News From Our Classroom

     This coming week is the last full week before Thanksgiving Break.  On Tuesday morning, the District Math Committee will meet to work for the morning on updating our Math Curriculum.  Because I am a member of that committee, I will be gone Tuesday morning, and your child will have a substitute teacher for the morning--Judy Coolidge Cross.  Judy was a second grade teacher here for years, so I know I am leaving the children in very capable hands for the morning.  Thursday evening  will see our first of two Parent-Teacher Conference nights, with the second one taking place on Monday evening of next week.   If you wish, because you are scheduled for a conference one of those evenings, you can leave your child at MKA for the length of your conference(s).  If you would like to take advance of this service, please send in a note so that we are aware, and so Julie Hart can be sure she has enough staff to cover the needs for that particular evening.  On this Friday, at some point during the day, we will have a young author visit the school and talk to the children about how she became a published author.  Her pen name is JoJo Thoreau, and she is Maine's newest recipient of a Western Writers Association Spur Award, which is one of the most prestigious awards in American literature. She has written and had published two books so far: Bendy-Wendy (when she was nine), and her award-winning Buckaroo Bobby Sue  (this Spring, at age 11).  Her real name is Lydia Schofield, and she is a resident of Waldo County.  She has made presentations to many Maine school children, and has always been well-received.

       The rest of the week should be a fairly normal week.  As I mentioned in last week's newsletter,  the children already received their  sight words and fluency sentences last Monday,  and will work with those same sight words and sentences that they studied last week AGAIN this week.  I will assess them on the 17th.  Each evening EXCEPT THURSDAY, they will bring a little reader home to read to you, and should practice these words and sentences so that they build fluency with them.  Then, next week, there will be NO HOMEWORK for either day the children are at school, as Monday is the second Parent-Teacher Conference night, and Tuesday evening begins our short Thanksgiving Break (Wednesday - Sunday).
        Mrs. Raymond will be holding a Book Fair from November 15 - 21.  You are encouraged to visit the displays that are set up within the school, and encouraged to consider buying books are Holiday gifts.
       Again, please be aware that there will be no school from 11/22 (a Teacher Workshop Day) through Sunday, 11/26.  School will resume on Monday, 11/27.
      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 that week of our return,  make any Reading Group adjustments that are required based on the testing, and then we will return to our usual routine during the first full week of December.