Weekly Update

Dear Families,

We have almost finished our last week before Winter Break, which starts next week. I hope you and your child have the opportunity to relax and enjoy your time together next week. The students will bring home new books on Friday so they have new books to read over vacation. Happy reading!

We did our constructed writing prompt in school this week and the students did an amazing job! They did their best writing, revising and adding details to their pieces. We cannot wait to share these with you at conference time. Our unit on constructed writing will continue after the break, however. The students will periodically receive topics on which they are expected to write a focused piece upon. Topics will include things such as “My favorite season and why”, “Why rules are good in school” and “Why having a good friend is nice.” The students will continue to develop skills to write on the topic provided and organize their thinking in a systematic and organized manner. The students will also explore report writing when we return. They will investigate non-fiction books and magazines to get ready for our next big writing assessment, which emphasizes similar skills acquired in our constructed writing responses. The students will start gathering information on the planets and write report on them. The students will also begin editing each other’s writing pieces. They will work closely with a writing partner. We are very excited about this opportunity to learn from each other! Stay tuned for more information when we return from vacation.

The students finished a new collaborative Voicethread with Ms. Davison’s Kindergarten class this week. Please see our link on the blog. The Voicethread discusses ways in which we can show how to “Be Safe, Kind, and Responsible” at our school. They did a great job and shared wonderful ideas.


1st graders continued their mathematical investigations of penguins this week. In addition to exploring measurements of height and weight, the students wrote a postcard to their families about our pretend trip to Antarctica. We even podcasted these letters so please visit our podcasting site, click here, or our Digital Portfolio, under Math, Many Different Methods, click here, to hear these letters. This unit will continue after the break.

Valentine’s Day was a great success. Thank you all for your generosity. The treats and snacks were delicious and the students had a great time sharing their special cards with each other. Pictures from our party will follow soon.

Have a great rest of the week, and keep up the reading and writing over the break next week. I am looking forward to reading many posts on our KidBlog!!

Regards,

Maria McCormack