Washington Family Connection

Counselor News

Preschool students continued learning from the feeling unit in the Al’s Pals Curriculum. They practiced not only identifying feelings, but how to communicate feelings in a respectful way and how feelings affect relationships. Our kindergarten students began learning problem-solving skills and fair ways to play. Our first grade students finished the problem-solving unit, along with reviewing previous taught information. The Students have papers called home links that are sent home occasionally from their lessons, which explain more of what the students are learning in class.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at (641) 472-2110 or Kelsie.roland@fairfieldsfuture.org.

Reading Corner

March is Dr. Seuss month! Playing with words and having fun with making silly words are a great way to get in important reading skills for students! This helps them with their reading skills and are incredibly important to their understanding of how words work. According to Shanahan (2015), blending and segmenting sounds in words are great ways to play with words and understand our language.

Here is an activity parents can do anytime with their kids:

Say a word and segment syllables: (easier)

Playground….play….ground….playground

Football….foot….ball…..football

Say a word and segment the first sound: (harder)

bat….b…b…b…bat

cat….c…c…c…cat

Resource: Shanahan, T. (2025, April). https://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/is-rhyming-ability-important-in-reading

Preschool:

Preschool students continue to learn the importance of being more independent as we start to prepare for Kindergarten. The students are also learning different strategies to be able to problem solve disagreements with others and advocate for themselves. (Leader in Me Habits 4 - Think Win Win and Habit 6 - Synergize).

In literacy, we have worked on letters Pp, Bb, Rr, and Kk. Continuing to focus on letter sounds and beginning word sounds. Rhyming has been a fun focus this month as we are focusing on what we hear in different words. Our focus has been on signs and roads, many of the students have a large knowledge of what sign shapes go with what words.

In math we are learning what numbers come before and after a number to help the students be able to count with more confidence. We are also continuing to work on counting up to 20, learning numbers 1-10, and being able to recognize how many items in a small group of things.

Please remember that with temperatures being cooler in the morning children will still need a coat/jacket to keep warm while outside even if the weather warms up in the afternoon.

Kindergarten:

We are excited to be preparing for our Music Concert on March 9th! On the day of the concert, we will meet students in the high school cafeteria and assist them as they transition on and off the stage.

As Iowa weather can be unpredictable this time of year, please be sure to send a coat with your child each day. Even if the forecast looks pleasant, temperatures can change quickly.

In the classroom, students are making wonderful progress. They are now writing sentences independently and reading stories in their Seth Readers while continuing to build their understanding of digraphs (ch, sh, etc.) In our Knowledge unit, we will begin learning about Colonial Times. In Skills, we will continue practicing digraphs and blending 4-5 sound words, and in Math, we are focusing on developing a stronger understanding of teen numbers.

Thank you for your continued support—we appreciate your partnership in your child’s learning!

1st Grade:

During CKLA Skills we will start writing our Critter Reports. This is always a fun writing project. We read about the animals in our “Green Fern Zoo” readers.

In math we will continue working on 2 digits numbers. We are talking about comparing the two numbers with the comparison symbols. We will then move on to the number to 100 and adding two digits numbers together.

Coming up in CKLA Knowledge, we will be talking about animal habitats. This is also a fun unit for our first graders.

We have noticed that students have been bringing toys, stuffies, and trinkets to school. Per our school handbook those need to stay at home. Thank you for encouraging them to keep these at home.

With it being Spring in Iowa, the temperatures are always fluctuating from morning to afternoon. To help your child out, please continue to send a coat, hat, and gloves with them to wear in the morning. A sweatshirt is not a proper coat to wear outside when the temperatures are at or near freezing. They can have a sweatshirt at school to wear when the temperatures warm up for long sleeves.