Weekly News 11-20-20

Weekly News 11-20-20

Important Dates & Events:  

11/23 & 11/24 - ½ Days for Parent/Teacher Conferences (bag lunches available)

11/25 - 11/27 - Thanksgiving Break

Our Work this Week:

*Update - The School Board voted Monday night to return to full time school on December 7th.  To make this work we are creating a third second grade with Beth Kaser as another classroom teacher.  Beth works so closely with us that this will help create the smoothest transition.  While it is so hard to shift some of our students now, it is clear that kids need to be in school as much as possible, and this is the best way to make this happen.  Keep your eyes out for details on the staggered start information.  I am very excited about the return to 5 days and hopeful that we can all work together to keep cases down so kids can stay in school!

*In spelling we have completed our work on short i words and did the test early this week.  This sound is easier than short e and students had lots of success.  We began our work with short o words.  Our practice included sorting by pattern, rhyming and flexibly manipulating beginning and ending sounds. Our spiraling grammar and language work gave us time to practice short/long vowels, digraphs (th, ph, wh, sh, ch), end punctuation, plural/singular nouns, long vowel teams, nouns, proper nouns and verbs. We also worked on sorting beginning blends (bl, cl, gr, fr, cr, gl).

*During math we completed the unit 7 assessment and then began the second grade math program.  Students looked through their new math journals with enthusiasm.  It was a big moment!  (They brought home the first grade home links book, which does not need to be returned.  Feel free to use it for extra practice.  We are using the first grade math journal for extra practice at school). In the first lesson we reviewed counting patterns with two and three digit numbers.  

*In reading workshop we continued to work in the fiction genre, this time focusing on realistic fiction. We read two stories that fit the genre and students were able to identify how the things that happened in each book could really happen.  We will read more realistic fiction next week and get ready to kick off our next writing unit in this genre so it will tie together nicely.I have been reading with each child to assess reading progress and have much to share with you at conferences Monday.

*Writing workshop this week focused on continuing to edit and revise our best small moment pieces.  We added careful illustrations.  On Thursday/Friday we had a writer’s celebration with a special snack and then we shared our stories with classmates.  Our young writers were terrific listeners and did a wonderful job giving their friends compliments about their writing!  We will be writing realistic fiction series next, which will give us the chance to continue to hone many of our narrative writing skills.

Sharing our small moment stories!

Enjoying a special snack!

Proud author!

Mental Math practice on slates!

Yummy Thanksgiving lunch!

Bundled up to swing on one of our coldest days yet

Math Whizzes!