Hello. Welcome to the first week of fall! I don't know how you feel about it, but one of the reasons I most love the state of Maine is for the fall folliage, so I'm pretty excited that fall is finally here! Now I'm waiting for the cooler temperatures to reach our classroom--I have needed to run multiple fans on most days since school started to keep the temperatures manageable in the classroom. It's pretty hard to learn new things when all you can think about is how hot you are, and how much you want to cool off. Now, if we could only get autumn weather and temperatures to LAST more than a few weeks. . . I CAN wait for snow pants and boots season!
We have been doing our reading groups and phonics work each morning, as well as Math class after each snack/recess. We even managed to fit science in on several days this past week. The birthday of Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) is celebrated
next week, so I thought we would combine senses, life cycle of a plant,
and Johnny's birthday. Having different apple treats each day made
using our senses fun and yummy! The children were given the
opportunity to sample different apple products, and most of them did try
each treat. We will celebrate Johnny's birthday on Monday with an
apple crisp (homemade) that afternoon! So far, we have learned that each sense has at least one body part connected to it, but that some (like our sense of taste) work best when using two body parts so that they are supported by a second sense. (If you have ever had a bad cold, you know that your sense of taste is largely dependent on the information provided to your brain by your sense of smell.) Next week, we will continue talking about different "cycles" in our lives--the days of the week, months of the year, the seasons, the plant cycle (again) and the animal cycle (including the human cycle--birth to death). We will also discuss the idea that plants don't have to "eat" because they make their own food. I will introduce the terms photosynthesis and respiration. We will learn that plants and people need each other, since plants need to take in carbon dioxide, and give off oxygen, while people/animals take IN oxygen and breathe OUT carbon dioxide--a system that works well for everybody.
We took our first district math test this past week, on patterns, and I am pleased to say that EVERYONE passed! The test involved your child's being able to reproduce several different patterns given to them, and to be able to finish correctly labeling (assigning the correct identifying letters to ) those patterns. Great job, Class! In addition, about half the class was able to take things a step further by creating their own pattern (NOT just reproducing ones we had already built) AND labeling it correctly!!! WooHoo! There's some fantastic learning going on in here!
Without the extra things (mostly testing), we managed to fit some penmanship and writing into our schedule last week, finally. The children are still working on helping me produce a sentence or two around a stimulus (picture), copying those two sentences onto their own paper (using standard writing conventions) and then adding a sentence or two on that SAME TOPIC. It's hard, because whenever they have written in the past, using conventions didn't matter. Now it does. I've tried, over the years, teaching the use of conventions in a lot of different ways, and doing it while we are still working at the sentence level seems to make the most sense to me. We also will have days when we are just writing creatively, so the focus on those days will be on their generation and flow of ideas MORE THAN on conventions. Ultimately, the children will have to do both simultaneously, but that is not practical right now. The two different kinds of writing are on papers that look VERY different, so it should be easy to tell what the expectation is each kind of writing. And, obviously, I will be telling the children what my expectations as they go to write. There will be a writing rubric (not unlike the penmanship rubric I attached to this week's penmanship papers) so you can see what I am evaluating your child on, and how he or she is doing.
We have now finished bringing fairy tales books home for you to read to your child. This coming week, the only "little readers" coming home are the ones the children should be able to read to you. The weekly homework, therefore, will be for your child to practice his or her sight words for a few minutes each evening, and then to read his or her "little reader" to you. The reading should be fairly fluent (since he or she read that same book several times at school that day). If, however, your child asks for help, please encourage him/her to look at the word's beginning letter( the reason we have also been working on those phonics skills), and think about what would make sense in that spot beginning with that letter. (Try not to just tell him or her the word, until he/she has tried using the beginning sound. Struggling just a little to recall how to use those phonics skills actually helps strengthen them. Should your child misread the word (like he "reads" build when the word is actually make, please don't "just let it go". Point out that the word they read couldn't be the word because the word on the page starts with m, and m makes the /m/ sound. However, once your child has tried a strategy or two and still does not know the word, then give it to him. Then have him/her keep on reading.) I have sent a paper home attached to this newsletter which gives you strategies of your own in how to help an emergent reader. Should you lose this paper and wish to refer to it later in the year, you will find this same information under the "Parent Information" tab of my blog. I am sending home certificates each Friday, letting you know how well your child recalled his/her sight words when I assessed them that day.
Your children have been doing an amazing job earning Coyote Coupons for responsible, respectful, and safe school behavior. In fact, the whole school has already earned a celebration for reaching their Coyote Coupon goal of 1200 coupons! The celebration will take place on October 4th. Each class has been asked to create one scarecrow, and to name him or her. I (and several other teachers) have extreme hay allergies (as in body parts swelling, eyes closing, lungs not breathing) so the scarecrows may NOT be built with straw/ hay. We have decided as a school to build them using newspaper. To that end, I am asking for donations of newspaper, an old pair of pants, an old shirt, old boots/shoes/sneakers, old gloves, and an old hat. I have a volunteer (Mary Scanlon) who will be coming in the morning of Oct. 1 to have the kids help her build this scarecrow. I will provide a plastic pumpkin head and the pole for the spine. If you can help with contributions of any of these items, your assistance would be appreciated.
Also on October 4th (before the celebration), we will be doing a practice LOCK DOWN. What the means is that for a length of time that morning, we will be in "Lock Down". Classroom doors will be closed and locked, windows covered, lights off, and the kids and I will be waiting quietly in our "Lock Down" place in our classroom. Class does NOT operate as "normal" during that time. Unfortunately, practicing "Lock Down" is necessary in this day and age. I will be telling the children about the "Lock Down" practice on Monday afternoon, and will explain to them what it will look like, where we will "hide", and what they will be doing while they are waiting for "Lock Down" to be over. Since these sessions can take a while to conclude, we have permission from Mr. Brown for the "little kids" to sit quietly with headphones on using their ipads. It lets them do something educational while being still and quiet (and helps them be a little less frightened) until "Lock Down" is ended. The Sheriff's department will be involved, and will come in to release our class from "Lock Down". Please talk to your child about "Lock Down" on Monday evening, so they can ask you any questions they might has or express any concerns to you. Give them every reassurance that the "Lock Down" drill is just as necessary as fire drills--we have to practice them both so that everyone knows what to do if we ever have one of those problems. (We've had two fire drills so far this year, and the kids have been great for each one.) Some parents think they can avoid the issue by keeping their children at home on the day of the "Lock Down". Please don't do that. Practicing for this emergency has really become necessary in our current culture, and has proven to be helpful in those unfortunate places that have actually had the NEED for "Lock Down" because EVERYONE knew what to expect, and what to do. At CPS, only Fourth and Fifth graders will actually be evacuated from the school (put on buses, though the buses will not leave the CPS premises), but the little kids will not practice that part. Evacuating the fourth and fifth graders lets the sheriffs know what kind of issues they would face without frightening the really little kids.
I think that's all for this week. Have a wonderful, crisp, fall weekend! Here are some important dates for you to know:
October:
1 Build our classroom scarecrow--donations of parts accepted (see above)
4 Practice "Lock Down"
Coyote Coupon celebration
5 PTA meeting 6-7pm All are invited
7 No School--Teacher Workshop Day
10 No School--Columbus Day
14 Grandparents' Day 8:30 - 10:30 a.m.
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