Spirit Week!

This week is spirit week. I think we'll have a great time. I hope you can participate.

Monday is Sports day.
Tuesday- Twin Day
Wed- Anything but a backpack- Must be safe for school, fit on the bus, and not be alive. Basically a show-and-tell type day.
Thurs. - Holiday Day- We have a St. Patrick's Day theme
Friday- Beach day or PJ Day- Keeping in mind we will still be going outside
*I do believe the last 3 days of school the following week may also be themed, however, I am not sure of the schedule for that yet. Stay tuned. 

A few updates: Grades closed last week. Report cards will be sent home on Friday. Please sign and return just the envelope when you get it. 

Thanks to your generosity, our class collected 86 items for the food drive! 

Covid protocols are still in effect. Cleaning and sanitizing throughout the rooms is still happening, Popcorn is on hold indefinitely. We are under a mask mandate at least through the vacation. We have assigned seats in the cafeteria, recess is sectioned off into cohorts and the WMS Christmas Concert has been postponed.

It is getting cold outside. Please bring appropriate warm clothes for when we go out. Your child is welcome to bring a sweatshirt and winter coat and wear one or the other outside depending on the temperatures. When we get snow, and your child is planning on playing in it, they'll need snow gear, or at least, boots. Have them pack a change of shoes as well. And of course, please label your child's snow stuff if you can. So many ski pants and black mittens look the same. 

We have a week and a half left until the winter break. We have this week and 3 days the following week. Vacation begins on Thursday the 23rd. 

It's December

Welcome to the holiday season. We have many interesting events planned to learn about the holidays. We are finishing learning about the Native Americans that lived in our area by researching a topic the children want to learn about and writing a research report. We will be learning about the different holidays celebrated in December and end it with a holiday activity day like we did for NH Day. 

In math, we are learning about patterns. The children are learning different ways to label a pattern and they are looking at shapes, repeating patterns, and number patterns that have different rules to add or subtract by. That can prove to be a bit challenging.

In reading, we are continuing to read a story together. The children have been doing comprehension questions on Canvas. These activities help them navigate their way around Canvas so that when they have a remote day, they know what to do. We have been exploring many different concepts such as the author's purpose, character traits, inferring hidden meanings, comparing and contrasting characters, vocabulary, and many other skills. 

                                                                   

The school is holding a canned food drive through next week. If you are able to donate any nonperishable food items to our drive, the community will benefit greatly. There is also a challenge to see what class can bring in the most items. 

As you know, Covid has changed the way we are doing things in school. We are wearing masks full-time for now. Popcorn has been postponed until cases decline. We are staying in our cohorts for recess and lunch and we are not working with partners and doing centers in the classroom the way we usually do. I know this is unfortunate but I appreciate the resilience the kids have and their flexibility. We will let you know when some of these changes can be relaxed.

Report cards will be going out soon. Grades close on Friday and report cards will be sent home on the 17th. For more info about grading, you can look at the grading section on the pages on the left-hand side. 

Food Drive

 

We are holding a food drive for the local food pantry. If you are able to support this, please have your child bring in non perishable food items this week. 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Kids Create the Schedule Day

In our class, I really try to help the kids understand that we work together as a team. Our success and achievements can be the result of team efforts.  When we go to our UA's, lunches, etc... I want the kids to demonstrate respect to those classrooms and people we walk past. We have been keeping track of compliments we've received from adults who have seen us in the halls or at things outside of the classroom. Yesterday, we received our 20th compliment!  That was our goal. When we reach 20 compliments, the kids were allowed to choose a class reward. They voted for "Kids Create the Schedule Day!" Therefore tomorrow, the kids are running the show. Together, we looked at the things we typically did on Fridays and made a list. They added some extra things like indoor recess and team-building game time, but they created a schedule together that kept in line with our academic day while incorporating a bit of lightheartedness to our activities. They knew that we still needed math and reading times. They planned what we would do, to keep that balance between academics and needing to keep our Friday routines while finding some additional time to just have some fun. I'm very proud of their attitude and consideration to not just those they see in the school, but to themselves, our class, and their responsibilities. 

Other Happenings...

Thank you to those who scheduled a conference with me. I enjoyed meeting you and learning more about your child. If you haven't met with me and would like to please email me or call the school. 

We are completing our unit in science about the environment and the role people play in taking care of the planet. We will be working on a Thanksgiving unit to learn about the tribes and crops that are in and around N.H. 

In math, we are working on factors, factor pairs, and multiples. All these things tie into multiplication and division. It is really important that the children know their multiplication facts. We are working on this in class, but any additional support you can give at home to help them would be very beneficial.

We have been reading a story called There's a Boy in the Girls Bathroom. It's about a boy who has no friends because he pushes everyone away. One day a new kid comes and he and this boy form a weird alliance and are starting to become friends. You can ask your child to summarize what's happening and ask questions along the way. This will help their recall, and depending on the questions asked, it helps build a deeper understanding and forms connections along the way.

We are going to be practicing for our class spelling bee. I'll be sending home a list of some words to help children practice and get used to spelling some challenging words. We will have our spelling bee in class this week. The winner of this one goes onto the grade level spelling bee, and then on from there. For more practice, you can download a spelling app from Scripps-  http://spellingbee.com/word-club

I am going to add a page on the left called Cool Class Websites. These websites are websites the children use in class that boosts skills and will help them practice. The children normally access these sites through Canvas on their Chromebooks, but that's not so easy to do at home. Hopefully, this will allow children to easily access learning websites that we utilize in class. Look for it in the upcoming weeks. 

Your child went home with a drawing they made in class as part of a PTO fundraiser. If you choose to order anything, the deadline is Monday. You can only order online and the info for the website and your child's art code are listed on the bottom of the form.

Lastly, 

Important Upcoming Events!

 Happy almost Halloween!

Friday we are celebrating Halloween. Your child is welcome to wear their costume to school. Remember though, not inflatable costumes and no full face paint or masks. We need to recognize who is in the costume. No weapons either. If you'd like to bring in a little treat for our mini party, you are welcome to. We could use plates, forks and spoons, juice boxes, and a few goodies. If you would like to bring something in, please email me to let me know. Thanks so much!!

Every Thursday is popcorn day. It is $.50 for a bag.

We have some time off next week that you need to be aware of. On Monday we have an early release. Pick-up time will be at 11:30. The next day is voting day. It was originally planned as a remote learning day, however, it is now a day off for the children. The teachers will have a workshop day and the kids will not have any remote type of work. 

November 8th is Picture Retake Day. We are checking to see when pictures are scheduled to arrive. It should be very soon. Next week you will get a slip with information regarding what to do if you want retakes. 

The week of the 8th I will be holding parent-teacher conferences. They will be done on zoom. I will be
sending out a sign-up genius form asking you to sign up for a time that we could meet and I will send you the link for your conference once the schedule is finalized. If none of the times work for you, please let me know and we'll try to find something that works for both of us. Conferences will last about 15 minutes and we will be checking in to see how your child is doing so far academically and socially and any questions or concerns you may have. Report cards won't be going home at this time though. That will not happen until December. 

November 11th we have no school because of Veteran's Day. 

Halloween, Popcorn, and Hats

 This week has been full of important information that has been relayed to the kids. First off is that Popcorn Thursdays are coming! Students can order bags of popcorn for .50 I told them that if they brought in a dollar, I could hold onto the change for the following week. It is optional. Your child can still get free breakfast so they will have something to eat- even if it isn't popcorn.

The school board voted last night and said that hats can now be worn inside the school. This does not include hoodies. Also, the school store has opened, however, it is geared towards the middle school. Your child will not be visiting the school store this year, so they do not need any money for that. 

Halloween is next weekend. The children will be participating in a door decorating contest. 4th and 5th grade students will be decorating the classroom doors and the administration will be voting o the winning classroom next Friday. That day we will have a small holiday celebration. Children can wear their costumes to school. Weapons, inflatable costumes, and masks that cover the entire face are not permitted. Full face paint is also not allowed. Children can have subtle face paint, and partial masks, but we need to be able to recognize who is in the costume. Our day will be holiday-themed. Reading and math activities will be related to what we are learning but will have a Halloween spin to them. At the end of the day, we will have a small party for about 25 minutes or so. It won't be anything over the top, but if there are families who would be willing to bring in some snacks, drinks, forks/spoons, or plates, that would be appreciated. 

Lastly, there has been an influx of fidget toys being brought in. These are now getting to be a distraction as children are sharing them, swapping toys, talking about them, etc... These are not being used as tools to focus and are becoming more of a hindrance to their learning at this time. I am asking that the toys remain at home. If you could help in making sure your child keeps these at home, it would be very much appreciated. I do have some quiet fidgets that the children can use if they need to take a break and self-regulate, but those would be used in the take-a-break spot in the room as a calming tool. 

Stories and Science

 We have been doing an author study of Tommie DePaola's Strega Nona. We identified common themes throughout the books. We looked at characters, settings, and problems throughout the books. They are now working to create their own Strega Nona book. They will include these common themes in their book. They will even get to look up some Italian words to see if they can incorporate them into their writing. 

We are starting novel studies. the children are reading books at their level and we are doing a variety of activities to build comprehension, critical thinking, and reading stamina. 

We are about to begin our 2nd math unit on multiplication. It's a review to start off with but adding in some new concepts on comparing the numbers in a multiplication problem. 

We have begun our first science unit. We are looking at energy, and the renewable and non-renewable resources used to produce the energy. This leads us to the main focus which is how people impact the environment.