I’ve gotten a few questions about this, so I want to put the information out there again for anyone confused. Home projects are due by this Friday, the 16th. From 1-3 PM on the 16th we will be doing a cultural festival (similar to past years’ International Festivals) that parents are welcome to come attend to see their child’s projects as well as the other projects throughout the school. The layout will be similar to past years, but instead of looking at countries around the world, we will be focusing on the United States.

If you have a child in another class, they may have been given a more specific assignment relating to US History, such as the 13 colonies. I chose to leave the project more open-ended so our students could research their own interests.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions!

Tidbits

1 – Picture proofs were sent home last week. If you would like to order picture, there was an order form included in the envelope. If you would like to order reprints, please let me know. Since I only have a few of them, I won’t be sending them home unless you request it. Picture makeup day is this Thursday, November 15th. I will only send the children whose parents have reached out to me in advance.

2 – THANK YOU to the many parents who offered to help with our book labeling. I can’t tell you how much it meant to me. I’m so excited for our Dyad Reading program and truly feel it will be a great benefit to your children. I am hoping to have the program started before the end of the week.

3 – Several of you have asked about reading groups. We will be starting them after Thanksgiving. If you are interested in coming in and being part of our reading groups, please let me know and I will be in touch with more details.

Recap

We had so much fun this week! Between Red Ribbon Week activities and our Gary Hogg author visit, we had extra activities every single day. The children in particular loved our assembly and classroom workshop with Gary Hogg. He came to our class to go over writing techniques and also gave a great presentation about the power of stories, putting in our full effort and so much more. The children wrote some great stories!

With all the special events, our classroom excitement level was high and our classroom behavior was not as good as usual. There were several frustrating moments, but I am very hopeful that with a return to our normal routines this week, we will get back into our regular rhythm. I was very pleased with so many of our students that worked hard this week–some completed record amounts of work! Of course, our real goal is mastery of knowledge and skills rather than number of works completed, but I love to see the pride on their faces and in their voices as they realize how much they are capable of. It is truly a joy to be in class with them!

Red Group – fan, pan, dad, sad, mad, man, van, can

Orange Group – pig, pill, wig, lip, mill, hill, dig, zip, rip

Yellow Group (beginning sound only) – spoon, ski, smell, spill, skip, smoke, spear, skunk, smile, skate

Green Group – space, rain, Jack, want, place, paint, frame, said, black, camp, tail, chain

Blue Group – care, hair, part, wear, hair, stare, dark, where, stair, bear, pear, shark, pair, square, heart, sharp

Dear parents,

Tidbits:

1 – Early release Monday, November 5th. School will be dismissed at 1 PM.

2 – This week is red ribbon week and we have an in-school field experience with author Gary Hogg. Because of all the extra actvities this week, we will be compressing our instruction and our work cycle into less time. It is important to practice spelling at home this week as there will be less time for in-class practice.

3 – Picture Retake Day is coming up on the 15th. Please let me know if you want your child to have their picture retaken so that I can send them to the gym at the appropriate time.

Recap

This past week we started two new things: new work plans and daily handwriting practice. The new work plans made an immediate and positive difference in our classroom. I’m so pleased with how everyone adjusted to them and they are helping us stay on task and move through our work so much better. Plus, since we use the same plan for the entire week instead of needing a new one every day, they’re also helping save paper! We discussed expectations for work completed last week and starting this week, I will be sending home work plans on Fridays for parents/guardians to see what their student is accomplishing during the week. I will explain more details about this in a coming blog post.

As always, thank you for all you do!

Red Group – cat, rat, mat, sat, pat, fat, bat, hat

Orange Group – run, cut, rug, jug, sun, hut, bug, nut, bun

Yellow Group (beginning sound only) – sun, tent, star, stop, six, tie, stem, sink, tire, stamp

Green Group – kick, take, took, pack, shake, cook, sock, like, book, truck, spoke, look

Blue Group – sold, bleed, wave, glow, steep, drew, sneak, slide, school, scene, light, pool, feast, way, dry, crow

Monday, November 5th is an early release day, so students will be done at 1 PM. Thank you!

I apologize for not getting this list out last night. My internet went down and I haven’t been able to get back on until now.

Red Group (beginning sound only) – yo-yo, zoo, vest, yell, zero, van, yarn, vase

Orange Group – peg, net, hen, leg, jet, ten, beg, men, wet

Yellow Group (beginning sound only) – shot, cheese, whip, thorn, ship, chick, whale, thimble, whiskers, thirteen

Green Group – lots, note, done, wax, safe, have, drip, wipe, gum, dune, mule, race

Blue Group – wild, told, film, loss, kind, both, fist, lost, child, gold, ghost, mild, blind, roll, pond, most

Tidbits:

1 – This week is Halloween, but MMA students should still be in dress code on that day. We are not dressing up in costumes.

2 – Tomorrow, Monday, there is an exception to dress code. In honor of Molly Cox (a longtime Girl Scout and MMA student) who died in a car accident last week, any girl scout may wear a girl scout shirt or sash or uniform tomorrow.

3 – Our next home project is coming soon! This project is part of our Cultural Festival that will be held on Friday, November 16th from 1 PM-3 PM. In years past, the Cultural Festival included projects about all areas of the world, but with our school-wide theme of the United States of America this year, we are asking that projects center around either the history or geography of the United States. Some ideas include but are not limited to: the 13 colonies, the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, the national bird or another national symbol, the meaning of the flag or its evolution over time, any of our nation’s presidents, states & capitals, the Declaration of Independence, Native Americans, Pilgrims, National Parks, the Founding Fathers and so much more! The students will need a visual aide to represent their project. They can use modeling clay, poster board, diorama, mobile display, power point, etc.. They will need written titles, explanations, or information. The projects will be displayed in our classroom during the festival for your child to present to parents, teachers, and students.

Recap

This week was our first week without an assistant in the class, and overall it went very well. We focused on how students can individually become more independent and the vast majority of the class stepped into their new roles and responsibilities beautifully. The third graders are now able to check off work for other children (if they feel comfortable ; it’s not a requirement) and the second and third graders are now in charge of writing their own work plans, which I approve once they are done. We also focused on behavior since as the only adult in the room, I cannot give lessons and redirect behavior at the same time. Again, the majority of our classroom responded beautifully to the higher expectations and we had a great week overall!

Every Friday afternoon, our class uses the Imagine Learning literacy and reading program. Several of the children have asked for their logins so they can practice more at home. If you would like to have your child’s username and password, please email me and I am happy to send it to you.

To access the program, go to imaginelearning.com. Click “Sign In” and then select “Imagine Language & Literacy: Student.” For both the username and password, you will need to enter the number that I can email you. For the site code, enter 4900144.

This should be enough to get your student started! The program automatically picks up where they left off and it’s a great program to help support them learning to read!