Room 15 Rules

Here are our classroom rules.  The children created these themselves and signed them to agree to follow them throughout the year.

Classroom Update

Parent Information

• I sent home the class directory.  Please check for errors in names, phone numbers, etc.

• If you haven't sent in your poem notebook money it is not too late.

• Don't forget to send in your scholastic magazine money.

• Parent Information Night is Wednesday, September 25th.  Hope to see you all there!

Literacy

• Continued to do "Read to Self".  They built their stamina to 15 minutes...amazing!
• Continued to do "Read to Someone".  We learned different ways to read to a partner and learned to "check for understanding".
• Introduced our first set of short A word families; at & ap
• Worked with the high frequency words a, I, see, at, is me the.  They are now responsible to spell these words correctly in their writing.
• Began a new center "Word Work".  Learned how to build our at & ap words using tiles, wikki sticks, white boards and magnets.
• Writer's Workshop:  Worked on understanding how to revise our stories by asking who, what, where, when, how and why questions.

Math

• Continued to work on numbers to 20.
• Began playing games that compare numbers.
• Continued to talk about how to be "efficient" & "accurate".
• Used the 20's frame to organize and help "represent" amounts of objects.

Technology

• Read a book called The Dot.  Talked about what it meant to "make your mark".
• Participated in celebrating "Dot Day" by working with partners to design their own dots.
• Used I pads to create cool 3-D pictures.
• Look for a gallery of photos soon!

Second Week

Well we successfully completed a full week of school.  It is an adjustment to being back to school, not to mention that it was 90 degrees in the classroom.  I know that I was spent by Friday night, I can only imagine how tired they must have been.

We had a great week.  Here are some updates...

Parent Information

• Don't forget to send in an art smock with your child.
• We do have snack every day, please send it in daily.

Language Arts

• Read several stories that reinforced the importance of vowels "There's a vowel...in every...word".  
• Continued to work on "Read to Self".  They are doing great and have built there stamina to 11 minutes!  We also learned about the "3 Ways to Read a Book" (pictures, words & retelling the story).
• Began a new center "Read to Someone".  Once again they helped to develop the job for both themselves and the teachers.  Ask them if they know what "EEKK" is.
• Began "Writer's Workshop".  We are learning how to plan out and write true small moment stories.  

Math

• Explored different math tools that we will be using this year.
• Focused on counting accurately.
• Learned how important "double checking" is.
• Began talking about being "efficient"....learned how organizing counters in rows of 5 made it more efficient to count.

Open Circle

• Brainstormed rules for our classroom.  Signed them, agreeing to following them for the year.  I will post these soon.  Be on the look out!

First Week of School

Our first week of school was very successful!  We spent a great deal of time reviewing rules and routines of the classroom.  For example; the children are already becoming pros at their morning routine:  bringing notes into the classroom, putting their folder in their cubby checking in their lunch tag,  and doing their before work (BSW).

We also began learning our first center job....Read to Self.  The children did a great job of coming up with what "Read to Self" should look like.  We brainstormed their job and the teacher's job.  We even had children model the right way and wrong way to "Read to Self". We got a lot of laughs at the wrong way!  Then we began building our stamina.  We are able to do this successfully for 3 minutes.  Each time we practice we will be continuing to build our stamina.

Here are some pictures....look at all the "Read to Self" models :)

Back to School

We had a great day today...despite the humid classroom!  I was impressed with how quickly they were beginning to pick up on the classroom routines.

They each have a blue school folder that they went home with.  Please check it each night and put any notes that need to be returned on the school side of their folder.  Please let them know if they have any notes so they will know to check in the morning.

Can't wait for another day!

The start of the school year is just days away.  I am sure that you are all as excited as I am to start a new year together.

Hopefully you all received my welcome letter by now.  Don't forget to wear your sticker on the first day to help me with the names of all my new friends.

I have updated the special schedule for the year.  If there are any changes, I will be sure to let you know.  We have art on the first day of school.  Don't forget to send in an art smock.

We do have snack every day.  Don't forget to send it in.

I can't wait to see everyone on Tuesday!