Our week started off with a survey. Students gathered data by asking each classmate how they felt about spiders. The choices were Scary, Interesting, and Disgusting. After gathering the data they organized the information into a graph. Then they wrote four statements interpreting their graph. The results included a close to unanimous feeling that spiders are interesting! Check out the photos section of the blog to see student pollsters in action!
I mentioned in the last post that I would send home information about volunteering. Due to some technical difficulties I just got the calendar to post on the blog although it is still not a perfect system. I will keep working on it but until then, an information sheet is coming home on Monday. Please let me know if you have any questions. A new book order will be coming home this week. I will send home the order forms each month just in case anyone is interested in buying the books. With winter holidays approaching, if you would like to place an order that is intended as a gift just let me know and I will contact you when it arrives. As a result of the orders so far this year we have added over 20 new books to our own classroom library as a result of the incentives and bonus points that are a part of the program. Thank you!! Next week is Parent Conferences. I'll send home a reminder of the time you signed up for at Back to School Night. If this time no longer works contact the office and they can make adjustments. I am looking forward to meeting with everyone - I'll be sharing some of my assessments from the beginning of the year and learning goals for the year. Reminder: There is no school this Friday. It is a Teacher Planning Day to prepare for conferences.
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We are beginning a new writing unit: How-To Writing. We will work together as a class to write a list of classroom routines, select one and then work through the different components of the How-To piece. This last week students spent time exploring examples of How-To books looking for common features. I've posted a couple photos of this on the Photos page. They noticed a Table of Contents, Materials List and Photographs or Drawings. We will keep adding to this list. As we work on one piece as a class, students will also work with a partner this week to collaborate on one with a different topic. After that students will write their own How-To. You can help them at home to think of topics they might choose - something they are an "expert" at and could explain to someone. Some examples are: How to Play Soccer; How to Make Cookies; How to Make the Bed; How to Brush Your Teeth, etc. This is one of my favorite writing units - it is a great way to teach transition words.
Your child may have mentioned that we have been learning about spiders. So far we have learned the names of some of the 35,000 varieties (whew!) and the names of the different body parts. We used our reading strategy Chunky Monkey to read the words cephalothorax and spinnerets. With our Daily 5 routines pretty solidly in place I am hoping to start having parent volunteers come in during this time to help out. I will send out a form with more information this week. A note about homework October calendars can be turned in this Friday since there will only be one more day in the month next week. I will send the November calendar home on Monday. Reminders Harvest Festival is this Friday at 5:30! We spent the week learning all about apples. We read books about apples, made labeled diagrams of apples and learned about the life cycle of apples. All of this was in preparation for our field trip to the Apple Festival! This was my first time there and I was so impressed by the event. Students sampled apple cider while they watched a fresh batch being made. We all then entered the tasting tent where over 50 types of apples were set out for tasting! So many varieties - many I had never heard of before. Then it was off to select an apple to take home before watching a puppet show. We then walked back to school just in time for lunch. It was a rainy trip but that didn't dampen our spirits! Check out the Photos page for a little "taste" of the Apple Festival. Rainbow Day was a huge hit too! We have finally added the fifth component to Daily 5 - Word Work. Students practiced making words and an activity called Rainbow Write. More activities will be added! Next week will be our first chance to experience all five rotations while I meet with small reading groups. I have been meeting with each student in reading conferences to identify skills and strategies they are using to read and what our focus for instruction will be. I recently visited the Portland Art Museum for an educator event focusing on the Andy Warhol exhibit. It was wonderful to see his iconic prints up close and personal. I am hoping to bring a little of this artwork into the classroom this year but wanted to share an opportunity for your family. Sunday, October 30 is Family Free Day starting at 10:00 am. To quote the museum website "the Museum creates a “factory” of Portland printmakers for a fun-filled day of art-making and kid-friendly gallery experiences." This sounds like a great event! Reminders Art Infusion Training - Tuesday, October 18th @ 6:30 pm Late Opening - Wednesday, October 19th School starts at 10:00 am Book Orders Due - Friday, October 21st Glencoe Gear Orders Due - Friday, October 21st It has been a wonderfully busy week and more is to come! One of the highlights of this past week was our first Art Infusion lesson. We had a great crew of parents come and lead a lesson in collage. Students had a wonderful time letting their creative juices flow as they worked with a wide variety of materials. A heartfelt thanks to our parent volunteers for sharing their time and talent with us. The next Art Infusion training is Thursday, October 18th from 6:30-8:30. Here is one photo from this fun lesson. More can be found on the photos page. Our Daily 5 reading structure is moving along. We added the fourth component this week with students practicing Read to Someone. They practiced choosing a partner and deciding what and how to read together. We will be building upon this component, learning how to coach each other in their reading. Component number 5 - Word Work will begin to roll out this week. I am so impressed with their abilities to work both independently and with a partner.
Big events are coming this week! Thursday is our first spirit day at Glencoe - Rainbow Day! First graders will be wearing blue that day. I have my outfit picked out! On Thursday we will also take our first walking field trip. We will be visiting the Apple Festival at The Portland Nursery with our 4th grade buddies. We are leaving Glencoe at 9:45 and we should be back by about 10:45. Please let me know if you want to come along or meet us there. It's my first Apple Festival and I can't wait! Our first book order has arrived and will be going home with students who placed orders last month. Because of these orders our class received $25 to spend on books in addition to a set of 10 books selected for us by Scholastic. Thank you for your support - it is a wonderful way to add to our classroom library. Another book order will be sent home this week. You have another opportunity to support Glencoe this week. Tuesday is Dining for Dollars at Laughing Planet where 15% of the sales will be donated to Glencoe. Tuesday night is trivia night for me so I'll be ordering mine to go. Looks like I'll be enjoying a delicious lunch on Wednesday! Reminders Monday -PTA meeting in the cafeteria @ 6pm Tuesday - Dining for Dollars at Laughing Planet Thursday - Rainbow Day - Wear Blue! & Apple Festival Friday - No School Wow! We are a month in to the new school year and we are rolling along. Our classroom routines are running smoothly and we are continuing to build our stamina during independent work times. We are up to 13 minute sessions during both Read to Self and Work on Writing during our Daily 5 component. We break up the sessions by gathering back together for a mini lesson focused on reading skills and comprehension.
It was great to see the families at Back to School Night! I know how excited your children were to share their classroom with you. I enjoyed having the chance to meet and chat with the most important people in my students' lives! A new component of Daily 5 that was introduced last week is Listen to Reading. Students are able to listen and read along with digital books - both fiction and nonfiction. We are using the website Tumblebooks. The district has a subscription to this site. Families can visit the website at home and read from a wide variety of texts. Here is the link: Tumblebooks. The username is pps and the password is books. In class students are reading from the storybooks and nonfiction tabs. They are not exploring the games component of the stories so that may be something you would like them to do at home. Be on the look out for a new calendar for October in your child's homework folder on Monday. I will also post a link on the Classroom News page in case you ever need another copy. You can also email me or send a note with your child if you ever need copies of the homework. There are lots of fun activities on this month's calendar - enjoy! Upcoming Events Art Infusion - Monday, October 3rd PTA Equity Potluck - Thursday, October 6th 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Rainbow Day - Thursday, October 13th First Graders wear blue! Walking Field trip to the Apple Festival at Portland Nursery - Thursday, October 13th No School - Friday, October 14th |
MS. SCHIADAI teach first grade in southeast Portland where every day brings a new adventure!
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