<p style="text-align: center"><strong>Reminders</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>The green and white Ray  School folder will come home only on Fridays full of notes for you to read.  Please read and respond appropriately.  Send the folder back on Monday.  This is a good way to send lunch money as well.</li>
	<li>The red folder will come home Monday with homework.  Please work on it a little bit at a time each day with your child and return in on Friday.</li>
	<li>Please send lunch/milk money for the week on Mondays.</li>
	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline">January is snack month for boys</span>.  Please send in a healthy snack, enough for 25 students.  We do have a peanut allergy so please be careful in choosing your snack.</li>
	<li>February will be snack month for girls.</li>
	<li>Ms. Travis Traveling Library books (in clear bag) come home on Wednesdays and should be returned Tuesdays.</li>
	<li>Library books (in the green bag) are chosen by the student and should be returned on Fridays.</li>
</ul>
Classroom Volunteers – If you have signed up to volunteer please let me know if you will be unable to come at least a day in advance.  Thank you.

Morning drop-off and Afternoon Dismissal – Please understand that 9am and 3:30pm are not good times for a conference.  Quick questions often turn into longer conversations and when several parents have quick questions the time spent in adult conversation grows.  I need to spend these times settling my students into their day and seeing them off.  If you have questions you can email me and I will get back to you as soon as possible.  If you would like a longer conversation please set up a conference for Wednesdays or Fridays at 8:30 am.  Students also need to be picked up on time after school at 3:30.  <strong>Also, when picking up your child please make sure you make eye contact with me so I know your child has left.</strong>
<p style="text-align: center"><strong>This week</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>In Math we will be working on patterns, counting, recording data, shapes and I will introduce the calculator.</li>
	<li>In Reading we will continue exploring letters and sounds.  We will work on rhymes, beginning sounds and long vowels.  We will use shared reading to explore phonics and comprehension strategies.  We will continue to build stamina for reading to ourselves.  I will pull small reading groups to work on decoding and comprehension skills.  Students are creating letter books, practicing sounding out and writing words with particular beginning sounds.</li>
	<li>In Writing we will continue to discuss stretching words to write them and planning details for our stories.  Students will continue to tell those stories through drawing pictures and writing words, when they can.  They’ve been making “books” to illustrate and write stories with a beginning, middle and end.  We will continue to talk about beginning, middle and end.</li>
	<li>For Handwriting we will begin lower case letters with a, d. g, u, i.</li>
	<li>For Science we will begin our unit on animals.    I will add new gold fish to our aquarium.  Students will begin identifying the parts of a fish and learning how to care for them.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: center"><strong>Important Dates to Remembe</strong>r</p>

<ul>
	<li>No School Jan. 18 or Jan 29.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: center"><strong>Homework:   Due January 15</strong></p>

Math
<ul>
	<li>Homelink 4.2 Top-It</li>
</ul>
Reading
<ul>
	<li>Find four things that start with the /o/ as in octopus– take pictures of the object &amp; bring to school on <strong>Friday</strong></li>
	<li>Study the following sight words: one, two, three, four, five
<ul>
	<li>Look for those words in your reading with your child and in the world around you.</li>
	<li>Create another set and play a matching game.</li>
</ul>
</li>
	<li>Listen to someone read aloud to them for ten minutes each day</li>
	<li>Fill out reading log</li>
</ul>
Writing
<ul>
	<li>Complete reading response page for a book the student has read (or had read to him/her) this week.</li>
</ul>
<p align="center"><strong>Have a Great Week!</strong></p>