Kid, you'll move mountains.
~Dr. Seuss
2/24/2019 0 Comments Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Saturday is Read Across America Day, but I just can't limit the fun to one day. We will be celebrating Dr. Seuss and our growing readers all week! I was only gone three days, but when I came back, I was amazed at the progress our students are making. Ms. Munio told me about the work that the kids were doing while I was away. I am so proud! We also retested all the student’s reading levels; many students moved up. Like I said, we need to celebrate all week! Dr. Seuss was truly a master of literacy for young readers. Have you noticed all the rhymes in his books? While they are tongue twisters for us, rhymes help children to hear sounds and identify phonemic relationships. His short phrases and repetitive patterns help young readers decode and master fluency. Looking for a challenge? Try to sound out one of his nonsense words! Now that is true phonemic awareness! Watch for your kids exploring these skills as they develop as readers for the rest of the year. In math, we have been working on subtraction. While many students have been exposed to this skill, the challenge is to explain thinking, use multiple strategies, and identify clue words. This will be required in our math curriculum throughout their mathematical careers at Zach. In writing, the students are nearing the completion of our non-fiction stories. This is referred to as "small moment" stories in upper grades. It is a challenge to stretch our stories to include a beginning, middle and end. The kids are also trying to include spaces, punctuation, and vowels in every word. Writing is really a very complex task for young minds. Have fun this week learning and reading with your children. How lucky we are to open the world to them through books! “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment, until it becomes a memory.” ~Dr. Seuss
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2/15/2019 0 Comments President's Day!I hope you enjoyed your long weekend and had fun times with family and friends. Remember, there is no school Monday, February 18. I will be attending a conference in Arizona on Professional Learning Communities Tuesday-Thursday. I am excited to learn and grow as an educator, but it is always hard to be out of the classroom. We have a great substitute and Ms. Munio to run the class. Please call the room or send a note with schedule changes. Do not email.
Thank you for working with your child on memorizing sight words. They are progressing quickly, but remember, quality is better than quantity. It is ok to slow down and make sure that your child has truly mastered the word by memorizing, not sounding out, the words. If you see the list coming home after you think that they can pass, it is probably because he or she is still sounding the words out. In math, we are rocking and rolling with addition and subtraction! The students are learning to justify thinking and show understanding using manipulatives. These skills will help build a solid foundation for mathematic careers. Wow, that's exciting news! You can reinforce all of this at home by making math a part of everyday life. Verbalize how you use math at the grocery store, cooking, at work, driving or telling time. We have reduced the amount of homework that we send home this year. PLEASE remember that instead of worksheets, students need to be working on Reading Eggs and Math-Seeds. These are fantastic programs. Students who have consistently used the programs make tremendous growth! Thank you for supporting your child at home. If you feel like the level is too low, please let me know and I can reset the placement test. 2/6/2019 0 Comments What's Happening in February?Thank you all who helped prepare for and celebrate the 100th day of Kindergarten. We had a blast, and many kids are still recovering from the change in schedule and over stimulation. With all this snow on top of that, we are just out of whack! Bedtimes, extra love, and routines will help kids readjust.
Be sure to start working little by little on your Valentine cards. Your child should be doing his or her neatest writing. If you wait until the last minute, there may be a melt down! You can begin sending them to school any time. However, please send in book buddy Valentines as soon as possible. We will create bags at school to collect the Valentine cards, so there is no need to make anything at home besides the cards. Are you working on Schools on the Move? We are encouraging healthy snacks at school, especially fruits and vegetables. They count towards the 5! Today was workout Wednesday. We got in our 60 minutes today during brain breaks and indoor recesses! After having fun with Groundhogs day, 100’s day, 101 day, and Valentine’s day, we will settled back into our Core Knowledge curriculum and learn about Presidents including Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and many more. Math has kept us busy learning addition strategies. We will move on to subtraction next week. Our “How to” books are almost done, so we will begin our true story writing next week as well. Want to join in on the fun? Head to the “Links” page and sign-up for workstations, Friday Folders, and copy crew. We would love to have you! |
Specials ScheduleMonday: Media
Tuesday: Technology Wednesday: PE Thursday: Music Friday: Art Sight Wordsred, the, like, can, orange yellow, a, I, green, blue, purple, black, we, see, pink, white, gray
Important DatesDecember Archives
February 2020
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