Family Newsletter

Dear Families,
This week went by so fast.  Perhaps it felt fast because Monday was a holiday, or perhaps it went by so fast because we are busily learning so many new things in our classroom now.  We are in the midst of new science, reading and writing learning.Please keep reading to find out more, and don't forget to stop by to visit us us if you want to see first hand what we're up to!

Our Learning:
Science: We started our new science unit on Light and Sound Waves last week.  This is a unit which aligns fully with the new science standards and common core expectations for students in first and second grade. Through a series of workshops, the students will explore light and sound waves, while rotating between the classrooms on Harmony.  I will post some pictures of the workshops from my class shortly.  Ask your child to explain how sound travels and how our sound guitars helped us engineer a string telephone that allowed us to communicate over a fairly large distance.

Writing: The students started their "All About" writing pieces last week as well.  We carefully selected our topics and shared ideas with our thinking partners before starting our own writing.  As you might recall, "All About" writing reflects information about a topic that the author already knows well.  In other words, it is not a personal narrative, nor is it a researched piece.  Our students chose to write about soccer, baking, gardening and foorball, to name a few topics.  We learned how to "hook" the reader with interesting beginnings and we also learned how to carefully plan our table of contents.  Throughout this writing unit, the students will also learn about non-fiction elements in their reading.  We will bridge the gap between reading and writing.  My goal is that the students learn to "read as writers" and "write as readers" carefully noticing the connections between the two.  As the students discover non-fiction elements in their books, I hope they will try to represent those same aspects in their own writing.  Some of the things we will explore are table of contents, labels, diagrams, glossaries, and indexes.

Reading: As mentioned above, the students are slowly switching over to more non-fiction reading.  We will still encourage fictional reading, of course, but the students will participate in a series of lessons on non-fiction books, both in guided reading groups, but also as part of our whole class instruction.

Technology: Our class started using KidBlog today.  It is linked on the sidebar on this blog.  It is called McCormack 2015-2016.  The students will need to sign in and use a password to get in.  I will email you the directions for this. The students learned how to access the blog and how to sign in today.  Next week, we will practice commenting on my post.  I hope this will be a tool to use at home as well as a way to connect and stay in touch with your child's learning here at school.  More information will follow as we start using the blog as a communication tool.

Upcoming Events:
We filled the Bee-Hive again! Our next school-wide celebration is on February 29.  We will celebrate with Mis-Match Day!  Come to school in mis-matched clothes, or hair!  Mix plaid and stripes, orange and red, wear your T-shirt on top of your sweatshirt.  Keep it simple and fun.

Report Cards go out on February 29.  They will be inside your child's backpack.

Our 100th Day of school is February 5th.  more information will follow shortly.

Have a great weekend.
Best,

Maria