News From Our Classroom

     This is probably going to be quite a short newsletter, since I wrote to you just days ago, we had only three days of school last week, and one was given over to Halloween.   I would like to thank Mayson Dawicki's family for sending in juice boxes for our party, and Richard Paul's mom for making "devil" angel food cupcakes.  Thank you to the parents who walked with us in the Halloween Parade (though it was the day AFTER Halloween).  I'm glad MOST of you got the message I sent you letting you know that our parade was going to go on as scheduled, despite the day's delay.  I hope that everyone has their power back now, that not too much food was lost, and life is returning to some sense of "normalcy".   For those of you who do participate in "SNAP", a flyer went home Wednesday telling you how to apply for assistance in replacing the food that you did lose.  I believe that right now, last Monday and Tuesday have eaten up two of our five PLANNED "snow days".   It is my understanding, though, that there is some chance that we can appeal for days forgiven from the school calendar (for those two days) if we get blasted with many storm days this fall.  We've been told to "wait and revisit the situation in the Spring".
        We were treated to a delightful presentation by author Kim Ridley on last Thursday morning.  Ms. Ridley has written several children's books, and read and talked about her book Secret Pool with our first grade classes.  She was a terrific presenter, and kept the kids mesmerized during the half hour she spoke with us.  Thank you, Mrs. Conrad, for arranging this visit for us!
       This coming school week is also another odd one--We have school on Monday, and then NO SCHOOL on Tuesday.  Since it is Voting Day, we are using the day as a Teacher Workshop Day.  That way, there are no kids around when there are a LOT of unfamiliar faces in our hallways.  Then, we have school on Wednesday and Thursday, and NO SCHOOL on Friday (the celebration of Veteran's Day).  So, what that means for our class is that the children will receive sight words and fluency sentences tonight,  and you will have to hold on to those words and sentences for two weeks, as we will work with those same sight words and sentences until NEXT Friday, the 17th.  I will assess them on the 17th.  There will be no homework at all on the 20th and 21st.  Your Parent-Teacher Conference will take place on November 16th or the 20th, and school will close on the 21st for a short Thanksgiving Break (Wednesday - Sunday).  If you have not yet signed up for your parent-teacher conference, I have sent you another sign up sheet today.  Thursday the 16th is filling up fast, but there are still a few openings for that day, and many openings left on the 20th.
      When we return after Thanksgiving, it will be time to begin assessments for the end of the first trimester.  Grades close on December 1st, and the report cards will come to you mid-December.  During the exam period, I do not hold "regular" reading groups, as that time must be used to assess individuals on their reading progress.  I will still send books home on Monday-Thursday of that week for your child to read to you, but they will not be familiar with the text, as they will not have done a "first reading" of the material in Reading Group that week.  Hopefully, I can complete all necessary assessments of sight words and reading fluency and accuracy within a week,  any Reading Group adjustments can be made, and then we will return to our usual routine.
         I believe that is all of the news for this weekend.  I'm going to go set my clocks back, and head for bed.  I will be in touch again next weekend.