Friday 11/9/18

Here are a few highlights from the past week:

  • This week in reading students continued Book Clubs! There are 4 groups that meet twice a week each. We are reading together, independently, with partners, etc... As read and discuss the books, we are finding and using signposts as tools for close reading. All groups are focusing on summarizing skills as well as character analysis of varying degrees.
  • We continued math rotations this week and had a nice full week of learning! One rotation is small group work with me. One rotation is independent work at their seats. And one rotation is games and math work with Mr. K. The three different groups are working on the three following topics: Ratios, Fractions, and Area of polygons.
  • Also in math, we are trying out a new program called Freckle, which is an online resource with opportunities for students to practice skills. They are currently using it to do individualized word study as well as math practice: facts and skills related to the current unit we are doing in their lesson time.
  • Outdoor Learning this week was spent in the woods, on Wednesday afternoon and some time on Thursday morning. We went to the outdoor classroom and used that as our central location for spreading out and finding a tree to "adopt". This is something I've been doing for a few years and the kids love it! All students have a tree and a spot that they will get to know over the course of the year, watching it change with the seasons. We visit these spots regularly and observe. Sometimes we write or take measurements or play games.
  • On Wednesday, we lead All School Morning Meeting and everyone participated in some way. Students did most of the talking: leading a greeting and announcements, sharing about their learning, and leading a Go Noodle brain and body break activity. They did very well!
  • In writing, we spent time writing in journals doing a few things: continuing independent writing and reflecting on activities and other learning. This week we focused on All School Morning Meeting reflection.
  • Green sheets came home this week for everyone.


Some upcoming dates, important notes, and things to look forward to in the coming weeks:

  • Band Day (only a few students)- Wednesday 11/14/18- All Day
  • No School- Thanksgiving Holiday- Wednesday 11/21/18- Sunday 11/25/18
  • *** Cold weather has arrived!!! Please be sure to start sending kids with warm gear for recess and other outdoor time like Outdoor Learning! This time of year they should at least have a coat, a hat, and gloves or mittens. Boots would be nice too (be sure they have indoor shoes for during the day). Snow pants will need to start coming in soon too. ***


  • Susan will be coming in to lead a Four Winds workshop on Thursday morning.
  • We will be generating more ideas for writing in writing journals. Also we will likely do a poetry workshop and read and write another poem!
  • Students will have an opportunity to create a commercial for a book they've read during these first weeks of school during independent reading.
  • We will do a few more weeks of Outdoor Learning. We need to finish up late fall garden cleanup and head back into the woods to do some tree investigations.
  • We will spend time post-conference, looking closer at hopes and dreams and deciding on some areas for growth. Students will reflect on strengths and challenges and brainstorm ideas for goal setting.
  • We will continue with our cafeteria waste station redesign.
  • We will also be working on a series of lessons to share with the K/1 Little Buddies. We will use ideas we got from our Mastermind Mentor training in Greensboro!
  • We will continue with independent reading and students will begin doing some work with reading response, using these new reading strategies.
  • Book Clubs (Reading Groups or Literature Circles) will continue!
  • We will continue with our math units (Ratios, Fractions, and Area). I will continue to run 3 math groups on a rotation schedule. One rotation is a lesson with me. One rotation is work and games based on that lesson or current math topics. One rotation will vary depending on the day and may include: word work (vocab/spelling), writing, reading response, typing instruction, independent project work, etc...
  • We will continue with our map unit. We will review some geographic terms, identify parts of maps, and look more closely at and use some of the different types of maps we identified during the map station activity (topographical, road, physical, historical, political, informational, special interest/theme).