Goal-Setting

Your child has a September Reading Goal Sheet in their Reading Folder. Please help your child set a reasonable goal for how many minutes they're planning to read each week. In the date box, please write how many minutes your child actually read each day. At the end of the week, please add up how many minutes your child read to see if they met their goal.  Our class goal is to read at least  1,650 minutes each week. (Students should read at least 15 minutes - 5 days a week. We have 22 students so we're hoping we can read 1,650 minutes)

See the student Sample sheet below. Let me know if you have any questions!

Hooray, Hooray

We've been working on building our reading stamina and today was our best day yet!! We were very excited when we all read for 14 minutes without getting up, talking, or not actually reading.  I'm so proud of my class for setting a goal and working towards it!

Doubles and Near Doubles

We played a little game today to help us practice using our Doubles Plus One strategy.

Reading Stamina

We've really been working on increasing our reading stamina! We were very excited when Mr. Schoenekase stopped by our class and took a little time to read with some of us! 

Addition Strategies

We've been learning new strategies for adding. Most students have been using counting on in their head or with a number line. Yesterday, the students learned about doubles and near doubles. If you  know 6+6=12, then 6+7=13 or if you know 8+8=16, then 8+9=17.  Today the students learned how you can make a ten with a 10 frame so they can use mental math. I'm sure you've noticed that I'm circling any backwards numbers so your child can fix them and any other addition errors on their math practice pages.

Tie Dying Fun Video

We sure had fun tie-dying our t-shirts.  Check out our video: Tie Dying Fun

Tie Dying Fun!

On Thursday, we started by putting rubber bands on our shirts. Then we dropped them in the orange dye and let them sit overnight. Friday morning, the shirts were rinsed and we took off the rubber bands. They turned out great! The students can't wait to wear them one day this week. I'm planning to keep them here at school so everyone can wear them on our field trips. After our last field trip, I'll send them home. Here are a few pictures of the whole process.

Social Studies

The students have been learning about different groups. We also talked about groups have leaders and rules. The students drew a few groups that they belong to. 

Library Day

Every Tuesday the students will be going to the library to check out books. Today our new librarian, Mr. Brand told us about The Show Me Readers and the students are looking forward to reading them and voting on their favorite.

What Kind of Sentence?

We've been learning about different kinds of sentences.  The students learned that telling sentences get a period at the end and an asking sentence gets a question mark.  Their favorite kind of sentences are an exclamatory sentence which gets an exclamation mark!  The students read the sentence on the board and decided which end mark was needed by using their Activotes!  

Activotes

Yesterday, the students tried out their Activotes with a few questions about me. Using the Activinspire program, students are able to enter their answers through their Activote and then the class can see anonymously how the whole class answered. ( I can see privately each students' individual answers.) It's great because we can talk about which answer is correct and why. I can also see common errors and reteach as needed.  We will use the Activotes during math mini lessons and sometimes science and social studies. 

Math Stations

Yesterday we started our math stations. Every day our math time will begin with a mini lesson and then students will have time for guided and independent practice before going to their math stations.  While students are at math stations, I will have time to pull small groups for reteaching and/ or enrichment activities.  Right now as the students are learning how to manage the math stations, I'm walking around and guiding them as needed. 

Choosing Books and Building Reading Stamina

I read one of my favorite books called "The Bee Tree" by Patricia Polacco. It's about a little girl who gets bored with her reading and her grandpa takes her on a hunt for a bee tree. The little girl discovers that sometimes the sweetest things ( honey and learning to read) must be worked for. Books can take you on great adventures!!  We talked about choosing "just right" books and building reading stamina! Then the students actually had time to read independently while I listened to some individals read. The students learned that reading stamina is reading for a long period of time without getting tired or giving up.  Our goal is to work up to 20 minutes of uninterrupted reading and we started and only got to 3 minutes before someone got up or started talking. We tried again and again and the longest time was 6 minutes. We will keep working to build our Class Reading Stamina.

Class Meeting

I read the book Wemberly Worried as we started our morning. Then we had a class meeting to see if any of the students had any worries about school. I was so glad no one had any worries about school!!(Most of the students seemed to worry about their pets.)

Great First Day!!

We had a great first day. We had a class meeting so we could get to know everyone! We worked on our class quilt too! The students worked on a page about themselves and I noticed that there are many students who don't know their address so check with your child. During our math time, the students learned two new games: Target 10 and Three in a Row. We ended the day by making a snack following "A Recipe for Success".  It was a day full of fun and learning!

Meet the Teacher Night Tonight

I look forward to seeing everyone tonight frm 6:00-7:00. Be sure to bring your child's school supplies!

Welcome New Friends!

I look forward to meeting everyone at the Ice Cream Social/Meet the Teacher Night on Tuesday, August 12th.  Don't forget to bring your school supplies!

Meet your NEW classmates!

We have 22 students!

Jaimeyn B.
Zoe C.
Rome C.
Lane E.
Maddingly F.
Rosie G.
Wyatt H.
Olivia H.
Brylie H.
Sophia K.
Ellis M.
Connor M.
Chloe M.
Lucas P.
Vincent R.
Mackenzie R.
Shaadi S.
Lauren S.
Luke S.
Justin S.
Tanner T.
Meghan V.