Grace United Methodist Church

Grace Readiness
August-September 2008 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We are so glad that you and your child will be sharing this school year with us here at Grace. For many, this is the first exposure to school, others are already old pros. Whatever the case, all of you are excited and maybe a little anxious about what the future holds. In order to ease some of the anxieties and satisfy the excitement, we will be spending August , discovering This is My School. The children will be learning about their classmates, environment and activities that will fill up their schooldays!

August 18- 29, we will be ready to do some exploring of the question Who AM I? Included in this unit will be identification of body parts, discussion of emotions and the myriad of characteristics that make us similar and yet unique. The children always enjoy sharing about themselves and may bring a favorite picture from home to display on our bulletin board. Please help us insure that the pictures get properly returned by clearly labeling them. These two weeks will also mark the beginning of our letter and number learning. We will start with the letters Mm, Bb, Dd and Tt.
You can reinforce our teaching by emphasizing these letters and their sounds at home. We use the terms “upper case” and “lower case” to distinguish the letters. We will also begin working with the numerals 0-5, learning to identify them and understand their value.

No school on September 1 to celebrate Labor Day. September 2- 12, we will encourage your child to recognize, and share the importance of their family unit, as we discuss My Family. We will be paying special attention to the importance of belonging to and caring for one another. We will also emphasize the responsibilities shared and contributions made by each family member. Our letters for this week will be Ff and Ss. We will continue working with the numbers 0-5. Show and Tell will be Thursday, September 11 and Friday, September 12.

The two weeks of September 15-26, will include a unit on Color Around Us. The unit will focus on the primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) as well as the secondary colors (green, orange, and purple).

During this time, the color words will be introduced. We would appreciate your help by emphasizing color at home as well. The letters for this unit are Rr, Ee, Gg, and Ii. We will have pictures taken at Readiness on the 17 and the 18. Individual pictures will be taken and put in a class composite with their names under the picture. You will be able to purchase packages, class pictures only, or nothing. It is a prepay program. Your child will be in the class composite even if you don’t purchase any pictures. More information will be sent home closer to the time.

Please remember that our children are at various stages of development and while for some children the letter and number work will be primarily review, for others it is a first introduction. The children can benefit regardless of their level if you help develop their awareness of letters and numbers in their daily life. Not everyone will achieve mastery at this point which is certainly to be expected. Any gain or accomplishment is worthwhile and commendable. Also, name recognition is taught using upper and lower case letters. The children become confused if you use only uppercase at home.

Please encourage your child to share his/her school experiences with you. We want to make our days together fun and develop positive attitudes about school. We appreciate your comments and suggestions and desire your active participation.

Important dates to remember:
September 1 No School Labor Day
September 10 and 11 Show and Tell
September 17 and 18 Pictures

Sincerely,
Mrs. Candy English
Mrs. Holly Black