A Quiet Week of Being All Together

You sent five boxes of crayons to Room 114 at the beginning of the school year.  The children received their last box of new crayons last Monday.  It is hard to believe we have gone through five box of crayons! 

Last week was a quiet week of learning and thinking.  No distractions and perfect attendance most of the week. Those are my favorite kind of days.

Nancy's Italian Ice is Monday for $1.00.  Please return poetry journals on Monday. The book fair continues until Wednesday.

This week is an assessment week in reading.  No new letter sounds or high frequency words.  I'm going to send home reading homework on Monday and Tuesday of this week to work on distinguishing the different sounds of the short  vowel sounds of the letters a, e, i.  Sometimes those sounds are hard to tell apart and throw in a southern accent and it can be even more difficult.  Work on the reading homework from Monday and Tuesday all week.

In math  last week, we were reinforcing that the numbers 11-19 are a group of ten and "some more."  After a lesson of using Unifix cubes to make groups of ten and some more, we decided to turn our Unifx cubes into New York City skyscrapers.  Love the focus and concentration found on the faces of Room 114 to build the tallest tower.  Click on this link for  Skyscraper photos   .

In math we are going to start working on numbers up to 120.  I will place a number chart in the back clear window of the take home binder's cover on Monday.  Help your child practice counting to 120  Encourage your child to touch the number square as he counts to make the physical connection between the brain and the number formation.  The difficulty comes in the numbers 19, 29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 79, 89, 99 (not really 99), 109,  and 119 and what comes next.   For extra just for fun practice, have your child draw the numeral 61 (or any other numbers.)  Don't be concerned if he writes 16.  Don't panic about the reversal.  Just find it on the numeral chart and have your child correct it.  The first grade teachers will be so excited if your child can recognize and read the numbers up to 100. This is something you can begin working on now and continue all summer. 

We discovered that our most recent special person of the week's favorite book was a book her mommy had growing up.  Her mother came and read that special book to us. Just more evidence that families that love to read raise children that love to read.   The students were so focused on writing a book for this special person that I forgot to get my camera out and take pictures of her book.   I am very sorry.  However, I did include (with permission) a very special photo for Special Person #16. 

Last week, we talked about that good readers are always thinking and try to figure out what comes next in a story.  This is called prediction and it happens throughout the story.  We also talked about how our thinking changes as we dig deeper into the story.  We documented our prediction for the story of Bridget Fidget and the Perfect Pet. One student's reading journal is documented below.  When you are reading books at home, stop and ask your child to predict what will happen next.

On Monday and Tuesday, I am going to update reading levels in the library.  You may start to see different colored dots coming home with library books.  Your child will still be able to check out orange dots if he/she chooses to.  Remember to fill out the tickets when your child is ready to take an AR test.

Upcoming dates:
Tuesday, April 8:  Spirit Night at Genghi's Grill (all day)
Friday, April 18 will be Room 114's Spring Egg Hunt @ 11:30.  Information will come home on Tuesday with details. 
Thursday, April 24 is Field Day for grades K-3.
Thursday, May 1 is Kindergarten's  all day field trip to the zoo.
Friday, May 2 is our final Crafternoon at 1:30  (1:00 is set up)
Friday, May 23 is the Kindergarten Celebration in the lunchroom at 9:00 AM.  We will have a celebration of Room 114 immediately following the Kindergarten Celebration.  You should be able to be back at work by 11:00 AM.  
Thursday, May 29 is the last day of school for students.

 The children were so excited to see our grade level t-shirt. I wish you could have heard the conversations when they saw it for the first time.  This t-shirt can take the place of a uniform top any day of the week for the remainder of the school year. I'm going to wear my shirt on Tuesdays with blue jeans.   Jeans can be worn only Tuesdays and Fridays. Regular Blount spirit wear can only be worn on Fridays. Thank you for supporting our school. 

Contact me with any questions or concerns.