Letter {Uu} Week

U just wouldn’t believe how unbelievable Letter U was this week. Undeniably and unmistakably! Uh! Finding letter U words is not as easy as it sounds. We found umbrella, under and up. We turned under into understand, underneath and the children giggled when we mentioned underwear, especially Tolson, “Underwear! Oh, ho ho ho ho! She said, ‘underwear’!”

We made an umbrella on Monday and colored a hat for Thursday. We put blue glue drops on our umbrellas and held them up to make it rain.  “It’s raining, Mrs. McClure! It’s raining!” So fun! We sang some raindrop songs and hoped our pictures would dry, but held them for Wednesday instead.

Wednesday, we made and played a nutty reading game and I showed the children what a real acorn looked like. I had a friend send them to me from Boston. I cracked it open (with my teeth! Ha ha!) and we talked a lot about it. Then, we read a story about a squirrel named Miss Suzy. Ask your children about Miss Suzy. You might get a fun report. The children are learning to sound blend. This was a great game to learn and practice on. I encourage you to play it often with your child, asking for instance with bug, “What does b say? What does u say? What does g say? Sound that together. Again! Again! Faster! Louder!” if they need help getting started. So, so sweet to see the readers helping others with their games. I loved that!

Thursday, we made and played a groundhog counting game, finished up our hats and made a hole for our little tasty groundhogs to pop up through. The children were so cute as they shoved their sticks through, “He goes up, he looks around, he sees his shadow and drops down!” We had groundhog for lunch! Yum! Sam told Miss Kristen, “I ate a real groundhog before, at my house! My mom served it for dinner!”

The children are really taking off in their little readers that we are sending home. I promised big prizes at the end of the year for top readers. We place stickers on them for every 5 books (now, that Miss Kristen knows the plan) and we celebrate their success with cheers as I have them all bow.  Then, we all yell, “Great job readers!” Our top reader is Brig with 91 books so far. They are off to a great start! If you feel your child is ready for a reader, let us know. We will send you home with one. We have a reading game every Thursday. Today, I noticed how well some are really catching on. I was also a bit insistent on having everyone participate and repeat together with us, calling out straggler’s names. I have treaded lighter in the past, but we have reviewed these letters and sounds so often, everyone should know them well if they were paying attention. Ahhh! There’s the key! IF!

We hope everyone is happy and well. Thank you for all of your continued love and support. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful children by our sides and families as our friends.

Much love and devotion,
Mrs. McClure
Miss Kristen, too!