following routines, communication skills, independence, and appropriate classroom behaviors.

Special Olympics: 

We are excited to share that our students will have the opportunity to participate in Special Olympics activities that are coming up soon!

Permission forms and additional information will be sent home by next Monday. Please be on the lookout for these forms, as they will need to be completed and returned in order for your child to participate.

Special Olympics is a wonderful experience that promotes inclusion, confidence, teamwork, and physical activity. We are looking forward to celebrating our students and supporting them as they take part in this special event.

Thank you for your continued partnership and support. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out. We are looking forward to a fun and productive week!

Warm regards,
Ms. Hughes