September 8-11

I hope that everyone had a restful, long weekend.  Here is what we will be working on this week in English class:
  • phonics assessment for lessons 6-10
  • phonics: punctuation
  • phonics: q, z, c, k, i
  • phonics: spelling with ck
  • comprehension: continuing to study character point of view in Trouble at the Sandbox (objectives - understand that characters in stories have unique points of view)
  • writing: continuing our narrative that incorporates character interaction and sequencing (objectives - understand how to write a narrative scene, participate in a shared writing task, write about a point of view, write a narrative describing actions, thoughts, and feelings, capitalize proper nouns, use signal words (first, next, last, etc) to indicate story sequence)
  • blue class will start Power Hour this week - your student may be going to another teacher during this time based upon their reading needs.  This year, I will work with the students that need more phonics practice with vowel patterns.  Mrs. Webb will work with students that need beginning phonics instruction.  Mrs. Anderson will work with students that need to read faster and more accurately.  Mrs. Montgomery will work with students that read well, but struggle with comprehension.  Mrs. Losee will work with students that are already good all-around readers, and she will challenge them to continue growing in their reading skills.
  • red class is still gearing up for Power Hour.  At this point, they are still struggling with working quietly and independently; two skills that are essential for me to be able to teach small groups when there are 26 kids in the room.  Hopefully, they will be ready by next week.
Friday is a half-day of school to allow for teacher professional development classes.  
Dismissal is at 12:00.
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August 31 - September 4

We made it through our first full week!  The kids are getting better at following routines, and they are quickly becoming used to being back in school.
Here is what we will be working on in English class this week:
  • DIBELS and STAR testing - this will be our beginning of the year baseline testing
  • phonics: letter group #2 - h, j, l, m, e
  • phonics: common words #2 - he, was, for, on, are, as, with, his, they, I
  • phonics: letter group #3 - n, p, r, s, o
  • phonics: common words #3 - at, be, this, have, from, or, one, had, by, word
  • phonics: letter group #4 - t, v, w, x, y, u
  • phonics: nouns, verbs, and adjectives
  • reading: continue to practice read-to-self routine
  • reading: begin working on read-to-someone routine
  • reading comprehension: begin reading Trouble at the Sandbox
  • reading comprehension focus: readers will understand that characters in stories have unique points of view
  • writing: write a narrative with character interaction and a clear sequence of events
  • writing focus: writers will understand that signal words tell the sequence of events in a story.
Tuesday is picture day.

We had our first phonics test last week.  Everything on the test was review from first grade.  Students did well for the most part.  The blue class already brought the graded tests home.  The red class will bring them home on Monday.

We have had to shuffle our lunch times around.  The fifth grade was not getting any down time at lunch due to long lines.  Unfortunately, this means that blue class will now go to lunch at 10:40, and red class will go at 10:42.  This makes our lunch about a half-hour earlier than it was before.  CANCEL THAT - WE HAVE COME UP WITH ANOTHER SOLUTION FOR NOW.  LUNCH TIME WILL STILL BE 11:17.
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August 24-28

We got so distracted with the beginning of school, and all the things that need to get done, that we completely overlooked updating our blog!  Sorry!!

Here is what we will be working on in English class this week:
  • phonics: a, b, d, f, & g
  • phonics: common word list #1: the, of, and, a, to, in, is, you, that, it
  • phonics: building CVC words
  • phonics: building and decoding nonsense words
  • phonics: capitalization (names, I, first letter in a sentence)
  • think, pair, share routine
  • whole group discussion routine
  • read-aloud routine
  • benchmark vocabulary routine
  • Daily 5: read-to-self routine (building stamina) - working on being able to read independently for 20 minutes
  • basic noun-verb sentence structure
  • thinking maps: multi-flow, circle, and bridge
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First Day


Wow, we survived the first day!!  It was a little bumpy (the red class is VERY talkative), but went smoothly for the most part.  It was a long day, and I'm sure they will sleep well tonight  We had a few tears after school - please make sure that you have set up a meeting place outside the school for your child to meet their siblings or caregiver.  Also, please remember that homework folders need to come to school every day.
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Happy Summer!

I hope that everyone is having a happy summer, and keeping up on your reading, of course!  I saw a student at the store last week, and I asked him what he had been doing for fun.  He paused, smiled a huge smile, and said, "I've been reading!"  It made my day, no . . . make that, my year!

School will start on Thursday, August 20th at 8:10 AM.  We will have back-to-school night on Wednesday, August 19th at 6 PM.

Before you spend too much on school supplies, please know that you do not need to buy anything to bring to school.  We will provide everything that your child needs at school, but it is convenient (and sometimes necessary) for your child to have certain things (pencils, erasers, crayons, scissors, glue) available to them at home.  And if you are feeling generous, there are some things that we can always use at school:
tissues
hand sanitizer
single-subject spiral bound notebooks
2 pocket folders with prongs
Crayola markers

Thanks and see you soon!
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May 26 & 27

We have successfully made it to the end of the school year!  Looking through our end of year data, I am pleased to see so much growth.  We had two students that increased their reading rates by over 80 words per minutes, and another six that increased more than 50 words per minute.  The average word per minute gain was 29 words per minute, and almost ninety percent of DLI students reached the reading comprehension benchmark for the end of second grade!

That brings me to a worrisome topic for teachers at this time of year; the summer slide.  Summer slide occurs when young minds sit idle for three months.  Students that do not read over the summer can lose up to three months worth of reading growth.  I see it at the beginning of every school year when I compare their end of first grade scores to their beginning second grade scores.  The saddest part for teachers is that it is entirely preventable!

Here are some suggestions for preventing the summer slide:
It doesn't take much to help maintain the important skills your child has learned this year, and it can be part of your summer fun.  Please make your child's continued education a priority this summer.


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May 18-22

Here's what we will be working on in English class this week:

  • Monday - walking field trip to Sam's Club and the DI
  • pulling information from text
  • phonics: conjunctions
  • phonics: double consonants
  • Thursday - field day
  • Friday - meet our pen pals from Heritage
  • Friday - plant trees with Home Depot
  • math: measurement
  • phonics: decoding skill #2
  • Daily 5/Power Hour: continued practice to become better readers, spellers, and comprehenders
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