March 20, 2015

HAPPY SPRING, EVERYONE!

Books Read: Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato, Clever Tom and the Leprechaun, Over in the Meadow, Counting is for the Birds, Deep in the Swamp, Butterfly Alphabet

We have been involved with the Chickadee Award Program which allows many different teachers in our school (including Mr. Libby) to read a variety of wonderful literature, for the children to respond in writing to the books and then, when all are read, they will have a chance to vote on their favorite of them all. (There are 10 in all). Ask them about their favorite Chickadee book so far!

During writing time they are; writing personal letters to their pen pals in Pittston, visualizing places and people to write about, adding words (letters) to their pictures, rehearsing what they want to say about what they wrote, taking turns sharing their ideas and writing with partners, adding spaces between words and punctuation at the end of a sentence, going back into their writing pieces and revising what they have written by changing or adding to what they wrote and continuing to build up their confidence as writers.

Animated Alphabet is our approach to phonemic awareness and spelling. The letters are taught through a multi sensory approach of music, dance, characters and signs which help the students hold onto that information. The character we learned this week was; Ike and his Bike and Grouchy Owl/Brown Mouse.

In math we are working with two digit numbers, formation of numbers, addition and subtraction practice, counting and number recognition, solving number stories, and continuing our calendar routines. Our routines at calendar time include; counting to the calendar number of the day, weather observations (adding “Lion and Lamb” to our weather observations), tracking the number of days we have been in school and days of the week.

We are learning about the Woolwich Way! The Woolwich Way is made up of 6 qualities that will help us to be the best we can be! (Courtesy- I can use good manners, Compassion-I can help others, Respect- I can treat others kindly, Honesty-I can tell the truth, Responsibility- I can take care of myself and my stuff, Quality- I can do my best even when things are hard)

Upcoming Events:

April 5-Easter

April 16&17- Parent/Teacher Conferences

April 20-24- April Vacation

March 6, 2015

What a fun-filled Seuss week this has been! From Community Readers, to World Read Aloud Day, to crazy socks, hair, hats, to Twin Day. Fun-fun-fun!

I have had a request to wait until Monday to send out the book order, so there is still time to send it in on Monday. Remember-NO SCHOOL FRIDAY the 13th!

Wow! This first full week of March is starting to get drippy! Let's hope that the time change on Sunday will bring with it some continual warmth!

We have had such a fun week with all of our silly Dr. Seuss activities. We began the week with our community reader who came in and read to us. We will go up to the third floor to 6th grade next week to be treated to their Dr. Seuss Cafe. Can't wait!

Books Read: Many, many, many Dr. Seuss books! A few were; The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Go!Dog!Go!, ABC, Mr. Brown Can Moo-Can You? And on and on!

During writing time they are; writing personal letters to their pen pals in Pittston, writing a thank you letter to our community reader, visualizing places and people to write about, adding words (letters) to their pictures, rehearsing what they want to say about what they wrote, taking turns sharing their ideas and writing with partners, going back into their writing pieces and revising what they have written by changing or adding to what they wrote and continuing to build up their confidence as writers. We began our new "How-To" unit in our Lucy Calkins writing program. Trying to teach our friends the steps of how to do something can be quite tricky!

In math we are being introduced to the calculator, working with two digit numbers, formation of numbers, addition and subtraction practice, counting and number recognition, solving number stories, and continuing our calendar routines. Our routines at calendar time include; counting to the calendar number of the day, weather observations, tracking the number of days we have been in school and days of the week.

We are learning about the Woolwich Way! The Woolwich Way is made up of 6 qualities that will help us to be the best we can be! (Courtesy- I can use good manners, Compassion-I can help others, Respect- I can treat others kindly, Honesty-I can tell the truth, Responsibility- I can take care of myself and my stuff, Quality- I can do my best even when things are hard)

Upcoming Events:

March 13- No School- Teacher Inservice