Student Book Recommendations

This week, the students started to share their thinking about the books they read in the form of more formal book recommendations.  We are collaborating with Mrs. Wentz, our school librarian, and show our recommendations on a large mural in the school library.  We also keep a copy in our classroom.  We "give" awards to the books we want to recommend to others and we explain why somebody else might want to read the book.  We make sure the title and the author's name are clearly stated so others can find it if they want to read it.  Please visit the library if you want to see it.

Exploring Character Traits

We have explored character traits throughout our unit on Mercy Watson.  We learned that readers can describe characters on "the outside" (what they look like) and "on the inside" (what they act like, what they do and think).  Here is a picture of our anchor chart hanging in our classroom.  Please encourage your child to think about character traits when he/she is reading at home too.

Mercy Watson "Hot-buttered Toast Party"

Dear Families,

Thank you all for coming to our Harmony Breakfast this morning.  What a turn-out!  Thank you also for so generously bringing in treats, juice and other special goodies for this Harmony celebration.  In a way, we felt like we were eating all day long as we celebrated Mercy Watson and the author Kate DiCamillo later in the afternoon with "Hot-buttered toast", just the way Mercy Watson likes it.

Please check your child's Friday folder.  It is filled with information from school and projects your child wanted to bring home.  There should be a special Thanksgiving Day project for you as well.

As mentioned earlier, I sent home reading logs and books for the upcoming week.  I hope your child will get the opportunity to read every day, even though there is no school.  When we return to school, I will no longer send home our guided reading books, or the Book Club books the children and I read together in instructional groups as we have noticed on Harmony that they are not always coming back.  Please take some time and look at home if there are any school books/guided reading books that might belong here on house.  We greatly appreciate it.  Instead, I will send home other "just right" books and your child will have the opportunity to choose more freely himself/herself.  

I hope you will have a wonderful Thanksgiving break together with your family and friends.  Thank you again for supporting our learning!

Best,

Maria

Family Newsletter

Dear Families,

It is hard to believe that this is the last week before our week-long break for Thanksgiving next week.  I will send home book bags and reading logs on Friday for reading at home over vacation.  I hope your child will find time to read every day, even if there is no school.  If you want some other school-related activities over vacation, don't forget to check out some of the printable math games and spelling words you can print off the wiki.

Reading:
We finished our unit on Mercy Watson and will celebrate with a class party on Friday.  Mercy Watson is the main character in the series by the same name, written by Kate DiCamillo. Throughout this unit, the students have explored vocabulary, figurative language and character traits while reading and listening to these books.  I have several pictures showing some of the work surrounding these projects, but I have encountered some pretty significant technical problems trying to upload my pictures from my phone to blogger, the digital platform for these newsletters.  I hope to resolve the issue shortly and will post the pictures at that time.
The students and I will celebrate the end of this unit on Friday.  Since Mercy Watson loves buttered toast, we will also celebrate by eating buttered toast while sharing our thinking about these books.  Please let me know if there are any dietary restrictions/allergies relating to white bread and butter.  Thank you. 

Writing:
We continued adding to our small moment stories last week.  Today, for example, the students learned how to add dialogue to add additional information and more interest.  We will continue this work tomorrow.

Technology:
Last week, the students had the opportunity to use Lexia and Raz-kids in our computer lab.  Thank you for utilizing these online reading resources at home.  Please remember, however, that online reading should not replace an actual book!  This week, we finished our "assignments" on google classroom.  The students shared which Mercy Watson book is their favorite and then we all entered into the same google doc to share our ideas and wonderings about the books.  It was pretty amazing to see them react to each others' comments in google doc as they could see "real time" what their friends were writing.  Ask your child to show you our google classroom from home.  It is in our cssu gmail domain.
After Thanksgiving break, we will start Typing Club again.

First Grade Math:
First grade mathematicians are working hard in our classroom.  We are practicing stamina and perseverance in math class.  We continued working on partners to 10, 10 and more, using a variety of addition strategies.  We started subtraction today and will continue developing strategies for solving those problems in the next few weeks.

Upcoming Events and Reminders:

•  Harmony's Family Breakfast is on Friday, November 18th between 7:30-8:15 am.  Thank you for bringing in treats for our gathering.  We are excited to see you.
• There is no school next week, November 21-25.  School starts again on November 28th.
• The annual Book Fair is scheduled for November 30th.  We are going over to WCS between 1:45-2:15.  More information will follow, but suffice to say now is that it is okay for children to bring a small amount of money to purchase books.  We usually recommend $5-10.  We are only buying books when we visit with our class.  If your child wishes to purchase pencils, games, or trinkets, we ask that you will visit the Book Fair at another time.  I believe they usually publish the extended hours in the SchoolBell.  Thank you.
• When we return from Thanksgiving break, Harmony House will start its social studies on Africa.  The students will rotate through a series of workshops between the different classrooms.  More information will follow when we return from break.

Best,
Maria 
     

More science

We use KLEWS charts to help us chart our science investigations. We have our anchor chart on the wall so we can all see our wanderings and experiments. K stands for "what we want to know" and L stands for "what we are learning. E is the evidence and W is our wanderings or questions about the topic. S stands for the scientific principles. Here are some pictures from our classroom.

Pumpkin science

Last week, the students practiced their prediction skills in science while we were studying the seeds inside two different pumpkins; one big and one small. We also practiced grouping the seeds so that our calculations would be accurate.

Family Newsletter

Dear Families,

It is getting cold out there!  Thank you for sending your child to school with warm jackets and clothes.  Time certainly flies....I can't believe we are in November already.  Next week is Ms. Alyssa's solo week and in early December, her time with us is up.  She is going back for another semester at St. Michael's College to finish up her double major.  When Ms. Alyssa is conducting her solo week next week, I am still at ABS and helping out, but I am not the main teacher.  This next week is a week for her to practice what it is like to plan and teach all classes.  She will do a fantastic job and the students are very excited.

Reading:
We love the Mercy Watson books!  Ask your child about the silly things that happened today in the book "Mercy Watson think like a pig."  We were laughing out loud!  As a class, we are practicing identifying character traits as we read these stories.  We learned that characters can be described "on the outside" (ie what they look like) and "on the inside" (ie how they act and think).  We discussed as a class and decided that Mercy Watson is a very selfish character.  She is also obsessed with hot-buttered toast and will do almost anything to get it.  It is unusual for us to read books with characters that exhibit these characteristics so we had many conversations about the complexities of all of us.

Writing:
We continued our writing in small moment personal narratives.  This week, the students learned how to add adjectives to describe the setting and how to create interesting beginnings.  We practiced using "starter words" or "starter phrases" to get us going as authors.  We also read the beginning paragraphs of several mentor books to get ideas how "real/professional" authors use the language to create interesting beginnings.  (We will read the whole books at a later time.)  I encouraged the students to read as writers sometimes.  When you read as a writer, you are less focused on the re-telling/comprehension aspect of literature.  Instead, you pay close attention to the word choice and the sentence structure.  Even first and second graders can do this.  You can support your child at home by asking the following questions "why do you think the author chose (this word)?" Why do you think the author changed the font here?"  "What words did the author use to describe the feelings/the setting or the problem in the story?"

Upcoming Events and Reminders:

• Ms. Alyssa will do her solo week next week.  I will help out and be at ABS
• We have our Harmony Team Breakfast on 11/18 at 7:30-8:15.  Please join us for a morning fun time!

Best,
Maria