Busy, Busy Little Bees!

Students in Room 13 have been buuuusy! 

Not only was last week our first full week of school, but we also had Curriculum Night, Book Fair, and our first Mystery Reader!

Curriculum Night and Other "Parent Stuff"
I really enjoyed meeting you all at Curriculum Night!  I hope my presentation was informative and my expectations clear.  If you have any questions or concerns about any of our routines or any of the information, please let me know!   

I put together a distribution list for email and sent my first email out Sunday night.  If you did NOT receive this email, please contact me with your information so I can add you to our list. If you would like to add or delete any additional email addresses, let me know and I will make the appropriate changes.  I am asking all parents to email me back as a confirmation that you received the email.  I appreciate your help with this!



As soon as I hear back from everyone, I will send out the finalized Classroom Directory, Conference Schedule, Mystery Reader Schedule, Emergency Snack Schedule and Volunteer Sign-Up.  We still have openings for Mystery Reader…so if you want to sign up, let me know!




There are more, of course, but they ARE only 7-8 years old!NONFICTION
Informational Nonfiction
BiographiesFICTION
Fantasy Fiction
Realistic Fiction
Traditional Fiction
Science Fiction
Historical FictionOur Room Parents will be "announced" in another day or two, after I get all of the information gathered. I will be in touch with them later on this week to start organizing schedules for our Computer Lab volunteers, Spelling Helpers, and Copiers.  I hope to get that information out to you all ASAP.  We had so many parents sign up to help this year - it's amazing!  I'm really looking forward to working with you all!  Thank you!!

Classroom/"Kid Stuff"
Students were very busy this week.  They are starting to settle into the routines and, as a result, are becoming more and more productive!!

Reading
In reading, we have identified different kinds of genres.  Students should now understand that books can generally be divided into fiction and nonfiction.  Within those categories, however, there are subcategories including:

We also talked about what to do when we get “stuck” on a word.  We came up with the following strategies:

·       sound it out

·       look for parts/chunks of the word you know

·       look at the pictures for clues

·       read the other words in the sentence for clues (“context clues”)

·       skip it and keep reading; then go back and read the sentence again

·       look the word up in the dictionary

·       ask for help

Encourage your child to use some of these strategies when reading at home!

We also started Reading Centers last week.  Traditionally, the first two weeks are the hardest.  Students are getting used to managing their time effectively and appropriately.  I must say, however, that this group of children did a wonderful job!  I am excited to see how they do with centers THIS week!

Math

Penny Plate
To play this game, partners need 20 pennies and a plastic bowl or plate.  One child closes his/her eyes while the other places some pennies under the plate.  The remaining pennies are placed on top of the plate.  The child whose eyes were closed now counts the pennies on top of the plate and tries to figure out how many pennies are underneath (by counting up or counting down). 

Money Exchange Game
This game is played with paper bills - $1, $10, $100.  Students roll a dice and start collecting $1 bills.  When they reach 10, they trade their 10 $1's for a $10 bill.  The first person to trade for $100 wins!

Witt Fitt

Students have been learning all about the Witt Fitt balls, as well. We have discussed where the balls originated, how they came to be used in schools, and the benefits of sitting on a ball.  Can your child remember at least 2 reasons why sitting on a ball is good for you?  (I hope so - they have to know in order to "earn" their ball!!)

Mystery Reader

Last week's Mystery Reader was actually Mr. Glazier - Mrs. Glazier's husband!!  He came in and read the story, Zachary's Ball, by Matt Tavares.  It was a fantastic story about a

boy who comes into possession of a "magic ball."  Ask your child to tell you about it!

We have done SOOO much more these last few days – but that’s enough for now!  Stay tuned - more information and pictures to come later on this week!

In math, students learned and played several new games this week - all of which reinforced important math concepts. 
Addition Top It
This game is like "war" except students flip over two cards each, find the sums, and the person with the highest sum takes all the cards.  (This can be played with a regular deck of cards - play at home!)