Parent Volunteers Needed
I have found an additional need for parent volunteers each week. I need volunteers on Tuesday and Thursday afternooons from 3:00-3:30. I know that isn't a long block of time, but I really could use help with booktalks during these times. When students complete books for their Top 40 Challenge, they are supposed to meet with me for a "booktalk." A booktalk is just a conversation! Students tell me all about their book while I flip through the book and ask a few questions to keep them talking. This is my way of knowing that students truly read AND understood the books that they have read for Top 40. The kids are very excited about the Top 40 Challenge, but we have found that I rarely have any down time to meet with kids for booktalks. I did not take into account how quickly high ability readers tear through books! I currently have 15 students on my "wait list"!! My hope is that the kids can get done with "booktalks" by talking to the parent volunteers each week, as well as with myself when I have open time.
School Information
Please do not depend entirely on my blog for school news. The Delaware Trail Blazer is published each week and posted on the Delaware Trail homepage. There are important things in the Trail Blazer each week. Now that we are paperless, it is vital that you check BOTH my blog and the school website for information! The link to last week's Trail Blazer is http://www.brownsburg.k12.in.us/delawaretrail/newsletter/DT2010-09-10.pdf
Tie Dye!
Would anyone like to volunteer to tie dye 20 shirts? Doesn't that sound like an exciting project? :) We need a parent to volunteer to tie dye our shirts in the next few weeks. Let me know if you can do it.
Field Trip
Information about our field trip will be coming home very soon, after a few final details are sorted out. Our field trip will be in October. As soon as your child brings home the permission slip, you will be able to volunteer to be a chaperone. Details coming VERY soon!
T.R.A.C.K. System
Thank you for your support and patience while we implement our new schoolwide discipline plan. With anything new, there are always quirks to work out! The school will not be publishing names of students who have not received any cautions on any websites or newsletters. You will know if your child got a caution because I will write it in their assignment notebook.
Everyday Math
In Everyday Math, your child has two workbooks. You will notice that not all pages in the workbooks are torn out or graded. These workbooks are used for practice in class, as well as for homework and graded assignments.
My orange tier (second grade) is still on Unit 1. This week we worked with money. Many students struggled with the concept of making change. This would be a great skill to practice at home!
My purple tier (third grade) is finishing Unit 1 and took a Geometry assessment today. We will be starting Unit 2, which focuses on using numbers and organizing data. I will send home a parent letter about the new unit by the end of this week.
Reading/Social Studies
The school corporation was able to secure a special grant for use with Gifted and Talented education. 2/3 and 4/5 teachers are able to request special things for our classrooms to be paid for with grant money. I was very excited two weeks ago to find a novel that fits in perfectly with our curriculum. I shared the novel with the other 2/3 teachers in the corporation and they were all interested in getting class sets. On behalf of all the 2/3 teachers, I submitted a request for all the 2/3 classrooms to get class sets of the novel through the grant. Our request was granted! The publisher promised to send the novels quickly because we were hoping to start the novel very soon. The novels are coming any day! I can't wait to reveal the new novel when it arrives!
Until our novels arrive, we are spending our Reading time focusing on cross curricular integration with Social Studies. We have been using our Social Studies books to practice the skills that go along with reading information books. (The secret word today is Pangea) We are reading about geography concepts that are a part of our geography unit in Social Studies.
Science
We are still using our morning work papers to look up answers for the Science quiz on Fridays. These quizzes are generally only out of 7 or 8 points. Some students are still missing several, even when they have their papers to look off of! Until the students are more comfortable with these quizzes, we will continue to use the papers to look up answers. This week we are reading about why birds migrate.
Reminders
- Library is on Wednesdays!
- Dog Jog money is due on September 21.
- Homecoming is on September 24
- Yankee candle sales for BEF begin on September 24.
- School pictures are on October 1.
- Second grade students are to be memorizing our subject and object pronoun chants for a quiz on Monday. The chant can be found on a half slip of paper that SHOULD be in their Rockstar binders.
- All students need to be working on memorizing the states in the Midwest region. Eventually, students will be expected to be able to label the Midwestern states correctly on a blank U.S. map. There are twelve states in the Midwest region: Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. All students should have a map of the Midwest region in their Rockstar binders to study from!
Have a great night!
