Oct. 13-16th 2026

        
                                             

   

Hello Families!

We had a great, full week last week. The students enjoyed the "touch a truck" event and we had our first Mystery Reader! 

Thank you to Mr. Jacobson for 
being our Mystery Reader!

   

                                        

We filled our heart jar!! The students voted to have a "movie and popcorn" celebration. I will show a Wild Kratts episode about foxes and how they use their senses. I will supply popcorn (pre-packaged movie popcorn from Trader Joe's- it is gluten and nut free). If you prefer your child not to have the popcorn, please email and let me know:)

FUN RUN UPDATE:

Use this code to register your child and they will get a free t shirt!

The Fun Run on October 15th will be replacing the Springfest event, which is Shaker Lane's biggest fund raiser. The money raised will go toward buses for field trips, all school programs (such as Kindkids Music, Pumpernickle Puppets, and other enrichment programs) and SO much more. It will be "run" 😆 during the school day so no need to add to your already busy calendars. It will be a super fun movement break during our day👏!

This week:

• Tuesday- don't forget library books!

• Thursday- FUN RUN! Our class will be running at 11:00 (remember to wear sneakers!)

• Friday- High Five Friday! Children greet Shakey our mascot and some police officers with a high 5 when arriving at school!
• movie and popcorn celebration!

This week, the students will:

Language Arts-

• review all the trick words: the, can, I, like
• learn how to write and identify the letters (and sounds) of a, g (we specifically practice the "hard" g sound)
• practice identifying rhyming words
• practice ABC order
• discriminate between the vowel (learned to date) sounds
• identify the beginning sounds in words
• "write" a story about an apple
• add more letters while labeling their stories/pictures
• retell a story
• continue to learn comprehension skills while gaining background knowledge that will be essential for successful reading during Wit and Wisdom- our new book will be:                                   
  
  
  

Math-

• act out and use manipulatives to show a number story with numbers 0-5 (both addition and subtraction)
• practice number writing
• sequence numbers 0-10
• practice more/less, bigger/smaller

Social Emotional-

• participate in Second Step lesson #7 about feelings and being able to recognize how others are feeling. This unit is about empathy and feelings. 

Science-

• continue to understand how we use our 5 senses to learn about our world!

Here are some pictures from last week!

Social Thinking lesson with Ms. Grebb

Cookie Monster only likes cookies
with pictures of things that
begin with /c/.

putting the letters in ABC order on 
the octopus

 

practicing trick words
from the Cat and the Hat hat!

spin and record the trick words

working in our W&W journal
and recording examples 
of our 5 senses

exploring a math center

CREATION STATION!

check out this "Cool Cat"! Our new song of the week
is called "Cool Cat"

making Cool Cat crowns!

playdough fun!

cutting some crazy hair and 
practicing our scissor skills

October 5-9th 2026

 

Hello Families!

Happy October:)

I can't believe we are through our first full month of school. So many fun things scheduled for this next month including the Shaker Lane Fun Run and our Halloween parade. More information on those to come!

I am so proud of my students! They are filling that heart jar (again) but what I really love is that they are proud of themselves and I am seeing kindness and best effort from them everyday. 💖 I will let you know if they do and what they vote for to celebrate!

THANK YOU so much to the Hergert family for sending in a new batch of playdough for October!👏💖

We will begin having our "Mystery Readers" this week! If you are signed up to be a Mystery Reader, please make sure you sign in at the office before coming down to the room and the office will call the classroom to let me know you are on your way. A teacher will greet you at the door as the students "get ready" on the rug. Because it is a surprise for the kiddos, they close their eyes until the big reveal. Please select a shorter book (no more than 10 minutes to read) as the children are really tired by the end of the day! If you do not see a day that works for your schedule on the sign up and want to come in, just email me and we can make it work:)

I will send home the October book order form early in the week. I will put the order in on 10/16th by the end of the school day. Our September order will be arriving at school Monday or Tuesday and I will send those books home in your child's backpack unless I hear that you want to pick them up.

The Shaker Lane Fun Run is fast approaching (10/15)! HERE is the link to sign up (and all kids will get a free t shirt!). 

This week:

I am collecting paper towel/tp tubes, bottle caps and small (very small/jewelry size) boxes for creation station- I am excited to open that this week!

LANGUAGE ARTS-

• sequence stories
• identify the beginning sounds in words (with letters learned to date)
• put letters of the alphabet in order
• use a multi-sensory activity to demonstrate which letter makes which sound
• continue to learn what a sentence is
• arrange trick words to make a simple sentence
• practice writing letters learned to date
• add the trick word can to our list
• focus on the letters c and o (another vowel!). We will practice the "hard" c sound.

• continue our Wit and Wisdom lessons about the 5 senses but with a different book- We will use Aliki's My 5 Senses
• 

Math-

• sort and compare groups by size, color and shape
• practice rote counting
• practice writing numbers 0-5
• match a number to an amount/quantity
• learn a new math game called "top it"

Social Emotional- (we did not get to these lessons last week)

• Second Step lesson #6: feelings
• Social Thinking lesson #2 voice levels

Science- 

• continue to learn about our 5 senses
• continue to learn about autumn
• explore our CREATION STATION!

Social Studies-

• learn a great word that begins with the letter c, community

Here are some pictures from last week:)

daily 5

math center: match number to quantity

Showing groups that are more/less using the Felt board app

LOTS of UNO playing during choice time this week! Mrs. DiNoia is keeping the peace while looking like a dealer at the blackjack table 😂

Making Unicorns and "Itsy Bitsy Painting" letter i

September 28-October 2 2026

Friday!

Hello Families!

I can't believe we will be entering October at the end of the week😲. Our class filled our heart jar! The students voted to have a PJ Day. We will have our PJ Day on Friday 10/2. Please do not send in slippers, however. The students need to be in sneakers/shoes at all times- thanks so much!

Just a heads up that starting Oct. 5th the students will have to enter their lunch "pin" if they are ordering a school lunch. This number is on the practice keypad I sent home at our parent orientation. Please practice with them so that the process runs smoothly and all students get plenty of time to eat their lunch. THANKS! 

Every Monday, we talk about what we did over the weekend and then the children "write" about it in their journals. At this stage they are drawing a representational picture. We are just starting to talk about labels and adding a letter to the picture if they know the first sound of something. It would be helpful if you could reflect upon your weekend with your child on Sunday evening or even Monday morning to help them formulate their answer. Believe me, it doesn't have to be anything super exciting! A simple "I played with my brother outside" or I went to a birthday party" is awesome!  Young children are still learning about the meanings of "yesterday, today and tomorrow" and this can help with that lesson.  

This week's reminders:

• Tuesday- don't forget to send in library books!
• Wednesday- is a 1/2 day for all students
• Friday- PJ DAY

This coming week, the children will...

Language Arts-

• learn to write, name and differentiate between the vowel sound of i, u, (both short and long sounds)- vowels are very tricky!
• continue to practice t, b, f, m, n
• learn a new trick word: the
• practice trick words: I, like
• In Wit and Wisdom- We are beginning Module 1 this week and we will read this book by Margaret Miller
  
  The children will be diving deep into the 5 senses and learning new vocabulary. They will also be writing journal responses that will practice comprehension skills. These pages will come home at the end of our module.

here are the letters on which we will focus this week:

*please note the word association for the letter i is: itch (not my choice, believe me!😆)

These are not the best videos but it gives you the idea of how we teach the sounds and write the letters:)

Math-

• differentiate which group has less/more 
• practice writing numbers 0-5
• match numbers to quantities 
• sequence numbers 0-10
• draw or represent numbers 0-5

Social Emotional-

• learn how to notice carefully how someone is feeling (Second Step lesson #6)
• learn about voice levels (Social Thinking lesson #2)
• review and practice what the H (honesty) in H.E.A.R.T looks like in a classroom and on the playground
• continue to review how to be a good friend and what it looks like at school
• practice independence and problem solving during work time
• keep building that classroom community!

Science-

• continue to explore magnets and build marble runs 
• begin to learn about our 5 Senses and how we learn about our world using them

Here are some pictures from last week's fun!

Science Center!

Language Arts!

Magic m's !

Making Mouse Puppets

Math Centers

collaborating in the block corner!

Our First Community Meeting!

JUNGLE JAM! 

End of Wit and Wisdom Module 0 Celebration!

our first Social Thinking lesson with
Mrs. Grebb- whole body listening