Weekly Update

Dear Families,
We started our formal guided reading groups this week.  We call them "Book Clubs".  This is a time when students meet with peers and receive reading instruction on books that are just right for them in terms of complexity, vocabulary and decoding skills.  The children participate in various reading tasks related to comprehension, reading accuracy and fluency.  In our Book Clubs, the children complete different projects.  Sometimes, they will show their understanding of a book through a variety of reading response projects.  Sometimes, the children will work on word structure, syntax and vocabulary, and sometimes, we focus more on phrasing and fluency.  Our groups switch periodically and we try to meet almost daily.  Ask your child to tell you about our reaad-o-phones and brand new Literacy Folders.  The Literacy Folders allow the students to actively engage in the reading process.  They learn to interact with the text and often read with a pencil, taking notes on post-its, index cards, or inside our Literacy Books.

This week, the students on Harmony completed their first engineering workshops.  Engineering is a big part of our new Common Core Standards in Science. In engineering, the students learn problem-solving skills while participating in hands-on science experiments.  Based upon the book "The Three Little Pigs", the students were challenged to build a house that would withstand the force of the wolf.  In our case, the wolf was a hair-dryer.  The students only received certain materials and they had to problem-solve together to build a structure together in a limited amount of time.  In workshops, the students on Harmony are mixed with all the classrooms and the students rotate through our classrooms.  This is a wonderful way for them to build relationships with everybody on our team while engaging in academic learning at the same time.
Here is a video/slideshow with pictures from these workshops.

We will continue with more engineering workshops and we ask parents to bring in the following materials if possible.  Thank you in advance for your generosity and for your support of our continued learning.
We need paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, empty egg cartons, and cardboard (cut up into manageable sizes).

This week, the students also started blogging on our very own private KidBlog (this blog can only be seen by our class and a few invited guests such as Ms. Birdsall, our Technology Specialist at WSD and Linda Scott, our Computer Lab Specialist).  We started our posts entitled "All About Me'.  The students learned how to access KidBlog, how to sign in and how to create a new post.  The also started writing their first posts today.  At this point, we are not concerned about proper spelling (and the little red squiggly lines that appear under those misspelled words.  We want to get used to writing directly onto the computer and getting our ideas down on paper.  Next week, the students will learn how to insert their own pictures and add more words, while editing.  In the weeks to come, we will learn about how to engage in conversations online; how to be safe, kind and responsible while commenting on a friend's post. I hope you will find the time at home to go onto KidBlog (located in the right sidebar of this blog).  Our KidBlog is called McCormack 2014-2015.  If your child wishes to access this from home, he/she will find his/her name in the scroll down menu and click on it.  After that, the password needs to be typed in.  I will email this to you.  Your child probably remembers it.  I am asking all parents to access the KidBlog before next Thursday when we go back to the computer lab and make a comment on your child's post from today.  That way, all students will have a special message from you.  Parents can sign in as "Parent" or "Guest".  Please find one of these choices in the scroll down menu.  I will email you your password as well. Thank you

Have a great day tomorrow and weekend.  Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Maria

Reading Buddies

Here are some pictures from our meeting with our reading buddies this week.  They came to visit our classroom and we enjoyed sharing our classroom library.  We read fiction, and non-fiction books together.

Weekly Update

Dear Families,

The turn-out at yesterday's Curriculum Night was great.  Thank you for coming.  If you did not attend, please know that I continually keep families updated on our curriculum throughout our weekly blog-posts.  It is important to me that you know what our children are learning at school so you can support and extend this learning at home.  Children learn best through a variety of experiences and together we can maximize the learning potential for our children.

Picture day is coming to ABS.  I hope you received a packet from your child last week.  It is scheduled for September 23rd.  We will have our pictures taken in the morning.  Please return the packets if you wish to order extra pictures of your child.  It is important that your child has this form with him/her when we take our pictures. So far, we have only received a few picture order forms.  Let me know if you lost your picture order form.  Thank you.

Our class had a new 2nd grade friend join our class this week!  Welcome Krish!  It is great to have you with us. 

We started going to the computer lab weekly.  This week we continued learning about the program Paint.  Next week, we will learn how to use our own KidBlogs and we will invite you to blog along with us. As we continue to integrate technology into our learning, I was wondering if you could send in a pair of head-phones for your child to keep in his/her desk for the school-year?  It would be great to have a pair of head-phones inside a small zip-lock bag with your child's name on it.  Having your own head-phones make technology use so much smoother and it is also more sanitary as the children will not share the head-phones of others.  Let me know if you need assistance purchasing these.  I am happy to help. Thank you.

Reminders:

• Your child's homework folder, book bag and Thursday folders are due back tomorrow.  2nd graders will check in with their respective math teachers in the morning for their math homework.  First graders will not do this until next week, when they receive math homework for the first time. 
• Please remember to sign your child's reading log.
• The weather is getting colder outside.  Please send your child to school with a fleece jacket or sweat-shirt.  We have outdoor recess every day.
• We have snack every day.  Please send in a separate snack for your child to eat in our classroom.  If your child forgets a snack, I have extra snacks in the classroom!
• Have a great rest of the week!
  Maria

Weekly Update

Dear Families,
My apologies that this post is a little late, but as you have probably heard from your children, I was out sick earlier this week.  I am finally getting better. 

The children celebrated their hard work in our writer's workshop and shared their first published stories with their reading buddies in Ms. Davison's Kindergarten class.  It was wonderful to see, and hear, their pride as they read their own stories to their new friends.  Here are some pictures from that celebration.

Next week, we will learn that authors sometimes write on specific topics. We will learn that authors write about things they already know.  Sometimes, those topics are about things we all know about, such as our class, our school or our community.  The students will also continue exploring different ways authors generate ideas for new stories.

The students filled our classroom buzzy jar again!  I am so proud of their hard work and desire to be safe, kind and responsible every day.  The students voted on a classroom celebration and it turned out that the majority of the class wanted to use our ipads!  I know we will fill the jar again soon and I look forward to another classroom celebration.

In reading, we started a unit on the author Todd Parr. He write wonderful stories on a variety of topics and he is also known for his art.  He uses strong colors, with sharp outlines. This week, we visited the computer lab to create self-portraits using artistic ideas from Todd Parr.  The students used the program "Paint."  The pictures came out great.  We hope you will come down and see our new mural taking shape just outside our classroom.

Lastly, I wanted to let you know that the students reading logs and book bags will come home this week.  The students will pack books from our classroom library. These books are due back on Friday.  Your child does not have to read these books for the reading log.  We send them home to encourage parents to read them at home again, as studies show that repeated reading builds not only confidence, but also skills.  If your child has a book he/she reads at home and he wishes to record that book instead, please do so.  We have not started guided reading groups yet, as I have not assessed all the children yet.  I will be out on Wednesday and Thursday this week to do just that and I hope to start groups shortly thereafter.  Please note that the reading log is due on Friday as well.  It also asks for a parent signature.  Thank you for supporting your child's learning at home.  Math homework is also due on Fridays, which means that the entire homework folder and the Thursday folder can come back on Fridays.  This is a change for our second graders as we used to return homework on Thursdays.  Thank you!

I hope you all had a great weekend,
Maria

Writer's Workshop

Dear Families,
I wanted to share some pictures from our Writer's Workshop this past week.  The students started exploring the writing process together.  They learned that authors must think of an idea before they start to write.  We also learned that authors write about things they already know and about topics they feel comfortable with.  We generated a list of different options.  Then each student picked an idea for a story and started to write.  Throughout the week, the students learned that authors make their stories better by revising; adding more details to their pictures and words.  The students also learned that authors meet with editors; friends who also read their stories and give feedback to make these stories even more interesting.  Here are some pictures of our editing process.  The children were partnered up and read each others stories.  Then they provided feedback to each other.  The students listened to their partners and added the details or suggestions that their friends had provided.  It was amazing to hear their thoughtful and kind words to each other.  Having editing partners is so valuable to our young learners.  Think about how you can provide this scaffolded support at home as your child writes. 
Next week, we will complete the "final" step in the writing process and publish our stories.  The students will learn how to create effective and meaningful titles and book covers for their stories. We will also celebrate our publications with a special party! Then, we will start a new piece again and go through the process of writing again! 

Kiva Share and Friday Workshops

Dear Families,
I wanted to share some pictures from our first team-wide Kiva Share.  On Fridays, all the classes on Team Harmony meet in our Kiva.  Two students from each class share something special from their learning that week.  This week we had two students share their self-portraits.  In Kiva Share, the teachers on Harmony also honor two students each for being safe, kind and responsible.  We call this special award "The Bee-Keeper Award."  The students can bring their Bee-Keeper Awards down to Ms. Carr in our Tree- House for a special buzzy and when a student has earned 2 awards, he/she will earn access to our special reading lounge in our Kiva during our Reader's Workshop.  The students are great at showing safe, kind and responsible behavior already.  They are great!

After Kiva Share we have workshops on our team.  The teacher offer different classes using a workshop model, usually involving movement, art and some kind of collaborative learning challenge.  This week, I offered a lego workshop.  Here are some pictures from the amazing structures the children created.

Weekly Update

Dear Families,
We have library time on Wednesdays.  We go every week and the children can select 2 books to take home.  As the school year progresses, we encourage the children to select one "free choice" book and one "just right" book.  We will talk more about "just right" books next week, but for now, these books are on the child's independent reading level, a level that allows the child to feel successful and enjoy the reading process rather than feeling frustrated and discouraged by a book that is too hard.  Please help your child to remember to bring our library books back on Wednesdays so he/she can choose 2 more books.  Thank you.
This week, the children learned how to use our school computers to search for books effectively, how to be good reading partners and how to read independently in our library.
Here are some pictures.

This week, we met with our Reading Buddies as well.  Our Reading Buddies are Kindergarteners in Sharon Davison's class.  We will meet with them bi-weekly.  Sometimes we will visit their classroom, and sometimes, they will come to ours.  We will even skype with them and do collaborative learning online.  Because Ms. Davison and I do so much learning together, we sometimes call our friends our "Learning Budddies." Today, the students met their buddies for the first time and shared some good books together.  Here are some pictures from our first meeting.

This week, first grade mathematicians also got a chance to meet their new friends from Ms. Crowley and Ms. Benoit's classes.  I teach all the first graders on Harmony.  Second graders have math with either Ms. Crowley or Ms. Benoit.  This week, first graders started to work on some number sense games and community-building activities.  For example, we created a Class Contract together, emphasizing the importance of being kind, safe and responsible in our math class.  We pledged to show sportsmanship, respect and kindness in our math class.  Here is a picture of our contract, with buzzing bees decorating it all around.  Each student is represented by a bee, as we promised to "bee" safe, kind and responsible.

We also added our large sign that reads the word, "because" to our classroom wall this week.  This word is very important to us and as you will learn it is my favorite word.  Ask your child why.  Perhaps, it will become your child's favorite word as well?  The word "because" is my favorite word because it allows you to justify your thinking and backing up your statements with facts.  It is also important because it encourages all learners to build confidence in their own abilities to make sense of things and that their opinions matter.  We even have dance that goes with it.....perhaps your child will show you?

 In math, first grade mathematicians started to explore numbers in different ways.  For example we look at today's date in many different ways in our Number Corner section of our math class.  Today, for example, we showed 3 with tally marks, popsicle sticks and tiles in double ten-frames.  We have a great group of first grade mathematicians!

Lastly, we have PE on Tuesdays (until late October), Wednesdays and Fridays.  Your child needs sneakers on those days.  As it is still warm outside and many children prefer sandals, please send a pair of sneakers into school.  Your child can keep these sneakers in her/his locker.  If you and your family need assistance purchasing sneakers, please let me know and I will find your child his/her own pair for the school year.  Thank you so much.

Once again, thanks for sharing your children with me.  Have a great rest of the week!
Regards,
Maria