News From Our Classroom

       We're going to be doing something different this coming week in preparation for our upcoming Reading assessments next week.  The new assessments we have this year to evaluate your child's reading ability DURING the school year don't have the children reading from a booklet--they are being asked to read a "story" from a sheet of paper.  Now, this may seem like a small matter to adults who have known how to read for years, but it is not a simple matter for your child.  Gone is a familiar format.  Gone is the picture support he or she is used to using to help determine what unfamiliar words might be.  The first thing I heard last assessment period when I put a sheet in front of a child I needed to assess was "I can't read all of THOSE words!"  The second thing I heard was "but there are no pictures to help me!"   The kids were really "thrown" by trying to read material in this  paper format, even if the material was at their reading level.  Therefore, on Tuesday and Thursday of this coming week, "little books" will NOT be coming home, BUT your child WILL have reading homework!  I have taken some of the PM "Little Readers" that your child normally reads, and typed them up on sheets of paper for them to practice reading.  They will read a story to me during the day, but it would be really helpful if they could practice reading it again to you that evening. When they read it to you, DO NOT HELP THEM "SOUND WORDS" OUT.  I cannot help them during a test, so they need to practice figuring it out themselves!  Hopefully, this kind of practice will make them feel more comfortable when do their "Progress Monitoring" assessments next week.  If it does, you can expect to see a "reading sheet" come home once a week during this last trimester.
     During our science class on "bones" this week, we talked about how bones are help "hold you up" because they are stiff and strong.  I told the kids they could do an experiment at home with your permission.   Take a chicken leg bone (drumstick works best) after the chicken has cooked, rinse it off, and let your child hold it and see how stiff it is.  Talk about how bones support your body because of this stiffness.  Then, put the bone in a glass jar, and cover with white vinegar.  Cover, and let sit for three days.  Then, take the bone out of the vinegar, rinse again,  and have your child hold it again.  He or she should discover that the bone is much less stiff, and is, in fact now quite bendable.  The vinegar has stripped the calcium out of the bone.  This is an EXCELLENT way of convincing your child to have dairy--milk or yogurt--regularly.  Sorry, the sugar in ice cream makes that NOT a good source of calcium.  And don't forget green leafy veggies like spinach!!
     Katina Colombotos has asked me to pass on the following:
        "Nicole Berry is offering family cooking classes for SNAP (food stamp) recipients at the
         Bethel Alliance Church beginning next Tuesday.  It sounds like an excellent opportunity.
         Check it out!"
     That's it for this week.  Don't forget--  NEXT WEEK WILL BE AN ASSESSMENT WEEK, SO "LITTLE READERS" AND SIGHT WORDS WILL NOT COME HOME NEXT WEEK.