Dear Families,
Here is our week in review:
Social-Emotional Learning:
We continued our work around empathy and kindness. We revisited ideas around being assertive but kind. We practiced saying “stop” and “no” using a kind voice and polite words.
The students put kindness into action when they made paper snowflakes for a senior center in need. These paper snowflakes will be delivered to the residents so they can decorate their spaces and connect with us at school.
Reading:
We finished our mid-year reading assessments this week and last. The students did a great job reading with me and sharing their thinking about the books read. The students participated in online reading assessments using iReady; a program that checks on phonological awareness, fluency, word study and comprehension. They also participated in the traditional Fountas & PInnell reading assessment, which checks on fluency, decoding and comprehension.
Next week, the students will start using iReady as a personalized reading tool. As a result of the assessments, each child will have access to a personalized learning plan for reading on this site. On Monday, we will access this new platform together at school so please make sure your child’s computer is fully charged. Thank you. Your child will use this iReady tool from home as well. It will be added to our remote learning schedule for reading at home. I will send passwords and username information on Sunday with the link to the remote learning schedule so please look for that.
We finished our read aloud “Wonderous Rex” already! The students love to listen to books and share their thinking with each other. Our next read aloud book is about Helen Keller. We are learning how Helen Keller showed tremendous courage and perseverance in her life. We will explore some other inspiring people in history in the weeks ahead and see what they did to show a growth mindset every day.
We listened to the book “I love my hair” by the author Natasha Tarpley on Friday, when we celebrated our differences. We used the school buzzy celebration on Friday to learn more about our unique qualities and celebrate our differences and similarities.
Writing:
We continued learning more about how to effectively write an opinion piece. This week, the students started writing with fewer scaffolds and supports. In other words, they were encouraged to use all the things we have already learned about this type of writing and apply it more independently. They did great. This is a group of authors! They showed individuality, creativity and risk-taking in their writing pieces. We will continue learning from each other and sharing our progress together in class. This week, the students practiced how to start the writing piece clearly. We reviewed different opening statements and learned that we can add questions to hook the reader, or use a comparison to create interest. We also explored how to use bold print to highlight our opinion. We also explored transition words. We call them Traffic Light Words and here is a visual we use to help us remember:
First Grade Math:
First grade mathematicians deepened their understanding of subtraction this week. We played many different subtraction games and practiced using visual representations and math tools to help us solve our problems.
First grade mathematicians also participated in another story-problem with a missing addend. They are doing great showing their reasoning using visual representations and equations.
We began counting forward from unfamiliar numbers. Together as a class, we explored the larger 100 rekenrek to see what it looks like when we start from a number other than a tens number (decuples). We practiced counting forward starting from 3, for example 3, 13, 23, etc) Next week, the students will get to use these 100 rekenreks on their own. We are so excited!
We did some work on our numeral scrolls as well. These numeral scrolls will come home on Tuesday inside your child’s Tuesday folder. Please remove them from the folder and keep them in a safe place for home use (we will also need them for google meets sometimes). Your child will also take home blank decade strips to finish at home. Please keep these in a safe place with the numeral scroll as well. Your child is encouraged to play games with these. I will include counting suggestions to go along with these numeral scrolls in your child’s Home Folder so please look for those.
Your child will also take home an optional math packet filled with math games to play at home during our remote days, or anytime you wish to. This packet will also be inside your child’s Home Folder as well.
New information regarding our Wednesday remote learning days:
We have a new google meet link for our morning meetings online. This is to ensure consistency across the two Williston codes and make sure children are not online without a teacher present. Our new google meet code is absmccormack
I have already linked this directly into our remote learning schedules, but if you access the meeting on another device, or want to get there directly, simply click on the google meet icon in your gmail and type in the nickname code absmccormack
Let me know if you have any questions.
We are adding iReady to our remote learning days. It is linked directly on the remote learning schedule but your child can also access it from our school website portal. The students also bookmarked this direct link on their chromebooks for easy access. Your child is encouraged to use the personalized learning lessons provided on iReady on our home days (or any other days). It is highly engaging and the students earn points to advance to a higher level as they master new skills. All reading skills are based upon their performance outcomes and “just right” for them. I will add iReady to our homework check-list as well. This means your child will have a choice each week between raz kids or iReady. Please check off which one your child completed on the homework list. (Your child can complete both raz kids and iReady if he/she wants to, of course!)
News and Reminders:
We have outdoor recess most days of the week, so please make sure your child has hats, mittens, winter jackets, snow pants and boots every day.
Many children feel the need to change their masks throughout the day. Please make sure your child has 2-3 extra, clean masks inside his/her backpack for a potential change during the day. Please check your child’s backpack daily and remove any dirty ones. Thank you.
Report cards went home today. They are inside your child’s backpack. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns about the report cards.
Please help your child make school-appropriate videos and posts on SeeSaw related to our learning. We cannot approve dances, walk-throughs in various rooms and introductions to pets or family members. Thank you for your continued support in ensuring the safe digital learning of your child.
Here's a link to this week's School Bell.
Don’t forget to visit the class blog for pictures from our week together at school!
Have a great weekend,
Maria
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