Family Reading Night

I hope many parents are coming to Family Reading Night. Reading with kids is so important that I don't care whether you have a family or not, just read with a kid or two. Another important part of reading is playing games. Children need to enjoy reading and playing games that involve reading give children a fun reason to read. Set aside some time each night to read or play games. Writing, math and computers, all can have a part in reading time, but just plan sitting around and reading is important, too.

Welcome back

I really enjoyed Meet Your Teacher night at school. The kids grew this summer. It was great to see them. We start the real work on Monday. Parents, please stop into the LD Resource room with any questions, worries, and compliments - especially the compliments. :-))

fish :-8

Yes,
I'm tongue tied. My kids ate fish as they grew up. My daughter - not so much, but some. They both scored well on the ACT or SAT (don't remember which). But now I find out if I had just paid more attention they could have done even better. Reader's Digest's new September issue has an article about eating fish. This article quotes doctor after doctor recording benefits of eating fish. But what caught my attention is the big print info. on page 159. "Young men who ate fish more than once a week scored nearly 11 percent higher on IQ tests than males who rarely ate seafood." Of course, we all backed off fish when we learned of the dangers of mercury. Apparently there is reason to study fish more closely and find safe sources of fish to include in our weekly menus.

Reading is so important. Research shows that the best way to become a good reader is by reading. Just like riding a bike, you have to do it to learn to do it. And just like riding a bike, if you don't do it for a while you have to rework those muscles to make them strong again. If you don't read much all summer then you have to reteach when school starts. This is a shame because all that time you spend reteaching could have been spent learning new things.
During the summer I hope to read to my grandchildren, do some gardening, read a few books (just for fun) and maybe travel a little. When school starts again in August I will ask my students to tell me and write or draw something they did during the summer. They are always welcome to bring in pictures of their activities.

March 2009
We are certainly having extreme weather. It brings out the insects, worms, birds, skunks, deer and diseases. Our character trait this month is perseverance. We need it right now.
My students are memorizing a poem about perseverance.
Try, Try, Again.
Tis a lesson you should heed, Try, Try, Again.
If at first you don't succeed, Try, Try, Again.
Then your courage should appear,
For, if you will persevere,
You will conquer, never fear; Try, Try, Again.
This poem goes on for two more stanzas. Children have to persevere if they wish to memorize the entire thing.

Winter

Christmas and New Year's Day have come and gone. We had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends. Its back to work on Monday. Unfortunately, many of my students will have lost some of the abilities they had learned in the first months of school. So, next week we will review and work especially hard on sight words and phonics skills. The semester ends shortly and the next thing you know we will celebrate Valentines Day. Stay as warm as you can.
Rosemary Jordan

Christmas

Merry Christmas:
We have a very short time to prepare for Christmas. I will have some scissor activities for most of my students to do during the month. Many of my students have goals that include work on fine motor skills and visual perception. This is a great time of year to work on those skills! Just writing can also target these skills, but scissor activites offers variety.
We will also work on sight words. Sight words are important for improved reading comprehension. They are a great activity for parents who wish to help a child. Sight words can come from a favorite book, spelling words, or just the environment.
Most of my students have quite a few pages in their spelling words journals. Parents wanting new ways to help their children learn spelling words should think of the five senses. They can visualize the word, hear the word, and feel the word. Taste and smell are a little more difficult. Clean hands and Christmas cookie dough can work together to let children taste and smell. Just roll the dough into long strips and shape the letters (as you might with play dough). Or set some flour or corn meal in a cookie sheet for your child to write spelling words. Then use the words in conversations during the week.
Even though this is a very busy time of year, you and your children can still have fun learning! I hope children find our Christmas activities fun while they are learning and developing important skills.

Mrs. Jordan