Week 8

We have had a very productive week academically though it does seem like everybody is getting sick! As the seasons are changing, I see more and more sniffles. We will make sure everybody is washing their hands regularly and wearing their masks. Math class is going smoothly and we’ve been enjoying reading about different animals. The morning Armadillos will finish their frogs in arts and crafts this Friday. In the afternoon we’ve been learning to play GO FISH in order to work on pronouncing our plurals correctly. Thursday morning we had fun at the park doing relay races.

Frank still seems to be a little under the weather. He was very tired Wednesday morning. I’ll keep my eye on him and hope to see him get better soon.

Henry has been focusing and making steady progress on his reading. It’s hard work but he’s improving!

Carson too has been making steady progress. Keep up the great effort!

Evie has been much better this week. She’s clearly a naturally bright girl and I’m pleased to see a smile on her face!

Eliza has settled in so quickly! She’s been working hard but sometimes has a little bit of trouble staying focused in the classroom.

Sunny has been making steady progress. I’m still a little worried that she is not getting enough rest at home. I think part of her trouble focusing in class is a result of being tired. She starts strong but by 11:15 or so she seems to shut down. So far this Thursday has been a very good day.

Lauren seems much better this week. She’s full of life and working hard. Great effort staying focused in the classroom this week. Keep up the good work!

Lily has been making great progress this week. We will try to get out to the park more often. PE is written into our curriculum for Wednesday morning but we get rained out every time! We’ll hope for clear skies next week.

I’m so glad to see Jerry back in action this Thursday. I spoke to him about taking medicine after lunch and at 4:00 everyday. He also mentioned that he couldn’t get too sweaty, so I will keep an eye on him during play time outside. If there’s anything else I need to know about his skin condition, please let me know.

Samson is usually knows the answers when he’s asked directly. I hope he will try to keep more focused in the classroom. I often catch him leafing through the book when he should be following on with his classmates.

Week 7

It was so nice to speak with all of you last Friday. Thank you for finding time in your schedules to come visit our class. I hope you enjoyed yourselves. We’ve had another productive week. Just a little reminder, please do try to check the blog as I will be updating it every Thursday.

Frank has been more vocal this week. He is still complaining about his teeth where he had that dental work done a few weeks ago. He made a big step in math class Tuesday morning. He has a firm grasp of addition, subtraction and the idea that 5 is 3 more than 2. He has been struggling with that last step up until now but I think he has it.

Jerry had a good week too. He has been getting progressively more comfortable in the classroom and also had a good morning in math class. He made the same jump with Frank (see above). Keep up the good work!

Sunny was very tired this morning. She was able to focus for the first half of the class but by 11 o’clock she was complaining about being tired. She couldn’t answer questions I know she knows how to answer and told me she wanted to go straight to nap time instead of lunch. Is she getting enough sleep at home?

Lauren has had a good week. She loves telling me about her swimming class with Lily. She too was complaining about being very tired today. She also stopped being able to focus halfway through our last morning class, around 11:20. She mentioned she is staying with her grandparents this week. Is she getting enough sleep?

Lily is a real trouper. I’ve never seen a young girl who smiled so much and has so much energy while she’s sick. She loves telling me about her swimming class with Lauren. Great attitude!

Esther has had a good week. She has been very conscious of her behavior and the way she treats other students. We had fun baking again Tuesday afternoon. Keep up the good work!

Evie is still very shy in class. She usually stands in the doorway at the beginning of the class, too scared to come in and sit down. Yesterday we played some games during break time and she opened up a bit. I expect thing will be better today.

Eliza is doing great work and she has a great attitude. From time to time I have to remind her to pay attention in class. We have a lot to get done this semester so it will be very important that she focuses during class time.

Henry has made some great improvements recently. He has been more focused and working hard. Keep it up!

Carson has also been more focused in class recently. I hope he will take the time and pay attention to smaller details which might otherwise go unnoticed.

Childrens Recreation Center adventures and an invitation to the annual Tree House Potluck

We’ve had a good week. Despite a little rain, we all had fun at the Children’s Recreation Park on Tuesday. I was pleased to see how much that the Armadillo class enjoyed the science exhibit. Learning can be so much fun in the right context! I look forward to seeing you all at the Potluck this Friday evening.

Frank is still a little quiet in class. He is working hard in class but will need more practice on addition and subtraction.

Sunny has been making progress. There are still times when she isn’t completely focused in class but I can definitely see improvements.

Jerry has come out of his shell a bit more this week. He is still soft spoken but he is beginning to contribute more to class. After missing class all of August, he is a little behind on his addition and subtraction but we are working on it.

Lauren has had a good week. She did an excellent job on her TV reporting project at the Children’s Rec Center on Tuesday. She still asks for help on problems she knows how to do by herself. I think this is more an issue of confidence than academic ability. We’ll work on it.

We were sorry to miss Lily on Tuesday but, given the weather, I think that was probably a good choice. She’s still a little sniffly but her academic work is strong as always. She has made real progress on minding her own business. I’m glad to see her improvements.

Esther made a very nasty comment to one of the other girls in class the other day. I was disappointed to see her getting involved in this as she’s usually so well behaved. I hope it won’t happen again.

Henry has made some great improvements in his reading recently. I’m glad to see him excited and working hard. Keep it up!

Carson is doing good work in class. I’ve noticed that he gets frustrated with other students very easily. I will work with him in the future on minding his temper.
Evie seems to be getting more comfortable in class and with her classmates. I think she is beginning to make friends with some of the other girls. She’s very bright and I look forward to getting to know her better.

It’s easy to forget that Eliza is a new student because she’s so bright and self assured. She’s a wonderful addition to our class and more than welcome.

Week 5: Welcome New Students!

This has been another productive week for the Armadillos. I’m happy to announce that we have a few new additions to our afternoon class. We welcomed Jerry back on Monday as well. This week we have begun working through our ESL, social studies reader and are learning about families. In our math class, we are working on adding and subtracting three numbers at a time. This Friday we will work on writing and illustrating our own story books about our families. In science we are learning about food chains and different environments such as forests and grasslands. We read a story yesterday afternoon about Stan the Skunk who does ‘stunts.’ We are also continuing to work through a list of the hundred most common sight recognition vocabulary words each afternoon.

Lily continually proves that she can pick up new material at a very fast rate. She is beginning to understand what I mean when I ask her to mind her own business. We will continue to work on this.

Esther struggled a bit with our new math topics but she worked hard and focused in class and she is getting it. Her diligence and work ethic has been a positive model for the rest of the class.

Sunny has improved significantly this week. She still needs to focus in class and put and effort into not speaking out of turn. Lunch time and nap time, however, have been progressively improving.

Frank is still a bit out of sorts. He is getting better but he is still a little quieter than before. He has also been late every day this week. Morning circle is an important part of our day. Please try to arrive before 9:00AM.

Welcome to Jerry! He is a wonderful and welcome addition to our class. He’s a little behind in our math work but I have no doubt that with a little hard work, he’ll be back on the same page in no time. I’m looking forward to getting to know him better throughout the year.

Lauren has had another productive week. She still gets into trouble for chatting with the other girls when she should be working on occasion. Thank you for the letter. I understand that you are worried about the level of the weekend readers. We will discuss this in more detail at the Pot Luck next week but in the mean time, I can tell you that the stories will get progressively harder over the course of the semester. I have few story books of my own that Lauren is welcome to borrow for you two to read together. I can also give you a list of books available at local book stores to supplement our curriculum.

Evie opened up a little bit more Thursday afternoon. She is still shy and we are getting to know each other. A few of the other girls in the class have been very helpful showing her around.

Eliza is another recet addition to our class. She wowed the other students on her very first day by winning the sight recognition reading contest. I look forward to getting to know her better over the semester.

Samson is a bright young man and usually very focussed in class. He will need to pay special attetion to not chatting with the other boys and focussing during work time.