STAR School K-2 Newsletter #4

We are enjoying our new classroom and would like to invite all the parents and families of the kindergarten, first and second grade class for a Cultural Foods Afternoon on Thursday, January 23, 2003 between 11:30 a.m. and 12:10 p.m. Please bring a dish or cultural dish to share with our students.

Here are some updates about the different subjects!

Language Arts

Our centers have been both educational and fun! With our new space we have been able to include a new puppet center! We have even built a puppet theatre for the children. Our first and second graders have been doing great with Spelling Success! We are going to begin including the kindergarten students in this program. They will be required to learn five new words a week from a word family. Our Blast into Reading program has also been wonderful and all of the students have made progress with their sight words. Attached are words 1-200 so you can practice with your child at home. Working on five words a week, is recommended.

Mathematics

The first and second graders will begin Math Matters starting next week. Each week the first and second grade students will memorize a new number pattern starting with counting by 2’s. They will also be working on Math Houses as part of this program, which is one tool for memorizing basic addition problems. For example, in the house of ten, a nine and a one live on the first floor. Please see the attachment for more information on our first house we are learning about! There will be quizzes on Thursday mornings.

Social Studies

The students have started their investigations into themselves! Please fill out and return the attached genealogy chart, so that the children can learn more about where they come from. If you know the English or Navajo names for the clans of your family, please include this information on the chart so that the students can learn about their clans.

Science/Art

Our students have adopted Grand Falls. We cleaned up trash on-site and are working on making signs to inform visitors of safety precautions and clean up ideas. We are continuing to landscape the STAR School while learning about Recycling, Reusing, Reducing and Redesigning. Would you like our class to come to your home for a Service Learning Project? If you would like help with a project such as cleaning up trash, watering plants, sweeping, raking, or planting, please indicate so on the attached form and return it to our class with your child. The children are having fun working with clay, completing their art books, and shape books. Recently they made wonderful sculptures using marshmallows and toothpicks!