Highlights of the Week 11.21.14

Dear Families,

What a wonderful week we've had! We talked about how to check for understanding while we read. We practiced this while reading a Scholastic News about Thanksgiving. We learned some new things about how the Pilgrims traveled and how they learned to grow food.

First grade mathematicians continue practicing addition strategies. Second grade mathematicians have been using their addition and subtraction facts with two and three digit equations using number lines to find the missing value. We've also been studying story problems to determine which part is missing: Start +/- Change = Result. We've also been doing a ton of place value practice and learning about equivalencies of ones, tens, and hundreds.

In writing students continue working on true small moment stories or are working on their own imaginative narratives--student choice! Both types of stories need the same elements: characters, setting (when and where), beginning, middle, and end. We've been using a planning sheet to begin thinking about fiction narratives so we have an idea of the whole story arc before we begin writing.

We did amazing science writing this week and are nearly done with our books. Many of you saw these books in progress at conferences. We'll be excited to share the final books with you too!

Now, some housekeeping. THANK YOU so much for sending your children in with indoor shoes! It helps keep our room clean. Since we sit on the floor a lot, it's nice to not have a wet rug to sit upon. The next great thing you can do for us is be sure to label snowpants, jackets, fleeces, gloves, hats, boots. It's amazing how many of these items get left behind each day. I do a "fashion show" at the end of most days for the unclaimed and unlabeled items, but it would be tremendously helpful if you labeled your child's items so they can be easily returned. Sometimes gloves get left on the bus and it's hard to get them back to the right person.

Thanks also for sending so many permission slips back already for Charlotte's Web. I'm just waiting to get 5 more slips back. Our chaperones are: Jane Erickson, Anita Bourgeois, Honi Bean Barrett, and Jocelyn Haley. Thanks for volunteering!

Next week we have two school days which will follow our normal routines. See you then!





Important Dates:
November 26-28: Thanksgiving Break (NO SCHOOL)
December 3: Charlotte's Web at the Flynn Theater 
December 11: All School Meeting 2:30 pm