Week 7

 

We had another incredibly busy week packed into four days!  Monday students had the day off and parent teacher conferences were held throughout the day.  It was wonderful to meet with families and share some information about how their students are doing so far this year!  Thank you for taking the time to join me for these important conversations. During the week I was able to complete the Primary Numbers and Operations Assessments with all the first graders!  Over all this data looks very strong! On Tuesday, we had Farm To School where students worked on harvesting seeds and they made seed packets (hopefully you saw these come home). On Thursday we had our second ECO session of the year where we hiked to the Beaver Pond on Elmore Mountain, and Friday was our Annual field trip to the Elmore Fire Station.

I am slowly plugging away at the reading assessments (F&P's).  I have complete first and second grade and part of third grade, so we are almost done!  Once these are completed we will begin guided reading groups where we will work on fluency and comprehension together.  During writer's workshop, several students have completed several small moment stories (personal narratives).  And this week we had our second spelling quiz of the year.  

I didn't have a chance to meet with math groups this week as I was assessing students during that time.  Instead students practiced math skills during math menu and Friday, students logged onto Dreambox (an online math program we will use as one of our options during math menu) for the first time this year.

Our theme this week was Fire Safety.  Students learned about having an evacuation plan (Get out , Stay out), Stop Drop and Roll, and we talked about calling 911 and what constitutes and emergency.  These things were reinforced during our field trip to the fire station on Friday were students also talked about potential fire hazards around the home.  They also practiced STOP DROP and ROLL and evacuating a room by crawling below the smoke and feeling the walls and doors with the back of their hand.  Then we made out way out to the bay where we watched deputy Tallman dress in his protective fire gear, and talked about the equipment a firefighter needs to fight fires.  Then the 3rd graders were able to try on their gear (something they have to wait until 3rd grade to do).  Finally all the students were able to go through two of the fire trucks!  Thank you to Fire Chief Jason Tallman, Firefighter Hunter Tallman, and Firefighter Adam Audet for hosting us and teaching us about fire safety!  And, thank you to Caitlin Mahoney and Steffany Mosley for chaperoning. In your child's Friday Folders please find a fire Safety planning sheet.  I've asked all the students to work with their family to make a evacuation plan and map it out on the paper.  Thank you in advance for helping them with this.  Children should also know their home address (number, road, town).

Thursday we hiked to the Beaver Pond On Elmore Mountain (off the Ridge Line trail).  Before we left, students were able to see a real (taxidermy) beaver, which Ms. Carrie brought with her from the NBNC.  Though there were no beaver sightings at the pond, we were amazed by all the evidence of beaver activities we were able to see both in and around the pond.  They certainly have been busy beavers!  Students also explored the pond to find various living organisms (water bugs and macroinvertebrate). After some time exploring, students made some observations in their ECO journals about what they saw.  Our plan is to revisit the pond in the spring to compare the two seasons.  Thank you to Rob Bowen for volunteering your time to join us this week at ECO.

This week we enjoyed a delicious family Hot Lunch consisting of Macaroni and Cheese and "dirt" cake for dessert provided by the Van Anda Family.  Next week hot lunch will be brought to us by the Bowen Family (details about that will follow)

Please email me your school lunch orders for the week!  And reminder that breakfast is also available.

Announcements:

• Students need to bring their Library books back on Monday!
• School Banking day is Monday. 
• Students need sneakers for PE on Thursday
• ECO is Thursday - Please let me know if you would like to volunteer.  We will be at the Elmore State Park for the morning.
• Third graders need recorders and books on Friday.
• Friday, October 28th - Early Release Day.  Dismissal is 12:10
• First Trimester ends Tuesday, November 22nd
• No School November 23-25 (Thanksgiving)

Thank you Elmore Fire Department for teaching us about Fire Safety!