Sharing and Reading Buddies

October 7, 2016

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We have had some chilly mornings! As you may be aware, the students are trying to figure out why it is foggy some mornings and not others. It has sparked great conversation and exploration!

Sharing

During most morning meetings, students get an opportunity to share with the class. Each student has a day that is their sharing day. This is an opportunity to practice speaking clearly and sharing themselves with their classmates to build community. It will also occasionally tie into other curricula. The first few weeks were personal sharings. This week was book sharings, so students could recommend books to each other. Next week. we will be sharing about something we are proud of. Students will have the opportunity to reflect on what they have worked hard on, what they have done well at, or what they value (not what they own). Brainstorm what to share this weekend!

Reading

We are still practicing the reading strategy of visualizing or making a picture in your head as you are reading. After your child reads for twenty minutes each night, ask them what they were visualizing.

Writing

Students are working to revise a draft that they wrote at the beginning of the school year. This week, we chose more interesting words and added more to our writing. Students had very creative ideas for interesting words! We learned about verbs and adjectives. When you are reading or speaking, point out verbs or adjectives that you think are interesting.

Math

We have continued working on three digit addition and subtraction. This week, as you may have noticed, we worked on rounding to the nearest 10 and nearest 100. Practice this at home with prices and distances. Thanks for helping your child with their math homework! If s/he seems particularly stumped, feel free to have him/ her write a note and that way I know to re-teach the next day.

Science

This week we learned more about selection. Students learned about how plants have changed because of selection so that there are different breeds. Ask your student what a pumpkin or cherry is related to or what a peach used to look like.

Reading Buddies

We were planning to start reading buddies with Ms. Miller’s class this week, but it got postponed because of all school pictures. The students showed real maturity and empathy in thinking about how to make their kindergarten buddies feel comfortable. Next week, we will get to try it!

Yours truly,

Jessica Harwood