Welcome!

We have had such a great start to the new school year! I'm so excited for all the fun things we will get to do this year.  Each week I will be posting on the blog.  I will be sharing any upcoming events, fundraisers,  at home activities, and what we have done in the classroom.  You are always welcome to email me with questions you have!
Our class participates in the Scholastic Reading Program.  Each month I will be sending home catalogs for you to look through with your child and possibly purchase any books.  Our class account receives points for every book that is purchased.  I can then use those points to order FREE books for the classroom! I will send out new catalogs each month with a ordering due date.  You can order your books online and they will be sent to school.  Once they arrive, I will send them home in your child's backpack.  If your order is ever a surprise or a gift, just let me know and we can make arrangements so your child doesn't see the books. I  have already sent this month's catalogs home, orders are due by August 31st.
The first Parent Support Group meeting of this school year is Wednesday August 9th at 6:30pm, here at BECC. Any and all parents are welcome to attend.  They will be discussing upcoming events and possible volunteer opportunities.
Please remember to check your child's backpack everyday.  The school nurse,  front office staff, therapists, and myself will be sending home important papers periodically.  It is important all families are well informed.
Last week we started talking about We Thinkers.  This is our curriculum for Social and Emotional Learning.  Students will learn how to follow directions, the plan, whole body listening, and expected and unexpected behaviors.  We will also be using the Zones of Regulation.  I have sent home some more information about this so you can use the same vocabulary at home.  Students will learn to self regulate  and identify not only their emotions but the emotions of their friends.  These are both great curriculums to promote a community of friends in our classroom.
These first few weeks of school students have been learning everyday procedures and our schedules.  Once we have these set in place,  we will be able to dive more into our Literacy and Math Curriculums. 
We have started with some counting activities.  Last week we practiced rhythm counting to 5.  You can practice this at home by counting how many stairs are in your house,  or how many steps to the car, or how many place settings at the dinner table.  Feel free to count higher than 5!
We also started talking about letters.  At this age ,  some students have difficulty distinguishing letters from numbers.  We played some sorting games to decipher the two.  I always tell my students letters make sounds and numbers are for counting. You can practice this at home as well.  When you are out and about and see a symbol (such as a street sign),  ask your child if it is a letter or a number.  If it is a number, try counting up to that number.  If it is a letter talk about what sound it makes.  Is it in their name? These are easy skills you can practice anytime and anywhere.