WORKERS IN OUR SCHOOL We have moved from learning about being a helper at home to learning about being a helper at school. Last week we discussed ways that children can help our school and this week we are learning about how adults who work here specifically help. We've interviewed Ms. Gwaltney (music), Nurse Nancy, Mr. Bryant (ESOL), and Mr. Starr (custodian) this week. In our interviews we are learning about the jobs these people perform, the tools they use, and also some personal information like what they do in their time off. Some have had funny stories to tell us too! BUDDING AUTHORS We have just completed our unit on writing narratives with beginning, middle, and end. One of our favorite parts of writing our own stories is getting to share them! We like to celebrate writing by listening to student authors read and then offering compliments about each book. Your child should be bringing home some finished (and unfinished) narratives today. These can stay at home for you to enjoy! NOT AFRAID OF A LITTLE SLIME
This week in math we've been estimating how many items are in a set by making wise guesses. We've written down our estimates and then counted objects into groups of ten with some left over to determine how many items there really are in that set (for ex: 5 sets of 10 and 3 left over is 53). Then we looked back to see who guessed more, who guessed less, and who got the number just right. We did this with spider rings and insect toys, and today we had a blast trying it again with pumpkin seeds...of course we had to get a little slimy in math today! Our pumpkin had 738 seeds! Good thing we know how to count by tens!!!
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![]() DRESSING UP Thanks for participating in homecoming week by dressing your children in lots of fun ways! We had fun learning together in all our special outfits. Here we are on my personal favorite day, Wacky Tacky Day!
TINY TOWN
What's cuter than the sweet little box house your child made? 25 sweet children playing with 25 sweet little box houses in a tiny town complete with street signs, and child-made roads and people cut-outs...that's what! They have had a blast setting up roads with their neighbors (kids who live on the same streets), driving down roads to get to each others' houses for "play-dates", and going to the pretend Westchester school that we made. Thanks for helping make this possible! Though it's been fun, these houses are taking up some serious room, so we started sending them home today. The rest will come home next week. If your child's house is GIGANTIC (there were quite a few), please arrange to come by the school and pick it up...or let me know if it needs to make it's way to the recycling bin (I can only bring myself to do that if your child knows and agrees this is ok). Have a great weekend! Allison Mansfield FIRE SAFETY WEEK This week was fire safety week. I hope your child has shared some of the things we've learned about smoke detectors, matches/lighters, safety in the kitchen, what to do if he/she is in a fire, and what we learned from our local fire fighters. One thing we talked a lot about was making an escape plan and doing a practice fire drill at home. Today I'm sending home a paper your child can use to draw an escape plan for your family. This is just for your child's use at home. Do not return it to school. Please decide on a meeting spot outside the house and rehearse a fire drill at home. We will be talking about our safe meeting spots next week. Here we are learning about fire fighter gear, putting out fires, and how to prevent fires. HOMEWORK READING BAGS
Thank you all for reading with your children using the new homework reading bags of books this week. Please use some of the suggestions on the card in the bag for things to talk to your child about while reading together. I've heard great feedback from the kids about how they knew SO many/ALL of the words! Remember, these are books on their independent reading levels, so this is supposed to seem fairly "easy" right now. We are helping them build confidence as readers! Please make sure your child is pointing under the words as he/she reads (not memorizing the pattern of the book and saying the words without looking). Books can either be returned on the Friday of the week you get them or the Monday after. Please do not return books any day but Friday and Monday, and make sure they've all been read before sending them back to school. Thanks for your help! SIGHT WORDS Here is an updated list of sight words we have on our word wall. I sent home cards several weeks ago that had some of these on them. Please make additional cards for the remaining words and continue to practice sight words at home, especially focusing on the newer words. Thanks for your help teaching the children to read fluently!
Have a great weekend! Allison I think something is in the water. This week we were able to rise to a whole new level of complexity in the areas of reading, writing, and math. The students are amazing me with the connections they are making across subjects and their ability to comprehend new material and apply it in their work! Here's what we've been up to: READING We are lucky enough to have 3 certified teachers in our classroom (yes, Mrs. Ivey and Mrs. Curl are currently paraprofessionals, but they are both former teachers too, and they know how to teach guided reading!), which means many, many opportunities for each student to read on his/her developmental level with a teacher each week! We are seeing huge improvements this week in how students read in groups (pointing to each word as they read, listening respectfully to others read and pointing along at the same time, answering questions about stories after reading, etc.). (Please read at the bottom for details about homework reading bags that will come home Monday!) WRITING This week we started writing stories that have beginning, middle, and end. This was a big jump for us, but everyone is making a smooth transition to writing MORE than just a sentence or 2 to tell a story. In addition, we are making sure to follow everything on the checklist below each time we write. Now when students complete stories they are asked to get a checklist (with all the things from below) and check that they did everything. Believe it or not, they are able to use the checklists independently to see what they need to work on. It's pretty awesome. ![]() MATH We are learning that place value is important. In whole group, we've been creating quantities to match 2 digit numbers to show that the first digit tells how many tens and the second tells how many ones. Then we ask silly questions like "Would you rather have 81 cookies or 18?" "Would you rather have to clean 15 toilets or 51 toilets?" It matters! Show your child the picture below and ask him or her to explain the difference to you. :) ![]() Independently in math we scaled this concept back to just focus on place value in the teens for now. Students have been using a variety of materials to "prove" that teen numbers are all made with one set of ten and some extra ones. HOMEWORK READING BAGS
Next Monday every child will bring home a canvas bag with 4 books inside that he/she is to read for homework that week. These books should be one step down from the books that he/she is reading with me in guided reading (for example, children reading with me on a B will have A books to take home. However if a child is reading A with me, he/she is also bringing home A because that is the starting level). Please make sure that your child reads all of the books at least once during the week. This means if you commit to having him/her read one book a day Monday through Thursday, you are free for the weekend unless you found one to be difficult and ask him/her to try again with that book. Books need to be returned the following Monday so that I can send a new bag of books. Inside each bag is a list of suggested things to do to help your child before, during, and after reading. Please use some of these strategies (not all at the same time) so your child has consistency between how we are reading at school and how you read together at home. Let me know if you have questions. CLASSROOM VOLUNTEERS During conferences I tried to ask everyone I met with whether or not they'd be available to help on a regular basis in the classroom. The two time slots I'm looking to fill are: 8:30-9:15 (Reader's Workshop) and 1:00-1:45 (Writer's Workshop). If I forgot to ask you if you're interested, and you can commit to a time slot (for the remainder of the school year), please email me with which time and day is good for you. I am still working on putting together the schedule, and if you wrote your name down, details will be coming soon. However, if I told you I would start having you come in next week, I was getting ahead of myself. I won't be ready to start this for one more week. Conferences have consumed my planning time and I need time to prepare your activities. Thanks for understanding, and sorry for any inconvenience. Have a great weekend! Allison |
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April 2016
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