October 7

Parents,

We’ve made it to our first round of conferences!  The time is speeding by.  I look forward to meeting with all of you this week.  Not much new since Friday.  Here’s a few reminders:

·         The book fair is up and running.  You are free to visit tonight until 5:30 or during conferences Tuesday and Wednesday.  Please remember the book fair will eliminate October Scholastic book orders.

·         We will speak with the local fire department and tour the emergency vehicles on Wednesday.  Prepare an evacuation plan with your family for your own personal safety.

·         No school Thursday or Friday because of the conference scheduling. 

·         Terra Nova testing is the week of October 21.  Please avoid absences this week and offer your child a healthy breakfast (or drop them off to eat at school) for the highest amount of brain power this week.  I will allow a snack with milk break this week to help fuel the kids for testing.  More information will follow.  If you’d like to work through some practice activities with your child to gain some understanding of the types of questions one may find on the test, please check out the new link on the blog “Terra Nova Test Prep”. 

·         Numerous students are very close to achieving the 80% comprehension level needed to earn their AR prizes in two weeks (at the end of the quarter).  They need some solid 100% tests to help.  Please assist by reading and reviewing a book in their reading range (can be found in the booklogs) and dropping the kids off for reading club as often as possible the next two weeks so they can achieve this.  Without the 80% comprehension score, they won’t earn any prizes.  Actively checking their scores and having conversations with them about their performance will help to ensure higher quality test taking measures on their part.  Let’s have a Panning sweep and get all 22 of us on the prize winning side!  

·         In an effort to help with the unfriendly, disruptive behaviors that have been demonstrated recently by our class, today we began to implement what I call “Learning U”.  We are all part of team Panning- everyone of us is a vital part.  Much like a circle flows without beginning or end, I encourage the kids to think of our class bond as such.  Since our classroom is not large enough to pull off a “Learning Circle” we create the “Learning U” to help remind ourselves of this team bond, and with it, the appropriate behaviors for which we are striving.  Today, desks were placed in a U shape in the classroom.  Students remain in the U for demonstrating positive DWP traits and control over their own impulses.  Each student focuses on his/herself, and is encouraged not only by me, but by all other peer members of the team to work on his/her own goal areas.  If a student demonstrates traits that are not appropriate for the school environment, and have difficulty correcting the behaviors even with an adult warning, they will be removed from the U.  When they feel they have begun to redeem themselves, they are able to “appeal” to the group and ask for their status in the U to be regained, citing DWP skills they have been showing regularly since the time they left the U.  The students will vote accordingly.  I have used this program in the past, and have found it to be a successful approach to help show the kids how them they can turn negative instances around quickly by focusing on themselves and what they need to do to not break the perfection of the circle.  I hope it will be a useful learning tool again with this group.  This afternoon went much more smoothly than last week.  I look forward to continuing to climb back up the ladder.  (Clear as mud?  It’s much easier to explain in person!)

Everything curriculum based is the same since Friday:

Ø Math- We’re working on place value, reading and writing numbers, and comparing numbers. We will have a test over chapter four the week of Oct. 14.

 

Ø Reading- We won’t start a new theme due to the short week. Practice old sight words from the past lessons 1-6. Also continue to focus on sentence structure as a review item. This week we’ve been working on identifying nouns in sentences and comparing them to action word verbs. When you are reading at home, pick a word off of the page you’re reading and ask your child to identify it. Finding the words and utilizing the skills while reading is solid way to incorporate the review.

 

Ø Social Studies- We’ve begun practicing for the upcoming Terra Nova testing (which will be the week of October 21). We will talk about strong test taking skills and strategies to help make the tests more successful. This is what the “TN practice” stands for in the planner the next few weeks.

 

Ø Science- We’re studying animal needs and habitats. Next week we’ll branch out to discover different kinds of animals and their life cycles. No test for awhile. J

 

Happy days!  Cheers!