Sunday Bartlett Library

Dear Parents,

It is with great regret that I have to cancel meeting students at the Bartlett library on Sunday January 27. Personal issues are preventing me from attending.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Reading and a love of reading and learning is a passion of mine and I want to instill that same love with my students, but I have to put my family first at this point in time on the weekends.

A note will go home on Friday to this effect as well.

January 18, 2013

Marcella, Caitlyn, Isiah, and Ian were great readers this week! 

We finished reading The Fire Cat .   We learned how when we write a response to a text, how to begin and how to support our thinking with evidence from the text.  We will continue this next week, but using a more challenging text.

We are continuing to gather research on our biographies.  Students chose between Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Ruby Bridges, and Helen Keller to write about.  I am in the process of creating a new blog for our classroom (more on that later!) where they will post their biographies.

In math, we worked on 3 digit addition and subtraction strategies.  Keep working on subtraction accuracy by using XtraMath.org or TenMarks.com; Be sure and use the help videos on TenMarks!!!!

Tuesday is a switch day and we will follow a Monday schedule.  

Patricks mother has graciously agreed to be our Party Leader for our upcoming Valentine's Day party.  She needs helpers-both in the classroom and out.  If you are able to help in any way, please let me know and I will get your contact information to her.  Thank you!

Don't forget next Sunday:  Jan. 27 at 3:00.  Mrs. Perrone and I will meet students at the Bartlett Library to share some fun time together looking for books and reading.  Join us!!!

Monday and Tuesday

K.C. was our first child of the day on Monday followed by Marcella on Tuesday.

During reading we are reading The Fire Cat.  We are looking at character traits and how characters change. We are looking at what the author said to support our thinking. 

During writing we have begun writing our biographies.  Today was the first day to gather research on our subject.

During math we are working on 3 digit addition and subtraction strategies.  We have also reviewed ownership and commitment - part of the 8 Keys of Excellence.

Sunday January 27 at 3:00, meet myself and Mrs. Perrone at the Bartlett Library where we will look for just right books together.  See you there!

New Year

I'm not good at making New Year's resolutions as without a doubt, life gets in the way, and I can't always stick with them.  But I don't want to make a resolution to keep this blog up to date!

Before I update with the new year...here are some pictures from the end of 2012:

Keeian's mother was our last mystery reader in 2012.  We LOVED the book!

We learned about Hanukkah.

After leading us on a world tour to learn about holiday traditions around the world, Rudy, the Elf on the Shelf, returned to the North Pole.

We learned about Diwali and said goodbye to our student teacher, Ms. Fischer.

We made holiday cards and sent them to schools around the country,  We also received cards back and learned about geography in the United States.

And we practiced our fluency using readers' theater.  Unfortunately, not everyone was videotaped and published because of the absences, but our fluency did improve!

And of course we had our year end holiday party with the them of The Polar Express.  Thank you to Caitlyn's, Josh, and Keeian's mom for the hot chocolate and cookies.  And thank you to Alyssa's mother for the cups and napkins.

And thank you to everyone for the wonderful holiday gifts.  So thoughtful!

Now for 2013!

Of course...the child of the day reads to the class:

Patrick

Joshua

Nadia

Daniel

Austin

Keeian

This first week back was a review of PBIS expectations an our 8 Keys of Excellence.  In our readers workshop time we worked on characters and how they responded to events in the story.  During our writing time, each student wrote a biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  During our math time we worked on 3 digit addition and comparison number stories.

We also had our first mystery reader of 2013, Joshua's grandfather!

We also had vision and hearing testing on Friday.

Welcome back to school and to 2013!