Newsletter 10/6/17

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are having a relaxing long weekend. I was enjoying the historicl sights of Philly! There is no school, October 9^th. It has been a busy few weeks in our classroom and I think you’ll love checking out our most recent pictures!

Math

We have been using what we know about numbers 1-20 to help us solve equations with much larger numbers! We have also worked on our understanding of place value and using that knowledge to break down larger numbers with their place values. We have been writing numbers in expanded form and working on explaining our thinking!

Reading

As we wrap up our first reading unit, we have made our own personal goals for our reading. This requires the readers to think of thoughtful goals that truly match them in their reading journey. The readers have been working so hard to reach their goals and have been so expressive about their learning journey in reading. The students are taking ownership of their learning and they are so driven to meet their individual goals!

Writing

We have celebrated our first unit in writing by having a share! Students either shared in a private conference or with their classmates to show off their incredible work! We started off with personal narratives and will be creating one more with a different focus before enter our nonfiction writing unit.

Science

We continue to have inquiry based science activities that boost questioning and our science talks. So far the most exciting has been our discovery of owl pellets!

Mystery Reader Launch 🔍

MYSTERY READERS!

I would like to invite any parents, grandparents, relatives, or other special people to surprise your child by being a “Mystery Reader” this year in our classroom.  Students LOVE having their family, friends, and relatives visit the classroom to share in our learning by reading a favorite story aloud to our class.  Mystery Readers will visit us usually on Fridays from 11:00-11:25 a few times a month.  Readers are asked to bring a picture book to read.  If it is a short book, bring in two!

If you can find a date that works for you (Thursdays and Fridays work best for us), please email me to sign-up to be a Mystery Reader for the remainder of 2017 or into 2018! Please email at least two dates (if possible) that will work for you so that I can accommodate with others. You can either e-mail me your preferred dates at sdonlon@sau16.org or send your top three choices in a “top secret” envelope to school with your child.  I will get back to you as soon as possible to confirm your official Mystery Reader date. 

Remember, you are a mystery to the class, so try not to tell your child when you will be coming!

To be a mystery reader you need to come up with five clues about yourself that I can read to the class as hints on Friday during our morning meeting.  You can e-mail the clues to me at any point!

Here is a sample set of clues written by a former mystery reader

1. My favorite book when I was in fourth grade was Charlie

    and the Chocolate Factory.

2. I was the youngest child in my family growing up.

3. My family has one dog as a pet.

4. I love to play Monopoly with my family.

5. My favorite family vacation is visiting our family cottage in York, Maine every summer.

I start with clue #1 and end with clue #5.  As you get closer to clue #5, you should make your clues a bit more revealing so that your child starts to recognize some of the information in the clues.  It is so fun when students realize that their family member is the one who has written the clues and will soon be reading to our class!

Let me know if you have any questions!

Please write me a “secret” note or e-mail if you have any further questions.  We can’t wait to meet our 2017-2018 Mystery Readers!

Sincerely, 
                Miss Donlon