The Bianchini Bulletin
October Edition
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707-795-4380 ext 104
October’s Study Plan
We will be learning lots during the month of October. We will focus on learning about fire safety, how to stay healthy during Red Ribbon Week, and the holiday of Halloween. Each one of these topics will be explored through many fun hands-on projects, worksheets, Scholastic News, presentations, and field trips. Make sure to ask your student what they are learning about each day.
Walk-a-Thon
The annual Liberty School Walk-a-Thon is this Friday, October 13th from 12-6pm. This is a fun day for our students to walk and fund raise for the school. This event has great music, wonderful food, fun prizes, and great company. I encourage everyone to attend. All students will be walking during school hours. Please make sure to turn in your pledge sheet (signed at the bottom) ASAP so that your student can participate! Please make sure that you sign your child out when you're leaving to ensure each child is accounted for. Thank you so much!!
Parent Volunteers
Thank you to all the parents who have volunteered to help in our classroom this year. We are enjoying doing centers and could not have them run as smoothly without their help.
Homework
Homework is sent home on Mondays and is due Friday of each week. Please be sure to check over your child’s homework for neatness and mistakes before turning it in on Friday. It is also important to send all homework pages in only on Friday and stapled into a packet, if you separate the pages. When pages come in separated or throughout the week, they can get misplaced. It is VERY important to help your child form their letters correctly using proper formation and line placement. Please click on the handwriting link on my web page to see examples of the correct formation and line placement for every letter. If you spend the time now helping your student with this skill it will benefit you later. Once a letter is cemented incorrectly it is very difficult to fix. In addition to the homework packet, each student is expected to read 100 pages or more per week, practice sight word cards, and math fact triangles (1st grade only) for at least 20 minutes each night.
Scholastic Mini Books and Sight Word Readers
All first grade reading groups receive a Scholastic Mini Book and kindergarten students will receive a larger sight word reader to take home and read to at least two family members. These books may come home three to five times a week depending on how each group read that day in class. Be sure to ask your child every night if they have a book they need to read to an adult. Your child can read this book more than two times if they need in order to improve accuracy and build fluency (speed). These books can be written in the Reading Log each week. The Scholastic mini books and sight word readers will count as 25 pages.
Red Ribbon Week
Red Ribbon week is Oct. 23rd-Oct. 31st. We have lots of fun activities planned. With the younger students we are not focusing on “drugs” but rather making healthy choices for our bodies (exercising, eating healthy, getting plenty of sleep, etc.). The students will take part in decorating our school during this week to show our schools support in being healthy. The students will be coming home with a special Red Ribbon Week treats daily during Red Ribbon Week.
Halloween
Can you believe Halloween is just around the corner? This is a fun filled day with lots of exciting activities including our annual Halloween Parade. The students will begin getting dressed in their costumes at 10:45. It is very important that if you are unable to be at school to help your child get dressed that you let me know ASAP. Please send your student's costume in a bag Friday morning. The parade will begin at 11:00 and followed by our class party at 11:30. If you would like to contribute to our class party, please keep your eyes open for the "Sign Up Genius" that will be sent to your email. All students in our class will be dismissed at 12:10. Happy Trick or Treating!
Cooking
The Kindergarten students have begun weekly cooking activities on Friday. They had a ball making apple crisp last week. They enjoy eating the yummy treats they make weekly. This is not only a fun way to reinforce the letter of the week but a nice time for the children to learn about measurement, direction following, taking turns, cleanliness and good manners. Thank you to the Kindergarten cooking parents!
Money
You can help your child recognize and count coins by practicing at home. The listed activities below will help your child better understand the concept of money.
Count the Coins - Sort the coins and count how many of each coin.
Compare Value - Ask to tell how much each coin is worth and which coin is most and least.
How many do you need? - How many pennies do you need to equal a nickel, etc.
How Much do I have? Lay out several coins. Count the coins by starting with the largest coin and count on.
To help your student identify each coin we have a fun poem. We will begin practicing this during morning meeting starting this month. Any additional at home support would be appreciated.
Penny, Penny, easily spent copper brown and worth 1 cent
Nickel, nickel, thick and fat, you’re worth 5 cents I know that
Dime, dime, little and thin, I remember, you’re worth 10
Quarter, quarter, big and bold, you’re worth 25, so I’m told
Math Facts- First Grade Only
Please continue to practice math facts with your child daily. I have noticed a big improvement with just a weeks of practice. We started the timed Mad Minute in class last week. The children work hard to complete as many problems correctly as they can in one minute. Each day they will receive one 30 problem page of addition and one 30 problem page of subtraction. The children will need to meet the benchmark of 15/30 to be on grade level for the November report card. The Mad Minutes are often challenging in the beginning but with daily practice they will quickly master their basic facts. Keep up the good work!
Chicka, Chick, Boom! Boom!-First Grade Only
First grade students enjoyed the book, "Chicka, Chicka, Boom! Boom!" by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault. This story about letters is a fun way to review all the letters after a long summer break. The children have completed several activities using Chicka, Chicka, Boom! Boom! We celebrated the completion of Chicka, Chicka, Boom! Boom! with a class party last Friday. Please have your student read you the book they made in class.
Up Coming Events
Fire Safety Week Oct. 8th- October 14th
Walk-a-Thon- Oct. 13th
Fire Station Field trip (walking)- Oct. 18th - K and 1st grade
Red Ribbon Week-23rd - Oct 31st
Halloween Parade and Party- Oct 31st- Early Dismissal 12:10
Veteran’s Program- Nov. 9th
Veteran’s Day- No School- Nov. 10th
Parent Teacher Conferences- November 15th-November 29th
Liberty Spirit Day- Every Friday (wear Liberty Blue)
Library Day- Wednesday
PE- Wear athletic shoes- Tuesday (1st) & Thursday (K &1st)