Well this is all unexpected. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy as we partake in social distancing. The silver lining for my family is that my niece gave birth to a lovely baby boy this morning! I'm a Grauntie! For now I am enjoying seeing pictures of him and getting updates from my sister but can't wait for the time when I will get to cuddle with him.
As of now the plan is that we are out of school for this week and then we have spring break next week. I sent home some things to help students keep their skills sharp during our time apart. They should have brought home 4 books they selected from our classroom library along with a copy of our anchor chart for Solving and Checking Hard Words. This is a great coaching tool to use with your child as they monitor their reading by asking themselves the three questions - Does it Look Right? Does it Sound Right? and Does it Make Sense?. Depending upon the question, there are tools they can try to read the tricky word. Students also brought home a journal - I just wanted them to have paper for writing but any paper will do! We are currently writing opinion pieces so I sent home a checklist and a copy of the Convincing Your Reader chart to guide their writing. They can write about things at home such as toys, games, food, tv shows, movies and books. If you have Amazon Prime they have episodes of Reading Rainbow which contain book reviews at the end of each segment. This can be a resource to give students ideas. I also sent home the login information for the Clever Student Portal. If you are trying to access this from an iPad you need to download the Clever app and enter that way. I tried it before I left school on Friday and found that students can access lots of different apps. They can continue with Lexia, read books on MyOn, write their own books on Book Creator (have them show you the nonfiction book they wrote), create projects on See Saw and practice math facts with Reflex. If they click on the Room 108 icon they can access more books to read on Epic. I am exploring other resources to support at home learning and have created a new page on this site. I am adding a date next to each link to let you know what new resources have been added. I am especially excited to spend time with author Mo Willems each day at Lunch Doodles with Mo! Check out the Learning Links page! Please don't hesitate to reach out. I am looking forward to seeing everyone on April 1st - no fooling!!
1 Comment
It was fun to see so many friendly faces at the auction on Saturday. What a fun event and it is wonderful so see the support from our community!
We started our new writing unit this week. Students are learning all about opinion writing! We started by looking at a small collection of items where they follow the 4 rules for "Judging Fairly". 1. Put everything in a lines. 2. Compare the same thing in each. 3. Decide which is the best and give reasons. We are now also discussing how to convince our reader. We will be writing lots about our opinions for the next few weeks. In reading we started our Readers Have Big Jobs to Do. We made a chart that not only lists different strategies and tools to try but questions to ask ourselves when we try to solve hard words. The questions are: Does that look right? Does that sound right? and Does it make sense? These are great prompts to use with your readers as they try multiple tools to read unfamiliar words. In math we continue to work with the open number line to solve 2-digit addition problems. This week we compare the heights of the rockhopper penguin and the king penguin to our own heights. Students then had to choose one penguin and find how much taller they were compared to that penguin. We are looking for volunteers for our next Art Infusion lesson on Friday, March 13th. It's an activity where the more adult help - the better! You can sign up on Konstella or let Maren Williams (williams.maren@gmail.com)know that you can help out! Tuesday, March 10, 8:15 am PTA Meeting Friday, March 13, 12:45 - 2:00 Art Infusion Friday, March 20 Spirit Day - Farm Day March 21 - March 29 Spring Break We have finished up our nonfiction units and it has been so great to see the development in both reading and writing. Students continue to put the finishing touches on the books they are creating using the Book Creator app. Be on the look out for some of the writing they have been working on during the last month or two.
We are also beginning a new phonics unit and there will be a lot of hard work ahead! This unit is focused on vowel teams which can be really tricky for beginning readers. The newest tool for our social-emotional learning toolboxes is the Apology and Forgiveness tool. A letter will be coming home that explains more about this very valuable tool. The Glencoe Auction is coming up this weekend. I am so grateful for the support our families show for the the school. There will be many great things to bid on and some Buy-in events. I know I have my eye on a couple things! If your child is feeling crafty be sure to sign up for my Craftacular event - #903 in the auction catalog. Students will stay after school for some crafting fun and light snacks. Friday, March 6, 1:00 pm Red Yarn Assembly Saturday, March 7, 5:00 - 9:00 pm Glencoe Auction Tuesday, March 10, 8:15 am PTA Meeting March 21 - March 29 Spring Break |
MS. SCHIADAI teach first grade in southeast Portland where every day brings a new adventure!
|