Happy Long Weekend! The kids were so ready for a few days off. Me, I'm ready, but sitting in a meeting all day concerning "P" scales. Yes, a new language! (kidding) It's for the kids and for you, so it's okay.
In your child's backpack you should find a book order form with directions how to order online or by sending the order to me. Orders are due September 7th. Leadership applications (classroom jobs) are also in the backpack. Please guide your child through completing the application and return it Tuesday. Kids are to mark their first, second, and third choice for a leadership role in our classroom. This year has many changes for teachers. We have meetings Tuesday and Thursday with our instructional coach and on Wednesday with our grade level. Therefore, I have the 15 minutes of my lunch time on those days to do things for my students or plan lessons. If you get several math or word work pages sent home on the first day, they weren't completed on the same day! It's simply that I couldn't get them checked on the day we did them. If you ask me to call you, please understand that it will be after school. We are deep into Daily 5 reading rotations. I have to be firm with expectations so I can focus on reading groups. As soon as I finish DRA (reading) testing, I will begin reading groups. The kids know they are not to interrupt groups unless there is a fire, a volcano erupting, an alien invasion, a flood, or blood spurting. Anyone talking, playing, or off task will be moved to yellow without the opportunity to move back to green. Math Topic 1 is ending next week. We will test Friday. This is a difficult topic because of the question organization. Please review the pages that have been sent home as much as possible to support your child's success. I've been told that the following topics are much easier. The homework pages are a tremendous help. You don't need to return them to me, but you can. Kids who are completing homework pages at home are going to be fine during the test. Phonics and word work: continuing letter formation, spelling consonant-vowel-consonant words, beginning and ending sounds. Writing: Kids are learning how to narrow a topic for writing personal narratives. Ask your child to write daily for spelling and practice in developing thoughts in order of occurrence. Fifteen minutes of writing with your guidance every evening will help strengthen skills. Social Studies focus: responsibilities and respect are something we must give others to get them from others. We developed our classroom mission statement: We are LEADERS, living the 7 HABITS, learning, reaching goals, and proud! The kids came up with who we are, then together we narrowed their ideas into focus words. I'm excited about what we created. A piece of my learning this morning - supported by research *Parent involvement has a huge impact on student achievement. *Television / electronics / video games dramatically decrease student achievement. Turn off the television! Take the electronics away! Get outside! Talk to your kids! Interact! It matters to your child. Enjoy your time together! Mrs. Bailey I think we've got the groove. I've flipped math and writing to help our day flow more smoothly. I'm trying to sneak in 15 minutes of Free Choice at the end of our day. Kids deserve time to play and build friendships. Our lessons have focused on rules and responsibilities, respect, and the seven habits. When we remember to treat others like we want them to treat us, our classroom is a good place to be. Next week we will be continuing review on letters, sounds, letter formation, and c-v-c word building. We have worked on sentence structure in preparation of writing workshop. Kids will be creating heart maps in which they list things close to their hearts they may want to write about. We will also be discussing that narratives are about small moments of events. When kids try to write about an event over several days, it becomes difficult to stay on track. Daily 5 is off to a pretty good start. Kids have reached 6 minutes of building stamina. Our goal is 15 minutes. During Daily 5 I will be teaching reading groups. It is important that groups are not interrupted. Kids who are unable to stay on task and work quietly will be moved to yellow without the chance to earn green back. That's how important it is. Next week we will continue practicing building stamina with Read to Self and add Work on Writing. During practice time I will be testing student reading levels. I will share your child's current reading level as soon as testing is finished. I finished sight word testing this week (only the first quarter list). Twenty-two of the twenty-five words were on the kindergarten sight word list that was to be mastered in May. Thirteen out of seventeen students knew every word!. I added both lists in the daily folders for practice. Feel free to begin on the second list. Only focus on a few at a time. Math will continue to focus on two addends that total a sum. Kids are struggling with double-checking answers to be sure pictures equal to the sum. Guiding your child through homework pages can help clear confusions. Homework doesn't have to be returned, but kids can bring it back if they want to. Our theme is "School Days". Kids will be discussing character traits, practicing a complete retell including the beginning, middle, and end, answering text-dependent questions, and comparing/contrasting. We will continue discussing responsible choices using "No David!" and "David Goes to School". Upcoming events: August 31st - No school - Teachers have meetings September 3rd - No school - Labor Day If you haven't checked out the "Snapshots of Fun" page, you need to! I hope you are hearing fun stories about our first days together. The kids are being kind to each other and adapting well. So many rules to cover! The fun stuff begins this week. We will be reviewing letters, letter formation, and sounds for a few weeks. Most kids know them well, but a review is a good thing to help them become stronger. We will be reviewing kindergarten sight words as well. They are our foundation for moving forward. A check sheet will be sent home with words your child can read marked. Please practice any that are not checked. A practice page will be in the behavior folder for daily practice as well. Only work on 5-6 words at a time until mastered. Overwhelming kids may shut them down.
We are reviewing the 7 Habits as well. Our school focus is that every child will become the leader they are and that everyone in the building makes the best choice possible using the 7 Habits. The first habit is "Be Prooctive" which means to think about actions and choices before reacting, and remembering that we are in charge of our own behaviors. Habit 2 is "Begin With the End in Mind" which focuses on goal setting. We have to know what we are working toward in able to create the actions that will get us there. Monday will be our first Community Time from 8:25-8:45 (ish). If your child is dropped off after 8:20, please remind them to go to the cafeteria to meet us. My class will sit where Mrs. Beck's kids sat last year - one place behind where we were. Community Time occurs on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Check our the "Snapshots of Fun" page of this website for pictures! Mrs. Bailey |
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May 2019
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