Book Donations

Do you have any level 1 readers that your child has "outgrown?" I would love to take them off your hands to add to my lending library. Sadly, these early readers tend to fall apart after a number of uses and it gets expensive to replace them yearly. I would love your hand me downs!

Leveled Reading Books

The last day to "swap" books from my library will be May 28. If your child still has books in their folder and is not planning to swap them anymore, please send them back asap. Thank you!

Kindergarteners..Vroom, vroom! Is your motor running??

What is my child talking about when she says she should read with her motor running??

When we practice blending words, we connect and elongate the sounds.  This helps our students hear the whole word together and not just the individual sounds. I practice this with my students by having them touch their throat as they speak to feel the vibration, or their motor running.  We talk about keeping that motor running as we blend the sounds in words.  If we leave our motor running, we say the whole word.  If we forget and turn our motor off, we just say the sounds individually. 

You can practice this at home by having your child "hold their motor" and blend words.

  

For example:
cat would sound like caaaaaat,
 instead of  c (pause) a (pause) t

Reaching for Level J

CES is building talented readers and we could not do it without your support at home.  It is clear, from the monthly reading calendars, that you are all working very hard with us to help your child reach and exceed their reading goals. First grade end of year reading level is level J. Most of our students have reached or are close to reaching this level already, with over 7 weeks of school still to go! Here are some more ideas to keep the progress going:

Ask your child

• Tell why (title of book) is a good title for this story.  Use parts of the book to support your answer.
• Does this story teach a lesson?  If so, what lesson does (name of character) learn?  Use details from the story to support your answer.
• What did you notice about the layout of the text (headings, subheadings, illustrations, labels)?  How did these help you understand the text?

Build vocabulary

• What are some new words you learned from this book?  How can you use these words in your everyday life?
• Which words were difficult for you to sound out?  Practice breaking these words apart as you read them on the pages.  (For example: misplacing - mis/plac/ing).

Connect with the world

• Have your child write about about a time that reminds him/her of a similar event that happened in the book.
• How has your mind changed about the topic after reading this book? Or what do you still believe, now that you know more about this topic?

Keep reading every night!  . The lists below are sample level J and K books:

Sample Level J Books
TITLE	AUTHOR	FICTION / NONFICTION
The Boy Who Cried Wolf	Littledale, Freya	Fiction
The Magic Fish	Rylant, Cynthia	Fiction
The Snowy Day	Ezra Jack Keats	Fiction
The Teeny Tiny Woman	Seuling, Barbara	Fiction
Too Much Noise	McGovern, Ann	Fiction
Dig Dig Digging	Mayo, Margaret	Nonfiction
The Gingerbread Man	Aylesworth, Jim	Fiction
Play Ball!	York, Vanessa	Nonfiction
Volcanoes	Alexander, Karen	Nonfiction
Dance! Dance! Dance!	Sarah Mitchell	Nonfiction
Tigers	Kate Riggs	Nonfiction
Sample Level K Books
Title	Author	FICTION / NONFICTION
The Apple Pie Tree	Zoe Hall	Nonfiction
The Blind Mice and the Elephant	Backstein, Karen	Fiction
Bony-Legs	Cole, Joanna	Fiction
The Frog Prince	Tarcov, Edith H.	Fiction
A House Spider's Life	Himmelman, John	Nonfiction
Jack and the Beanstalk	Weisner, David	Fiction
When I First Came to This Land	Ziefert, Harriet	Nonfiction
Endangered Animals	McNulty, Faith	Nonfiction
Ibis:  A True Whale Story	Himmelman, John	Nonfiction

Raffle Baskets at CES TODAY

Thursday, March 14, 2019
PTO Sponsored Basket Raffle
$1.00 a ticket.

Get 2 tickets free when you buy 10!

Baskets will be on display at Parent/Teacher Conferences.

All baskets were donated by CES staff.

All proceeds will go to a new iPad cart with 30 iPads.

Baskets to be raffled:

Gift Cards

Luck of the Irish - Lottery Tickets

Barbecue including $50.00 gift card

Movie including $50.00 gift card

Baking

Summer Fun

Games

Choose to Be Nice

Crafts

Play Station Chair including $50.00 gift card

New England Sports

Read Across America

Let’s Celebrate Reading and Dr. Seuss

CES will celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday the week of February 25. In classrooms, students will focus on Dr. Seuss stories and activities. On Friday, March 1, students can come to school dressed as their favorite Dr. Seuss character. We will have a costume parade and end the day with a Dr. Seuss themed assembly!

Reading Calendar SUCCESS

So far, so good completing our monthly reading calendars.  Most classes have over 85% of students passing them in each month. We have a few classes that have had 100% participation the past few months!  That is phenomenal? Great job to those of you that are passing in your calendars every month. 

Special congratulations to Mrs. Procopio's class, Mrs. Kerle's class, Mrs. Sanborn's class, Miss Bellerive's class and Miss Socha's class!

A couple of reminders:

-Please pass your calendar in on time. I can only accept calendars the week that they are due. On Friday we choose the raffle prize winners for the month.

-School vacation days are the BEST times to read. Students typically have more time during the day to read than usual, not less. Please do not write "school vacation" in the boxes. Reading should take place daily to build good habits and prevent students from forgetting their skills. We want to build readers that enjoy reading and don't view it as just a homework task.