Morning Work/Science
Each morning when students arrive, they are expected to complete a science related worksheet. For the entire week, the worksheets are about the same science topic. The students read information on the topic and answer questions. This week the topic had to do with why flowers have different colors and scents. The students are learning that living things have adaptations that help them survive in their environment. On Fridays, each week, there will be a short quiz over the material from morning work on Monday-Thursday for a science grade. For now, the quizzes will be "open book" and students will use their worksheets from Monday-Thursday to answer the questions. Eventually, these quizzes will not be "open book", but I will let you know when that change occurs.
Everyday Math
In Math, we have two tiers: the purple tier and the orange tier. The purple tier is made up of primarily third grade students and the orange tier is made up of primarily second grade students. By having two tiers, it allows me to differentiate instruction for students who are on different levels in math. While I am teaching one tier, the other tier works with parent volunteers to do challenging learning centers.
- Orange Tier: This week we have been discussing number sequences and place value.
- Purple Tier: This week we have been discussing lines, line segments, and rays.
Reading
We have been working on establishing routines for Readers Workshop this week. We have also started a class novel called The Hundred Dresses. Students are always encouraged to read books of their choice in order to work toward their Top 40 goal.
This week I have been administering the DIBELS assessment with each child. DIBELS assesses your child's reading fluency. I will administer DIBELS tests three times a year to track progress and growth.
Spelling
Hopefully, everyone was able to find our spelling list on Spelling City. It would save paper to not provide students with a paper copy of the list, however, I have never done spelling that way in the past. Feel free to share your opinions with me either way via email about whether or not you NEED a paper copy of the list. Remember that you can print the list right off of Spelling City. Because of the amount of time that we have had to spend on DIBELS testing this week, we were not able to do any spelling activities at school.
Writing
In Writers Workshop, we have been discussing brainstorming strategies and sticking to the topic when writing paragraphs. Students wrote a paragraph about a pet. Next week we will continue our discussions by learning about how to write sentences in logical order.
Social Studies
Tomorrow afternoon we will be learning about the United States government.
Spanish
In Spanish, our class won the "Golden Sombrero" award! This special honor is awarded to the class with the best behavior and participation in Spanish for each grade level. We have a full size golden sombrero hanging on our classroom door for the next several days!
Volunteers
A HUGE thank you goes to my parent volunteers this week: Jessica Cookerly, Kris Meller, Tony Cookerly, Dawn Thomas, Dee Ann Cheatham, Melanie Bush, and Art and Pauline Vermillion. These volunteers worked with the students on learning centers while I worked with my math tier each morning. I still need two volunteers for Thursday mornings!!! Let me know if you are willing to come from 9:15-11:00 on Thursdays. Having volunteers from 9:15-11:00 is key to my math program's success!
The secret word is rafflesia (ruh-FLEE-zhuh). A rafflesia is the largest flower in the world. Ask your child if they remember what it looks and smells like!! The reason I put a secret word in this note is to make sure that you and your child are communicating about things that go on in the classroom! Hopefully, this post will help parents to know what we are doing in class, especially if you have a quiet child who doesn't share much when they get home!
Tomorrow I will be posting a list of students who did not get a Caution all week. These students will be called this week's "TRACK stars." I will also be posting directions for Scholastic Book Orders that will be sent home tomorrow.
Have a wonderful night!!! Students shouldn't have much homework because they have had extra time to complete work in class while I administer DIBELS.
