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Testwiseness Week

8/17/2018

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What another engaged week we had together learning about each other and building a safe learning environment for us all.  We are still learning about routines of our classroom that will help us to be efficient.  Some of these routines include: classroom jobs, morning routines & bellwork, lining up & washing up for lunch, and signing in every morning.  In addition, there was an assessment each day given to the students and the children got to practice good test-taking behaviors.  These tests were baseline assessments (pretests) that will give information about each child's strengths and will also help in determining individual needs.  

Here is a summary of what happened in our classroom:
Getting to Know Each Other…
  • Individually, students took a reading survey that asked questions about what books they like to read, how often they read, what genre they enjoy most, and how they learned (still learning) to read.  It was very powerful to see how everyone reads for different purposes (to be entertained, to learn new things, for homework, etc…) and how books are a very special part in everyone’s life! ​

​In Langauge Arts...
  • Students used highlighting strategies to find text evidence in the stories they read from Wonders.  They practiced looking for key details.  As students were asking and answering questions about the text, they learned to use Q.A.E. = Q=Repeat the Question, A= Answer the question, E=Provide Evidence.  Students used this nemonic device to help them answer the questions in a complete sentence and with text evidence.   (Check your child's AVID binder ELA section for an example!)
  • Students listened to and watched an interactive story called Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae.  In this story, Gerald the Giraffes watches all his friends boogie down to the beat at the Africa Jungle Dance and his only wish is that he could dance just as well.  He tries hard to learn, but his clumsy body and his friends telling him "Giraffes can't dance" discourages him to even try.  Finally he meets a cricket who tells him to listen to the music and "find your song."  Gerald soon realizes he can dance he just needed to try again to different music!  After reading this story, students enjoyed two songs which can be found here on our class website Don't Give Up by Bruno Mars and The Power of Yet by Janelle Monae.  Students then thought of an academic and personal goal that they have and posted it on our "Things We Can't Do....YET!" poster.  ​(Some children are still working on theirs) 
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In math...
  • ​Student explored even and odd numbers and investigated the conditions for a number to be even or odd.  
  • By grouping 10 tens, students learned that it makes a 100!  Students composed and decomposed quantities of base-ten pieces (blocks) to show that numbers can be represented in more than one way.  This skill of decomposing and composing will help students later with trading and regrouping when adding and subtracting numbers.    
  • Using our Stepping Stones curriculum, students learn about place value, this week going up to the hundreds place.  They also practiced writing numerals and number names for three-digit numbers.  Students learned that with three-digit numbers you say the tens and the ones together, but the hundreds is said separately, so a hyphen is needed between the tens and ones, but not for the hundreds.  For example, three hundred fifty-nine.   

REMINDERS AND ANNOUCEMENTS
  • Spelling test on Monday (normally it would have been on Friday, but due to the Holiday it was postponed to Monday)
  • Field trip is on 8/20 (shoes and home lunch & drink is needed)
  • 1st PE is scheduled for 8/24 (shoes needed to participate)
  • Don't forget to check and sign your child's planner daily!  Thank you!
  • Please help your child log the genre he or she reads daily.  It is important to expose them to the correct genre name when referring to the books they read.  The Genre-at-a-Glance chart is located behind the reading log (laminated to the manilla folder).
  • Please have your child complete their daily oral reading fluency.  They should be timed for 1 minute and the amount of words should be logged.   
 ​​​
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A Great Start!

8/11/2018

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What a wonderful (and BUSY!) first week we had in school!  It was an exciting week getting to know the children (who I am enjoying immensely), setting up routines, and creating a safe and open environment where the children will grow and learn this school year. 
​

Here is a summary of what happened in our classroom:
Getting to Know Each Other…
To build inclusion and practice communication and listening skills, students created T-shirt designs that represented themselves.  Their paper shirts were divided into sections to include topics such as family, favorite place, favorite food, etc...  Students could share their shirts with the class as others listened and learned about their new classmates.  

To showcase their birthdays, students designed their own cupcake using construction paper. 


This week's goal was to build a strong community and foster our Tribal Agreements.  Each day we focussed on one tribal agreement, and with the help of some great children's literature, we discussed in detail what each agreement looks like, sounds like and feels like.  
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We used Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard to discuss Mutual Respect and Interrupting Chicken ​by David Ezra Stein to discuss Attentive Listening. 
At the end of the week, as a culminating activity, we created our class "Recipe for Success" using the Tribal Agreements discussed earlier in the week and a few others that make a successful student.  Students enjoyed mixing different "ingredients" that symbolized the different traits of a successful student.  I hope they shared their recipe for success with you!  

​In Langauge Arts...
Students listened to many stories this week.  One in particular,  an Aesop fable, The Lion and the Mouse was used to help students practice visualizing as they read.  As students were read the story, they were asked to make a "mental movie" of various scenes in their minds. Using this story, student discussed a very important life lesson:  No matter if you're big or small, you can make a difference!  

Without looking at any illustrations, students used their visualization strategy to really listen to the story I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll.  Halfway into the story, students had to illustrate one scene from their mental movie.  This particular story included rich vocabulary and word choice, so it lent itself well to visualizing the details.  Students got to share their monsters.  Then we read the story looking at the illustrations in the book.  It was really cool to compare students' interpretations!  

After reading a picture book called Wolf! by Beeky Bloom, about a wolf who struggled to learn to read but never gave up and eventually became the best reader in his town, students wrote down what they think good readers do.  We later made a circle map with all our ideas.  This map is now decorating our classroom, as there are many wonderful ideas that we never want to forget like...Good Readers...
  • reread the story if it does not make sense
  • focus on their mental movie
  • never give up when the words get hard
  • ask for help
  • sound out words
  • stop and check
  • read everyday! 
  • use picture clues, etc... 
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In math...
-Using our Stepping Stones curriculum, students started to learn about place value, specifically tens and ones.  They also practiced writing numerals and number names.  They are still working on adding in the hyphen when need in number names.  Extending their knowledge of place value, students compared two-digit numbers and even order numbers from greatest to least or least to greatest.  

REMINDERS AND ANNOUCEMENTS
  • Field trip is on 8/20 (shoes and home lunch is needed)
  • Don't forget to check and sign your child's planner daily!  Thank you!
  • Please help your child log the genre he or she reads daily.  It is important to expose them to the correct genre name when referring to the books they read.  The Genre-at-a-Glance chart is located behind the reading log (laminated to the manilla folder).
 
  • And one last thought… most of my updates won’t be this long- there were just so many different activities that we did this week that I wanted to share! As a mom of two (one of them a 11-year-old boy who always has a hard time sharing what he does in school with me) this is what I hope for- a way to find out what goes on at school so an extension of learning at home can take place or simply engage in productive conversation at home.  It’s what I hope these updates will do for your family. ​
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  • Welcome
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    • We have...Growth Mindset!
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