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| We celebrated the completion of the second week of school with Juice Pops on Friday afternoon! |
Week two is complete and the children are beginning to get into the routines of the day, as we are still setting the stage for the school year and developing a classroom community of learners. This week we developed our school / classroom rules together after identifying good choices and poor choices. We were able to classify them into 3 main categories which we then adopted as our our rules or expectations for the year. They are : Be Safe, Be Respectful, and Do Your Best!
Additionally each student identified a goal (Hopes and Dreams) for the school year. Each child made a Dreamcatcher with their goal written on a feather which hangs from their dreamcatcher. This is just the beginning of our goal setting for the year and the students will continue to set goals and reflect on them throughout the school year.
Each child has also made an "All About Me" poster and they are drawing self portraits to go along with them. Please send a family photo, if you haven't already, (or email one to me) so these can be added to their All About Me display.
We have been working hard to establish a routine for our math instruction as students have been gradually introduced to the math menu format we will be using this year and we have started targeted grade-level instruction which is mainly review at this point.
Students have been writing in their writing journals and we will begin using the writers workshop model next week. Additionally students have been doing silent reading and began practicing partner reading this week.
Next week students will begin having reading homework for a defined amount of time each night. I will send a letter home on Monday explaining the homework expectations along with a reading log for them to keep track of their reading each night. This year I will be lightening the load for homework as research shows there is little effect of assigning homework to younger children on their school achievement in school. Here is an interesting article if you are interested or watch this quick video.
On Friday, as is tradition at the Elmore school, we made applesauce using the apples from our appletree in our school yard. The children collectively cut up the apples. We added them to pot with a little water and boiled them until they were soft. The final step was to run them through a food mill, and add a bit of sugar and cinnamon. Everyone enjoyed a fresh cup of applesauce for dessert after lunch.
We have harvested many Buttercup Squash from our garden as well as some rather nice looking carrots! I'm looking for some creative suggestions for the squash. If you have a favorite recipe you would like to share, please send it in!
We will have our first Farm to School class next week with Kyle Weatherhogg (we will have this about once per month). We will be taking a closer look at our garden space and I anticipate harvesting our kale, leeks, fennel, potatoes, and celery.
We have been growing Monarch Butterflies in our classroom! We currently have three chrysalis, and two caterpillars that are ready to change any minute (infact as you read this, I am certain they have already formed their chrysalis!) It has been so fun and engaging to watch these caterpillars grown and change, and we have been reading about the process as it happens. Last weekend we had our first butterfly emerge. Unfortunately it happened when we were not here, so we missed the big event! I was able to release the butterfly on Saturday, and gladly it flew away!
Please email you lunch orders for the week.
- Please send extra shoes or slippers for indoors
- Students need sneakers for PE on Thursday
- School Picture day is September 14th. Envelopes are in your Friday folder. Please return these before Wednesday.
- Open House: Thursday, September 22nd
- Grade 1@ 5:30
- Grade 2 @ 6:00
- Grade 3 @ 6:30
- No School, Wednesday October 5th
- We will begin having ECO on Thursday, October 6th (Every Thursday thru December)
- Parent Teacher Conferences, Monday October 10th (No School)
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