Update - March 30, 2014

Thank you for helping us celebrate our writing on March 21^st. We really enjoyed sharing our work with you. The children brought home their final chapter book for our non fiction unit .  This was our “published” piece of writing. You will notice that we did not correct all spelling and grammar but a lot of work was done in class with the help of a teacher.  Their red folder contains the writing they did as part of this unit. Some of these books were completed and others were not.  This is part of our writing process and not every piece of writing will be completed as we learn about different key elements of the writing genre. We are starting our next unit in writing workshop which is “Opinion Writing”. We will be writing “reviews” to learn about this type of writing.

In Math, we have been working on 2 digit addition and the children have been making great progress with this.  Our next unit is 2 digit subtraction. The children who have mastered their math facts are finding this work to be much easier than those who have not. Starting again this week, we will be taking fact quizzes 2 or 3 times a week and charting progress.  Fact fluency plays a critical role in your child’s success in math and their readiness for the work ahead.  They should be able to give the correct answer to the math fact within 3 seconds if they are fluent.  We need to learn our addition and subtraction facts up to a sum of 10 by the end of first grade.  Please continue working on fact fluency with your child as part of their homework at least 3 times each week.  I will be sending home information this week about your child’s progress with their math facts. 

Please continue sending in boots for recess during the spring until the playground dries out.  Thank you for helping keep our classroom clean.  Hats and mittens are also needed on windy days. 

I am so proud of our class for all the work they have been dong lately.  This time of year is when we are seeing an increase in independence and stamina and start to work more like second graders. It is terrific seeing them take on this challenge and being so proud of themselves when they are successful with something that’s hard to do.  As we say each day in class “Be Brave!” I hope you are enjoying your weekend. 

St. Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day (a day early). We will be having our class pizza party at lunchtime tomorrow from the PTO for bringing in the most box tops.   Please send in a lunch with your child if they don’t like pizza – or they can go to the cafeteria to buy lunch. We will be having lunch together in the classroom.

We are finishing up our non-fiction chapter books, which we call our “teaching” books because we are teaching our readers about something we are an expert about.  We will be having a special writer’s celebration on FRIDAY MARCH 21^ST FROM 2:30 – 3:15 IN OUR CLASSROOM and we hope that you will be able to join us. 

I will send home a note with the kids tomorrow for you to RSVP. 

Please continue to send in winter clothing for recess each day as the playground gets quite windy and we go outside almost every day for recess. This includes boots since spring becomes mud season! I know the kids are tired of lugging them back and forth but it really helps. Thanks!

We have a graduate student from Saint Rose doing some observations and work in our classroom this month. Her name is Miss  DiBernardo.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

I hope you have had a wonderful weekend!

Weekly update - March 9, 2014

We had a great time celebrating Read Across America this Week and doing lots of Dr. Seuss activities. Thank you for lending us your books so we had plenty to read. I will send them home with the kids tomorrow. 

I just wanted to give a reminder about homework. On Fridays the kids are bringing home their reading logs for the week and their new spelling list to study ad well as their spelling test. On Mondays they bring home their fact practice sheet and math homework sheets.  All homework is due on Fridays, including being prepared for the spelling test.  Our buddies test us on Friday morning. My goal is to help your child become used to the routine of having homework and working on time management to complete their assignments since this is such an important life skill.  The only thing they should really need your help with is reading the directions on the math homework pages to help them get started. The rest of this, including recording their reading on their log, should be something they can do on their own.  Thank you for helping your child as they develop these important skills.

We are working on writing our final books for our nonfiction unit this week. The kids have done a LOT of work on these and we are looking forward to sharing them with you during our March class celebration on Friday March 21^st at 2:30. 

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Weekly Update – March 2, 2014

We will be celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America this week.  Monday is Crazy Hat Day at Eagle and the kids are welcome to wear a crazy hat to school.  If you have any Dr. Seuss books at home. Please write your child’s name in them and have them bring them to school to share.  We will be reading LOTS of Dr. Seuss this week and the more books we have, the better! Thanks for your help with this. We will return them on Friday.

Last week was very busy with our Valentine’s Day celebration and the 100^th Day of School. The kids looked great dressed up as if they were 100 years old.  Thank you for all of the valentines and candy.  I am so lucky to have such a wonderful class!

We have a student from Saint Rose who will be helping out in our classroom this month. Her name is Steevi DiBernardo. She is a graduate student and will be teaching a few math lessons on measurement later this month. 

We are looking forward to a great week ahead. There’s nothing better than a celebration of reading!