Updates for the first two weeks of January

We would love donations of empty paper towel and toilet paper rolls along with foaming hand soap, and disinfecting wipes.  Thank you ahead of time! We will use the empty rolls to make math scrolls as well as use them to create a STEAM challenge.  Please bring the empty rolls to school during the next two weeks.  The more the better.

Our Student of the Week will begin next week!  The students will learn about this special event tomorrow.  Please mark your child's special week on your calendar when the explanation and schedule goes home tomorrow.

Thank you so much for helping your child observe the Moon!  We hope your family is enjoying the experience of becoming observers of the night sky.  You may also want to look up the phases of the Moon online to learn the name of the phase especially on a cloudy night.  Please remember to leave the Moon Journals on the 'Return to School Side' of the blue folder each day.  We have been taking the journals out during the week to share our observations and recordings.  It may be easier for your family to observe the Moon in the morning before school.

Please Mark Your Calendars

• Student of the Week (See schedule tomorrow)
• January 18th- Mary Preble will be visiting our school.  She is a local artist and author.  She will read us her story, talk about her artwork, and give us an art demonstration.  There was an order form in your child's folder if your family is interested in purchasing her book.  I taught her daughter in first grade when I was a teacher in Hampstead, NH.  Her daughter is now a sophomore at UNH.

Here's just a glimpse of what we've been working on:

• Wrote and reflected about 2017 and set a goal for 2018
• Went on TOP SECRET missions sent to us by the Super Secret Detective Agency (SSDA) to become stronger readers
• Learned our Doubles Facts and the strategy Doubles Plus One (Near Doubles)
• Learned facts about Martin Luther King, Jr. and made a poster about him
• Completed the iReady midyear diagnostic assessment. The students continue to show growth and understanding of many mathematical concepts. Thanks for the iReady practice at home too.  Just a couple of nights a week can help strengthen and promote their just right skill level.
• Used Raz Kids in the classroom to learn about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the moon.  Please have your child access Raz Kids at home a few times a week when a classroom book does not come home.  You can log your child's Raz Kid book in the R.A.H. folder too!  This will earn them stickers for their buckets at school.
• Learned how our brains grow with new knowledge and strengthen each time something is practiced
• This week we will begin a new math unit on Place Value and work to understand  that a two-digit number is represented by tens and ones. 

Here are some questions to promote school talk...

1)   What did you learn about Martin Luther King Jr.?

2)  Can you tell me the doubles facts?

3.  What is doubles plus one?

4)  Who is your new Turn- and-Talk Partner?

5)   What do baby animals have in common?

6)  What's your favorite thing to do during Free Choice?

7)   Why is the first month of the year called January?

5)   How did you make your snowman for our classroom window?