Announcements:
1. Spirit Days coming up this week:
Wednesday, March 2- Dr. Seuss Day! wear stripes and crazy socks.
Friday, March 4- Cuddle Up with a good book- Pajama Day! (no stuffed animals please).
Here are other literacy spirit days we have coming up at IT in honor of Read Across America week:
1. Spirit Days coming up this week:
Wednesday, March 2- Dr. Seuss Day! wear stripes and crazy socks.
Friday, March 4- Cuddle Up with a good book- Pajama Day! (no stuffed animals please).
Here are other literacy spirit days we have coming up at IT in honor of Read Across America week:
2. Please remind your student that toys should be kept at home and not brought to school (unless they have a show and tell). They are so excited to share with each other which is why I have been allowing it, but it is starting to become a distraction. I also don't want their special toys to get lost or broken at school! We will talk about this as a class this week as well. Thanks for your support.
3. Coming up next week we are going to have St. Patrick's Day STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) centers. One of these centers will involve a "pot of gold" aka pennies! Please help your child practice counting at least 20-30 pennies and send them to school in a baggie by Monday, March 7. Feel free to count and send in more than 30! Some of our experiments may change the color of the penny, so they won't be sent back :) I will also send a note home this week as a reminder.
This week we continued with our new morning routine of play tubs which is going wonderfully! It is such a happy way to start our morning! It also holds the students accountable for getting unpacked quickly, as well as cleaning up quickly and efficiently.
In literacy this week we learned /ch/ and /sh/ in Jolly, finished up this round of centers, and learned all about the meaning of fiction and nonfiction.
Centers still included working with sight words, blending and writing words, guided reading with me, reading to self, and listening to reading on the ipads.
3. Coming up next week we are going to have St. Patrick's Day STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) centers. One of these centers will involve a "pot of gold" aka pennies! Please help your child practice counting at least 20-30 pennies and send them to school in a baggie by Monday, March 7. Feel free to count and send in more than 30! Some of our experiments may change the color of the penny, so they won't be sent back :) I will also send a note home this week as a reminder.
This week we continued with our new morning routine of play tubs which is going wonderfully! It is such a happy way to start our morning! It also holds the students accountable for getting unpacked quickly, as well as cleaning up quickly and efficiently.
In literacy this week we learned /ch/ and /sh/ in Jolly, finished up this round of centers, and learned all about the meaning of fiction and nonfiction.
Centers still included working with sight words, blending and writing words, guided reading with me, reading to self, and listening to reading on the ipads.
Our big topic was fiction vs. nonfiction. We talked about how some books (and movies and TV shows) are fiction (pretend or not real, and have characters and a setting) or nonfiction (real, has information, and can teach you something). We practiced sorting different books in our classroom and some of our favorite books and movies. Then with our buddies, we started a nonfiction research project. The students picked their own nonfiction topic, and their buddies helped them research it on their chromebooks. The students then started filling out a KWL chart (what they Know, Wonder, and then Learned). We talked about what they knew already about their topics, and practiced brainstorming questions they may have. We will continue working on this with our buddies for many more weeks.
In math this week we discussed 17-19, 20, continued to practice working with double ten frames, and reviewed this concept while working with a team. The task was to work with your table team and show the given number on the double ten frame in the easiest way possible, while being able to explain your reasoning. The goal was to review and reinforce the concept that showing 10 in one color, and any of the extras in a different color is the best way to represent a number. All the students were able to reach this understanding, and it also brought up a great class discussion about what it means to work in a team! We talked about what it means to be a good teammate, and are going to keep practicing these skills (taking turns, listening to other's ideas, and being kind).
Friday was exciting! We started the morning with Danylo's mom as our mystery reader. Then, after talking with our Occupational Therapist Mrs. Bean and doing a lot of my own research, we decided to test out flexible seating in our classroom. Flexible seating is exactly what it sounds like; a more relaxed seating environment where the students get choice in how they learn. Studies show this helps with handwriting, focusing attention, posture, and collaboration skills. I am working on finding a resource to share with you, but in the meantime we are testing this out at 2 tables. One table is lowered to the ground, and one is to stand and work. This is completely optional, and the students can choose to sit in traditional seats if they wish! When they came back from art and saw the new seating, they were SO excited. We tested it out during snack and some free time. I will keep you posted on how this develops in our classroom :)