A Week Full of Learning!

Important Dates:

Wednesday - Library

October 31 - Ammi Joan Paquette, author visit

November 9 - Early Release Day

November 21 - Parent/Teacher Conferences 

Go Noodle:

Go Noodle is a website we use in the classroom for our movement breaks. I sent home info about kids creating their own Go Noodle Champs at home and then we can connect those champs with our school account! In case you missed it, here is what to do:

Go to gonoodle.com/class-code and enter this code: GZDMNF 

Literacy:

Our Readers' and Writers' Workshops are in full swing! Each afternoon, I do a minilesson, focusing on a strategy that the readers will be working on during their independent reading. This week, we worked on rereading to smooth out our voices and scooping up words into phrases as we read. 

After our minilesson, the students go off and read independently using books at their just right level. Then, later during the workshop, they work with their reading buddy and read even more books! Hooray for reading! During independent and partner time, I work with students in small groups and independently to support them and help them grow as readers.

We read one of my favorite books this week, Big Pumpkin, by Erica Silverman. We love singing the song!

The children made retelling booklets of this story this week and brought them home. They were all excited to share their retellings with you!

Math:
We started our new math unit! This unit builds on everything we learned in the first math unit. We started off with combination problems, a type of story problem we spent a lot of time on in the first unit.

This time, we are also looking at how mathematicians use patterns to help solve story problems and equations. The children discovered that if we know the total sum (10) then we can use a counting forward and backward strategy to find combinations that solve for that number. This photo shows one student talking about the pattern she notices in another student's work. Wow! Great work mathematicians! 

Books, Math, Puzzles, and a Poem!

Important Dates:

Wednesday - Library

October 31 - Ammi Joan Paquette, author visit

November 9 - Early Release Day

Go Noodle:

Go Noodle is a website we use in the classroom for our movement breaks. I sent home info about kids creating their own Go Noodle Champs at home and then we can connect those champs with our school account! In case you missed it, here is what to do:

Go to gonoodle.com/class-code and enter this code: GZDMNF 

Literacy:

Here are the books we read:

Bag Head, by Jarrett Krosocka

The Vanishing Pumpkin, by Tony Johnston

Ghost in the House, by Ammi Joan Paquette

The students worked on some projects this week while I completed running records with every child to find out their just right reading level. I will be using this information during our readers workshop time to help students set reading goals, learn new reading strategies, and to continue to grow as readers.

We also had a great time with a poem called Five Little Pumpkins. Here is a video of the class reciting the poem.

Word Study is one of our favorite times of the day! We use Fundations to teach sounds, letters, and encoding/decoding skills. It's a very interactive part of our day. And we have a blast!

Math:
We finished up unit 1 in math! The students worked hard throughout this entire unit. The students have learned how to solve addition, subtraction, and combination problems. But, more importantly, they are doing a great job sharing their mathematical thinking, listening to each other's ideas, comparing ideas, and changing their thinking. Good job mathematicians.



Classroom Fun:

A few weeks ago, we had some free time in the classroom. We discovered that this class LOVES puzzles and I did not have enough puzzles to go around. Feelings were hurt and as a class we discussed how to solve the problem. The class worked through this issue very well. I was so impressed that I bought the class a special puzzle with our class picture on it. We made it this week! So much fun!

And finally... Friday the fresh fruit/veggie was a vegetable from the school garden. It was scallions. Many of the students tried them and quite a few LOVED the scallions!

A short week, but a busy week!

Important Dates:

Wednesday - Library

October 19 - Early Release (12:15)

October 20 - Picture retake day
October 31 - Ammi Joan Paquette, author visit

I know it was only a three day week, but we fit a lot into that short week!

Literacy: 
We read two books as a class this week:
Alphabet Adventure, by Audrey Wood and Bruce Wood
Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom, by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault

During our independent reading time, we worked on building good reading habits. We added two new habits this week:

• set reading goals
• read more and more

The students are using reading mats, organizing their books in the order they want to read them, setting a goal, and then reading! Some students like to stretch out on the floor, others like to read at a table with a friend. 

Math:

Big news for math this week... we started FACT POWER! During this time of the day, the mathematicians will practice math facts. We have the math facts broken down by level. Students start at level A (plus 1). When they can do all the math facts quickly and correctly from level A, they will move onto level B (minus 1). Students work together to practice with math fact cards and there are fact power packets for independent practice.Everyone did a great job during our introduction to this new math routine. 

Important Dates:

Wednesday - Library

October 10, 11 - No School

October 19 - Early Release (12:15)

October 20 - Picture retake day

October 31 - Author Visit

What a fun week we had - full of celebrations and learning! Our class was able to empty our hearts into the heart monitor and we enjoyed a class celebration of a pajama day! Also, the whole school celebrated filling the heart monitor with a bubble party!

Literacy: 
This week, every student was able to set up their "bag of books." This is a bag that has books at a just  right reading level for them. We learned what to think about when choosing books:

• Is it about a subject I like?
• Can I read most of the words?
• Can I retell what I read?

Students worked on increasing their independent reading time and learned how to use a reading mat.

We also read 2 fantastic books:

• Ish by Peter H. Reynolds
• The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

The students were able to compare the character of the Rainbow Fish to the character of Red from One. Good thinking readers!

Math:

We learned about a third type of math problem, a combination problem:
Nadia had 7 hearts. Some were red and some were blue. How many of each could she have?

In this type of problem, the mathematicians needs to come up with as many correct equations as they can. We have worked hard to compare the three types of problems (addition, subtraction,

We filled our bucket again!

Important Dates:

Wednesday - Library

Wednesday, October 5 - Walk to School Day! Teachers will be meeting students at the Rite Aid to all walk to school. 

October 10, 11 - No School

October 19 - Early Release (12:15)

October 20 - Picture retake day

October 31 - Author Visit - see info below

It's been a couple of weeks, and we have filled our heart bucket again! This time I promise to take pictures. We will be adding our hearts to the heart monitor on Monday.

Literacy:On October 31,author  Ammi Joan Paquette will be coming to talk about her books and writing. Mr. Gile, our librarian, will be getting order forms soon so you can order some of her books if you are interested.

We read the fantastic book One by Kathryn Otoshi. This is one of my all time favorite books.As a class we discussed the themes in the book, we watched this video, we acted it out, and completed projects about it. I hope you enjoy the book as much as we did!

During our mini-lessons this week we  have been learning how to share our thinking and our books with reading partners. We also are developing the habits that readers use, such as:

• Take a Sneak Peek
• Check Your Sneak Peek
• Do Something When you Finish a Book

Math:

This week is was all about using number lines and partner work! I am impressed with how everyone worked so hard with this new math tool! And, the students did a fantastic job comparing their work with a partner and explaining their thinking. We even got to play a froggy on the number line game created by our own Miss Sarah! Good work mathematicians!

We filled our bucket again!

Important Dates:

Wednesday - Library

Wednesday, October 5 - Walk to School Day! Teachers will be meeting students at the Rite Aid to all walk to school. 

October 10, 11 - No School

October 19 - Early Release (12:15)

October 20 - Picture retake day

October 31 - Author Visit - see info below

It's been a couple of weeks, and we have filled our heart bucket again! This time I promise to take pictures. We will be adding our hearts to the heart monitor on Monday.

Literacy:On October 31,author  Ammi Joan Paquette will be coming to talk about her books and writing. Mr. Gile, our librarian, will be getting order forms soon so you can order some of her books if you are interested.

We read the fantastic book One by Kathryn Otoshi. This is one of my all time favorite books.As a class we discussed the themes in the book, we watched this video, we acted it out, and completed projects about it. I hope you enjoy the book as much as we did!

During our mini-lessons this week we  have been learning how to share our thinking and our books with reading partners. We also are developing the habits that readers use, such as:

• Take a Sneak Peek
• Check Your Sneak Peek
• Do Something When you Finish a Book

Math:

This week is was all about using number lines and partner work! I am impressed with how everyone worked so hard with this new math tool! And, the students did a fantastic job comparing their work with a partner and explaining their thinking. We even got to play a froggy on the number line game created by our own Miss Sarah! Good work mathematicians!

We filled our bucket again!

Important Dates:

Wednesday - Library

Wednesday, October 5 - Walk to School Day! Teachers will be meeting students at the Rite Aid to all walk to school. 

October 10, 11 - No School

October 19 - Early Release (12:15)

October 20 - Picture retake day

October 31 - Author Visit - see info below

It's been a couple of weeks, and we have filled our heart bucket again! This time I promise to take pictures. We will be adding our hearts to the heart monitor on Monday.

Literacy:On October 31,author  Ammi Joan Paquette will be coming to talk about her books and writing. Mr. Gile, our librarian, will be getting order forms soon so you can order some of her books if you are interested.

We read the fantastic book One by Kathryn Otoshi. This is one of my all time favorite books.As a class we discussed the themes in the book, we watched this video, we acted it out, and completed projects about it. I hope you enjoy the book as much as we did!

During our mini-lessons this week we  have been learning how to share our thinking and our books with reading partners. We also are developing the habits that readers use, such as:

• Take a Sneak Peek
• Check Your Sneak Peek
• Do Something When you Finish a Book

Math:

This week is was all about using number lines and partner work! I am impressed with how everyone worked so hard with this new math tool! And, the students did a fantastic job comparing their work with a partner and explaining their thinking. We even got to play a froggy on the number line game created by our own Miss Sarah! Good work mathematicians!