Dear Parents,

Happy Thursday! I hope you are all having a GREAT week!

Our morning routine when the students come into our classroom is; they should turn in their homework into their numbered mailbox, check and make sure they have at least three sharpened pencils (and then sharpen a few if need be), fill up their water bottle, use the restroom, and if all of these things are completed, they may get a book and read at their seat (next week I will be introducing “Morning Tubs”, which I will explain later)….ALL before the school begins at 8:00am.  We don’t have a bell system here so instead, the older students will start announcements, pledges, and prayers pretty much right away at 8:00, and that is how we gage our start time. 

A few firsties are having a hard time getting into our morning routine, and I am hoping that the more that we do it, the more it will become automatic.  Why am I telling you this?  Because I need YOUR help!  Please talk to your kiddo, and review what our morning routine is.  Ask them questions about it because the more that it is spoken about and practiced, the better!  

After the announcements, pledges, and prayers, then we go to the back of the room, sit on the carpet,  and talk about the calendar and weather and we are also tallying how many days of school we have had so far.  Then I take prayer requests and I have to tell you….more than any other class I have ever had….this class is so THANKFUL!  Instead of prayer requests, most will ask me to thank God for something…whether that is creating us, giving us food and drink, giving us a family to be a part of, giving us homes or shelters, even thanking God for colors!  Then we spend a little time in prayer and we also confess our sins and ask God for forgiveness.  Before we get up to start the rest of our day, each firstie will give another firstie a blessing on their hand…..I love starting our day in this way!  

Yesterday we wrote our “rainbow words” for the first time.  “Rainbow words” are our spelling words the kiddos trace with three different colors.  Each word gets traced in red, yellow, and blue (primary colors!).  The more and different ways that we can practice our words, the better! 

Tonight’s homework includes reading the story “What is a Pal?” in their hard-covered reading book (Journeys).  Please have your firstie read the story to you.  The story has mostly words that have a short “a” in them or are words that we have practiced in class.  Ask your firstie about what their tracer finger is!

Memory test and spelling test tomorrow.

Have a great night!

Miss Gallagher