September 30-October 4

Announcements and Reminders:

I will not be at school on Tuesday.  I am lucky enough to be able to attend another workshop around teaching with movement!  I'm very excited to learn some new things and bring them back to the classroom!  I ask that if you have any notes about dismissal for your child, please send them in written form or email them directly to cholland@sad15.org.  I may not be able to check my email while at this workshop.  

This week, Mrs. Thibodeau, our school guidance counselor, will be visiting our classroom and talking to us about Kelso's choices.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Kelso, he is a frog that helps kids solve small problems with friends on their own.  Here's a picture of Kelso's choices.  (I apologize for the small text).

Also this week, we will have our first whole school assembly!  We will be celebrating our return to school, talking about appropriate assembly behavior, Kelso's choices, and more!  I always love getting together with the whole Russell School community!

HOMEWORK WILL BEGIN THIS WEEK!  Homework packets will go home on Thursday and come back to school the following Thursday.  Attached to the homework, you will a homework survival guide, ideas for practicing spelling words, as well as log-in information for your child to the various online resources we use.  You'll also find a list of letters and numbers for IXL that will match our current focus standard in math.  I'll also be going over these homework packets with students at school.  They should be able to help you!  If you have any questions about homework after the packet goes home, please let me know!

I will be hosting a parent night on Wednesday, October 9 from 6:15.  You won't want to miss it!  I'll be kicking of the night with our Meet the Team video that we created using our very own green screen!   Then, I'll be sharing valuable information about curriculum goals, behavior expectations, and more about life in room 10!  Please make it priority to be there!  This evening is a parents only event so please arrange for child care ahead of time.

Our Specials Schedule:

Monday:  P.E.  (sneakers!)

Tuesday:  Music

Wednesday:  Art

Thursday:  Spanish

Friday:  Library (bring back those books!)

IXL Focus Standards:

I can read a pictograph and a bar graph and analyze the data using words like most, least, how many more, and how many less.

Second Grade:

R.2

R.3

R.6

R.7

 Third Grade:  

P.5

I can add and subtract numbers up to 20 using strategies from memory!

Addition One Digit

E.1

E.2

E.4

E.7

E.8

E.12

Subtraction One Digit

F.1

F.2

F.4

F.7

F.8

F.12

Mixed Operations

L.1

L.2

L.4

This week in...

Phonics:  We will be working with the short and long /a/ sound.  These are our focus words:  bag, cap, ham, bake, ate, mad, back, cape, made, and rake.  

Vocabulary:  Our new words are:  safe, flames, tell, forest, and heat.  We'll learn what these words mean and build connections to them.  Then, we'll search for them in the short stories Firehouse Friends and A Special Bear.  

Comprehension:  This week, we will be focusing on identifying the main idea of a story and finding the supporting details.  The main idea is the most important idea in a story.  The details give information that explains and supports the main idea.  We'll be practicing this skill while we read Fighting the Fire.

Grammar:  We are focusing on subjects.  Every sentence has two parts.  The first part of a sentence is the subject.  The subject tells who or what the sentence is about.

Writing:  This week, students will begin writing a personal narrative.   A personal narrative is a story about a memory or an important event in your life.  Students will have the chance to brainstorm ideas and details, write a rough draft, and have a chance to go back and edit their work.  They will be looking to see if:  their writing makes sense, they have lots of details, each sentence begins with a capital letter, each sentence has ending punctuation, and that most of their words are spelled correctly.  

Math:  We are continuing our focus on graphing.  We are still reviewing various bar graphs and pictographs, always analyzing the data.  We are using words like most and least.  We are also using the words how many more and how many less.  Students reading graphs and comparing the data they see.  We are also introducing line plots.  A line plot is a type of graph that shows numerical data using a number line.   Again, we are analyzing this data using words like most and least and comparing different categories.

We'll also be identifying student's individual goals for math facts.  We'll continue our work with our math facts games and centers so that students will know exactly what they can do to practice their math facts goals at school, but also HOW to do each activity.

Social Studies:  To go along with Mrs. Thibodeau's visit, we will also be focusing on solving problems with friends.  Together, we will create a flow chart that will help us know what to do if we have a small problem with a friend.  Of course, if there is a big problem, students need to find an adult to help them solve the problem.  We'll do some role playing to help us practice.

Read Aloud:  Charlotte's Web.  

Words to THINK about:  On our morning meeting board, you will see the words to think about.  These are positive phrases that I want students to be thinking about throughout the day!  This month, the words say: 

You were made to... Make your dreams come true, make the impossible possible, be yourself, accomplish any goal, change the world, live a beautiful life.  Only YOU can make it happen!

I want students to have confidence in themselves!  I want them to know that they have the power to accomplish anything they set their minds to and that nothing can stop them if they just believe in themselves.  I also want them to remember this GREAT quote from Dr. Seuss from his book Happy Birthday to You:  

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You."

Each student is unique and I want them to embrace that and use it to their advantage!  

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!  

September 23-27

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Tomorrow is the field trip to the Cumberland Fair!  Please remember to send your child to school with a packed lunch from home.  DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY!    We will not be buying anything on this educational field trip.  We will be going rain or shine, so please remember to help your child dress accordingly!

Thank you to all of the volunteers who would like to chaperone this field trip!  I’m looking forward to seeing all of you tomorrow!  Unfortunately, if you have not already contacted me about chaperoning (and gotten a response from me), we will not be able to take you on this field trip.  There will be other trips this year, so hopefully we will see you then!

Team Blowey has earned their very first classroom reward!  We have decided to have a pajama day!  Students will be allowed to wear their pajamas to school on WEDNESDAY, September 25!  Let me know if you have any questions!

PICTURE DAY IS ON THURSDAY!

Please remember to send along a healthy snack for you child every day!  Students are more than welcome to keep water bottles on their desk so that they can stay hydrated throughout the day, however, I ask that these water bottles contain water only!  Sodas and juices can leave some very sticky messes.  Thank you for helping Team Blowey stay healthy and our classroom stay clean!

Our Special Schedule:

Monday:  P.E.
Tuesday:  Music
Wednesday:  Art
Thursday:  Spanish
Friday:  Library

A newsletter giving you lots of details about Team Blowey should have gone home on Friday with your child.  If you have any questions or you need an extra newsletter, please let me know!

This Wednesday is an early release day!  Please plan accordingly!

This week in...

Phonics:  We are working with the short /o/, short /e/, and short /u/ sound this week.  Here are the words we are practicing:  fog, not, job, tell, went, pet, tug, hut, tub, and bun.

Vocabulary:  Here are our new words  share, wonderful, company, delighted, thinning, and enjoyed.  We figured out what these words mean and built connections to them.  Then, we listened for them in a short story called Making Muffins and a Friend by Vanessa Lavin.  

Comprehension:  This week our focus will be on analyzing story structure, especially the plot.  The story structure simply means the different parts of the story like the problem, solution, setting, characters, and plot.  When we talk about plot, we are talking about the different events that happened in the story.  Together and in small groups, we will work on piecing the beginning, middle, and end of a story together.  As a whole group, we will practice this skill while reading Mr. Putter and Tabby Pour the Tea by Cynthia Rylant.

Grammar:  This week, we’ll be focusing on commands and exclamations.  A command is a sentence that gives an order or tells someone to do something.  For all commands we will begin the sentence with a capital letter and end with a period.  An exclamation is a sentence that shows strong feeling.  For all exclamations, we will begin the sentence with a capital letter and end it with an exclamation point.

Writing:  This week, students will be showing me their very best writing in response to three different writing prompts.  This will give me a better idea of where students are in their writing so that I can give them more targeted goals during our individual writing conferences.  

Social Studies:  To go along with our field trip to the Cumberland Fair, we have been talking about “Now and Then”.  Today, we read a book called The Olden Days and explored how different life today is compared to life 150 years ago!  We’ll be searching for some of these differences when we go to the fair!

We also read a book called My Mouth is a Volcano! which takes a sympathetic look at blurting out in class!  It gave us a new perspective on what it is like for others if we are constantly blurting out our thoughts.  It also gave us a strategy to help us!  When we have a thought that just needs to come out, we bite down hard and breathe it out.  When it’s time for us to share our thoughts, we take a deep breath in, to get our thoughts back, and then we can share!

Math:  This week, we will continue our study of graphs.  Our focus will be on picture graphs.  Today, we created a picture graph to show our favorite kind of apples.  Then we analyzed the data by talking about what kind of apple was liked the most, what kind of apple was like the least, what kind of apple was like more than another type, and what kind of apple was liked less than another type.  We also talked about how many more one kind of apple might have had compared to another kind of apple, as well as how many fewer people might have liked one kind of apple than another.  We’ll continue to learn and practice a lot of the math fact games as well.  It’s a fun and exciting way for us to build lots of strategies to help us with our math facts!

Read Aloud:  Charlotte’s Web

September 16-20

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS!

We got approved for our field trip the Cumberland Fair!  We will be going on Tuesday, September 24! Permission slips went home with students today.  Please sign and return them by Wednesday!  If you would like to chaperone, make sure you fill out the volunteer paperwork and let me know as soon as possible!

I will not be at school on Wednesday.  I will be out of town for a professional development workshop.  If you have any changes for dismissal for your child, please email them to Connie Holland at cholland@sad15.org or write a written note!  I may not be able to check my email throughout the day.  If you have any questions, please let me know!

Specials Schedule:
Monday:  P.E.
Tuesday:  Music
Wednesday:  Art
Thursday:  Spanish
Friday:  Library

Please do not bring any snacks that contain STRAWBERRIES, PINEAPPLES, PEANUTS, OR PEANUT BUTTER! Thanks for helping us keep our kids safe!

Please do not send juice or soda for snack.  They can make an awfully sticky mess in the classroom!  Students are more than welcome to bring water bottles to school.  They can fill them up in the morning and leave them on their desk all day.  

This week in...

Phonics:   We are studying the short /a/ and short/i/ sound.  Here are the words we are practicing:  has, sat, wag, bad, fix, him, six, will, and if.  

Vocabulary:  Here are our vocabulary words for the week:  tomorrow, different, groan, excited, carefully, and whisper.  We'll discuss these words, figure out what they mean, use them in a sentence, and build connections to them.  Then, we'll search for them in the short story called School is Starting by Josh Singh.

Comprehension:  This week we will focus on analyzing character and setting.  Characters are the people in the story.  When we analyze them, we look at what the character says and does to figure out what they think and feel.  Setting is where and when a story takes place.   When we analyze the setting it helps us to understand how the place and the time affect what the characters do and say in the story.   We'll practice this skill while we read David's New Friends by Pat Mora and again when we work in our small reading groups.

Grammar:  We will be working with questions and statements.  A questions is a sentence that asks something.  Questions need to start with a capital letter and end with a question mark.   A statement is a sentence that tells something.  Statements need to begin with a capital letter and end with a question mark.  

Writing:  We are working on creating our first classroom movie!  Students are working on writing about themselves.  They must give me their name, age, birthday, hobbies, and their goal for this year.  We'll use this information in the movie.  They are also checking to make sure each statement starts with a capital letter and end with a period.  Later this week, we'll also begin to brainstorm ideas four personal narrative.

Social Studies:  Today we unveiled our tokens, "B" bucks, and classroom store approach to behavior!  After unpacking our Code of Cooperation, we now have very clear expectations for our behavior.  See the lists below for more information.  As for tokens, students have three tokens each:  one green, one yellow, and one red.  These are visual "chances" throughout the day.  If a student is showing an unexpected behavior, they will receive a warning first.  If their behavior does not turn around, they will lose their green token.  If behaviors continue, students may lose their yellow or red token respectively.  For each token students keep or lose, there are specific rewards and consequences.  At the end of each day, students will keep track of where there behavior fell on our behavior charts.  This week, students will simply practice filling in the chart.  Next week, the chart will begin going home.    More detailed information about this system will be sent home at the end of the week.  

Be in control of your body and your words: 

We will be good listeners, sitting criss cross applesauce hands in our laps, looking with our eyes, thinking with our brains, and listening with our ears and our hearts.

We will use walking feet in the classroom and the hallway.

We will keep our hands to ourselves.

We will raise our hands before we speak.

We will think before we act.

We will keep our voices at an appropriate sound check level.

We will use kind words and a kind tone of voice.

We will be bucket fillers!

Everyone has to do their part:

We will do our classroom jobs.

We will encourage each other to make good choices.

We will always do the right thing without being asked, even when no one is watching.

We will take care of our own materials.

We will take care of ourselves by eating healthy, exercising, and getting enough sleep.

We will take responsibility for our own actions.

Stay focused and never give up!

We will put first things first!  Work, then play!

We will ask for help when we need it.

We will begin with the end in mind.  We will make goals for ourselves and plans to help us get there!

We will participate.

We will ignore distractions.

We will accept challenges. 

We will use mistakes as learning experiences.  Mistakes are ok!

Treat others the way you want to be treated:
We will listen without interrupting.

We will celebrate our similarities and our differences.

We will apologize when necessary.

We will use our manners. 

We will use kind words.

We will make everyone feel like they are a part of the team.

We will be honest. 

Science:  Today we talked about the different parts of a plant:  roots, stem, leaves, and flowers.  We then discussed what each of these parts do for the plant!  Roots hold the plant in the ground and soak up the nutrients from the soil.  Stems hold the plant off of the ground and transport the nutrients to the rest of the plant.  Leaves soak up the sunlight to make food for the rest of the plant.  The flower makes seeds so that there can be even more plants!  We're looking forward to seeing lots of plants at the Cumberland Fair!

Math:  This week we are learning all kind of math games that will help us practice our math facts.  Today, we introduce +1 or 2 bingo, make 10, and tens go fish!  Not only are we practicing our math facts but we are also practicing what it looks like to be a good partner.  Math time is going to be tons of fun this week!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

September 9-13

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Please remember to send a healthy snack with your child each and every day!  We'll have time for snack in the afternoon.  Please remember to leave all food that contain any peanuts, strawberries, or pineapples!  This includes juices!  Thank you for helping to keep all of our students safe and healthy!

Specials Schedule:
Monday:  P.E.  (sneakers!)
Tuesday:  Music
Wednesday:  Art
Thursday:   Spanish
Friday:  Library (don't forget those books!)

Our first field trip of the year will be to the Cumberland Fair.  An official date has not been set yet, however, it will be during the week of the 23-27 and will take place in the morning to early afternoon.  Hopefully that helps some of you who are thinking you might want to chaperone.  Remember, you MUST fill out new volunteer paperwork EVERY year!  Even if you filled out paperwork last year, you will need to send in another form so that you can be an approved volunteer for this year.  As soon as we get the official date, I will send out an email and hopefully a paper note!

 Please remember to send your child to school with a two pocket folder to serve as our home-school connection folder.  We may not always need to send papers home and you may not always need to send papers to school but we would like it to be brought to school everyday... just in case!

Also, here is a general guideline of what our daily schedule will look like.  (This is simply the schedule that I sent home at the ice cream social/first day of school).

8:35-9:10  Arrival and morning work
9:10  Morning Meeting
9:40  Math
11:05 Lunch and recess
11:55 Read aloud
12:10  Quiet time/science/social studies
12:40  Special (see special schedule above)
1:25 Snack
1:35  ELA/Daily 5
2:35 Earned time
2:55 Dismissal

On Thursday, we will be having a school-wide assembly featuring Kyle Dine.  The focus of this assembly is talking about allergies in a kid-friendly way so that we can all begin to understand a little better!  Here is one of his songs called Allergies Rocks!  Check it out!




THIS WEEK IN...

Classroom Community:  We are continuing to practice our classroom vision!  Team Blowey voted for teamwork, creative, respect, and fun to be the focus words of our vision.  Using these words, I created three different songs for Team Blowey to vote on.  They decided that they liked the vision song set to Safe and Sound by Capital Cities best.   Here are the lyrics!


We can show you what
We can show you what we’re gonna be
we’re gonna to be the best, you’ll see!

Creative minds

We will work so hard on our goals
we’ll show you all that we know

All we know

We can show respect
We can use kind words and our ears
We will listen now, don’t you fear!

Let’s have some fun
We’ll control our bodies and our words

We’ll work together and be heard!

We’ll be heard!
We’ll be heard!
We’ll be heard!

We also worked together to create our Code of Cooperation.  This basically serves as our classroom rules.  We started by looking at each of our power words (teamwork, respect, fun, and creative) and how we think we could make them come true in our classroom.  From this, we decided on the four classroom rules.  Interestingly enough, they actually become an acronym that spells BEST!  Because of that, we often remind each other to be our BEST selves!  Here is our Code:

Be in control of our bodies and our minds

Everyone has to do their part

Stay focused and never give up!

Treat others the way we want to be treated.

Throughout the week, we will be unpacking what it means to make each of these things come true at Russell School.  These will serve as our behavior guidelines.  More information about these guidelines will be sent home in next week's newsletter.  

We're also continuing to build S.O.P.'s (standard operating procedures) for many of the daily classroom routines.  So far we have an S.O.P. to help us get ready for the morning, get ready for lunch, and get ready earned time.  

Second Grade Meeting:  Once a week, the entire second grade team will try to meet together for a morning meeting.  Usually, we will gather and have a quick greeting, each class will have some time to share something that they have been doing in their classroom, we'll celebrate birthdays, solve problems, and more!  

Math:  This week, we will begin to work with our first power standard of the year.  Here it is: 

 I can explain and interpret data on a bar graph or picture graph using the words more than, less than, how many more, and how many less.  

We have already started a little bit of this during morning meeting when we chart the daily weather.  This week, students will be exploring bar graphs and pictures graphs, learning to read them and talk about them.  Students will even get the extra challenge of collecting and organizing their own data to put into a bar graph or picture graph.

Daily 5:  We are continuing to build our read to self stamina.  We are also continuing to set our writing expectations and build our writing stamina.  Today, we had a chance to brainstorm places we could write around the room and also the materials we would need to work on our writing goals.  This week, we will also begin to set our word work expectations and build our word work stamina.  Word work could be working on spelling words or learning how to read and recognize different word patterns (phonics).  My hope is that we'll also have the chance to begin setting up our read to someone expectations as well!

Read Aloud:  We have transitioned into our first chapter book read aloud story of the year... Charlotte's Web!  A great story about the wonderful friendship between Wilbur (a young runt pig who was saved) and Charlotte (a barn spider with a creative mind and caring heart).

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!  

September 3- September 6

NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Welcome to Team Blowey!  I, for one, and so excited for this year!  I hope you are excited, too!

This space will be updated weekly.  My goal is to upload any news and announcements we might have as well as letting you know a little bit about what we are learning about for the week.  My hope is that this can be used to spark some conversations at home about what we are learning at school.  I confess!  I, too, was one of those kids who always went home and gave about two words about my school day.  "It was good" or "We didn't really do anything" were two very common phrases that came out of my mouth.  However, I think that it would have been a lot easier for me to have a conversation with my parents about what I was learning if they knew a little bit about the specifics of what was going on that week as well.  Hence, the creation of this blog!  It can't get lost in a crumpled pile in the bottom of a backpack or eaten by the family dog!  You can check it at your own leisure and I am always open for any questions, comments, or insights you might have!  

Here is our special schedule:
MONDAY: P.E. (Bring those sneakers!)
TUESDAY: Music
WEDNESDAY:  Art
THURSDAY:  Spanish
FRIDAY:  Library (Don't forget those books!)

With an early morning lunch, we will be having snack in the afternoon.  Please make sure you send your child to school with a healthy snack to help keep their brains energized for the rest of the day.  Please DO NOT send any snacks that contain PEANUTS, STRAWBERRIES, OR PINEAPPLES!  This includes juices as well.  Thank you for helping us keep our students safe!  If you would like some suggestions for healthy snacks, I would be more than happy to send some your way!

Students are permitted to bring water bottles and keep them on their desk throughout the day.  However, I do ask that these water bottles contain WATER ONLY!  

If you haven't sent your child to school with a two-pocket folder, please send them as soon as possible. These folders will be used as our home-school connection folders and will be used daily.  There may be some days where there will be no papers sent home, however, I do ask that the folders always make it to school the next day just in case we need them!  If purchasing a folder is a hardship for your family, please let me know!  I am more than happy to make some arrangements so that your child has all of the learning tools they need to be successful in second grade!

My hope is to send out a paper version of a newsletter by the end of the month.  That newsletter will include information about behavior expectations, positive reinforcement, a picture tour of our classroom, etc.  That way you can get a real feel for what it's like in the wonderful world of room 10!

THIS WEEK IN...

Classroom Community:  The first six weeks of school will focus primarily on building our classroom community!  For this reason, any and all volunteers will begin sometime in October.   To let you gain some insight on what we are doing to build our classroom community, here is some information on some of the activities we have been doing.


Morning Meeting:  We start every morning with a morning meeting.  We begin with a fun greeting that we pick out of our “Good Morning Sunshine!” box.  These greetings can be anything from a chant or cheer to a simple friendly handshake.  Then, we have time for news and announcements.  We each take turns sharing something from our lives that we would like to group to know.  We have been telling each other all about our fun summers and what we’re excited about for the year!  Then, we have a chance to use our morning meeting board to review some important topics like using a calendar, days of the week, graphing the weather, and tracking the days of school.  After calendar time, we read our morning message and sing our school vision.  Finally, we end morning meeting by saying the Pledge of Allegiance.  

Getting to Know You Activities:  We have been playing lots of games and doing lots of fun activities that allow us to get to know some of the new friends that our in our classroom.  These activities are incredibly important in building our classroom community!  We have a chance to get to know each other, learn to trust each other, and get the true feeling of being a part of a team!  Ask your child about playing games like a warm wind blows, octopus, toilet tag, captain's coming, or indian chief.  You can even ask them about our second grade survey and our Find-a-Friend activities!  


Trading Cards:  Since we are Team Blowey, it is only fitting that we each have our very own trading card!  This week, students will be creating the information for the back of their trading card.  This information might include their name, their favorite subject, or their favorite school memory.  Then, we'll take a fun and colorful picture on our playing field (the Russell School playground) for the finishing touch!  Once these are completed, they will hang out in the hallway for a few weeks for everyone to check them out and get to know Team Blowey!

Beginning Our Classroom Vision:  Our classroom vision will become a central part of our everyday classroom lives.  We’ve started by thinking about what would the best year ever in second grade look like.  Today, students wrote down things in response to these three questions:  What makes a good teacher?  What makes a good student?  What makes a good classroom?  We got responses that varied from a colorful classroom to good listeners.  From these responses, we organized them into the following categories:  fun, respect, helping, working hard/doing your best, self control, safe, creative, and learning.  Later this week, we will vote on four words that we think are the most important to us in making room 10 the best place to be!  Once we have our four power words, they will be used to create several drafts of a classroom vision for students to vote on.  Once our classroom vision is decided, it will become the center of our classroom, driving everything we do!

Read Alouds:   Our read alouds will focus on various desired qualities.  On the first day of school, we read Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.  We used this book to remember this phrase, “Before you speak, think and be smart.  It’s hard to fix a wrinkled heart.”  Basically, we used the book to demonstrate how saying or doing mean things to someone can wrinkle their heart and although we might apologize, we can’t make the heart “unwrinkle” again.  The goal is to get Team Blowey to be more aware of how the things they say and do really affect those around them. The next book we read was Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud.  This book uses a bucket to represent the good feelings we have about ourselves.  When our buckets are full, we are smiling and happy!  When our buckets our empty, we feel sad and lonely.  We talked about how when you fill someone’s bucket by saying and doing nice things, your bucket gets filled too!  However, when you try to be a “bucket dipper”, you not only “dip” from someone else’s bucket, but you also “dip” from your own bucket.  Bucket dipping will never give you a full bucket.  Next, we read The Recess Queen where Mean Jean rules the playground, leaving everyone else taking cover!  That is, until Mary Sue comes along!  Mary Sue's bright and bubbly personality paired with her willingness to include Mean Jean in her recess games turns Mean Jean around and makes for one very happy and fun playground.  Team Blowey discussed the power of treating others the way you want to be treated, even when it might be difficult.  Respect plays a huge role in everyone's lives!  Later this week, we will be listening to Yo! Yes?, a fun story about making new friends.  This story is definitely appropriate for the start of a new year, in a new classroom, with new teammates!  We'll also be reading Lily's Purple Plastic Purse, a story where Lily just can't wait to share her new purse with everyone in class, even if it's not the best time and interrupts everyone's learning.  This book takes a sympathetic look at using self control and following directions, two very important things to remember in second grade.  Next, we'll be reading Swimmy, a story that shows how one fish, with ingenuity and teamwork, can overcome any danger.  

Daily 5:   For those of you who don’t know, the Daily 5 is a program that we use to help us practice our literacy goals.  This week, we began practicing and talking about read to self.  Students have brainstormed student responsibilities and teacher responsibilities.  The students will get started right away, work the whole time, be quiet, build their reading stamina, and stay in one spot.  When we talk about stamina, we're talking about doing anything for a long period of time without getting tired or giving up.  These will become our expectations for when students practice their read to self time.  The teacher might be listening to students read or working with individuals or groups of students.  This week, we started building our reading stamina by reading for three minutes at a time.  As we keep practicing, we’ll continue to build our stamina to about thirty minutes of focused reading time.

We will also begin our conversations about how we should pick “just right” books for ourselves.  We will use the acronym I PICK to help us.  I stands for “I choose the book”.  P stands for purpose.  Why are we reading the book?  I  stands for interest.  Am I interested in the book?  C stand for comprehend.  Do I understand the book?  And K stands for know.  Do I know the words in the book?  We will read the book Goldisocks and the Three Libearians by Jackie Mims Hopkins.  It’s a spin off of the traditional Goldilocks and the Three Bears but instead of searching for the perfect porridge, Goldisocks is searching for the perfect book!  

We'll also begin talking about writing.  We'll build a chart with the expectations for writing time and begin to build our writing stamina.  In order to do this, we need a way to find a topic to write about with ease.  This week, we'll be creating heart maps, where students will draw and write different topics that are close to their heart that they may like to write about.  For example, my heart map my show my family, the beach, swimming, reading, hiking, or my cat, Daisy.  These heart maps will become the cover of our journals, making them very easy to find and helping us save minutes!  





As the year progresses, I hope to put up pictures of some of the activities we are doing throughout the week.  Pictures really make things come alive!

Please keep in mind that these are tentative plans for the week and may be changed as necessary to meet the needs of Team Blowey!  

If you have any questions, comments, or insights about anything you see or read on the blog, please let me know!

I hope you have a wonderful week!