Weekly Update and Welcome Back....Again!

Hi Everyone!

Did you have a relaxing snow break?  Are you going crazy in the house?  My answers are yes and yes!  I relaxed for the first couple of days, but I'm definitely ready to get back to a routine....again.  Jay (of Jay's Wintry Mix....you do follow him on FB, right? :) ) says there is "mischief" in the long range forecast, so I don't know how much normalcy we'll have before the next round of weather, but I'm taking advantage of every bit to reconnect with the kids and pack in as much curriculum as I can!

Don't forget -- Groundhog Day is Tuesday, February 2nd.....Punxsutawney Phil better have some good news......

Here's a look at our week, and a few other updates:

Odds and Ends:

Book Character Parade:

The Book Character parade will be on Thursday, February 4th from 8:15 - 8:45. Parents are welcome to line the parade route.  (If you have an older student, the parade for grades 3-5 will be from 1:30 - 2:00.)  Please send your child to school in as much of his/her costume as possible.  There simply won't be time for the kids to do a full wardrobe change between the time announcements end on Thursday morning and the time the parade starts.  

Moveable Planning and Records Day:

The Moveable Student Holiday, which was originally planned for today (1/29) has been moved to next Friday, February 5th.  There will be no school for students on this day.

Quarter 2 Extended / Report Card Update:

Because of the snow, the 2nd quarter of the school year has been extended by 4 days, and the report card distribution date has changed.  The last day of the 2nd quarter is now Thursday, February 4th, and report cards will now go home Friday, February 12th.

Valentine's Day Party:

Our class Valentine's Day party will be on Friday, February 12th from 11:15 - 12:45 in our classroom.  All families are welcome to attend.  If your child would like to exchange Valentines with classmates, please remember that you may NOT attach food to the Valentines.  Pencils, tattoos, stickers, etc. are great substitutes.  If your child is handing out Valentines, please ensure he/she has one for every student in the class.  I sent the class list home via e-mail last week, and will send a hard copy on Thursday, February 4th.  I will also send the food permission slip on the 4th. Please kindly send it back as soon as possible.

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading:  We will learn about personification, and study how authors use personification to enhance stories.  I will finish administering the mid-year literacy assessments.
• Writing:  We will begin to wind down our How-to unit.
• Math:  We will begin our unit on Geometry.  This one's short and sweet.  We will talk about 2D shapes, their attributes, and how those shapes are represented in the environment. (For example, "A circle can be a clock.")  We will use vocabulary such as "vertex, vertices, angle, right angle, sides, plane".
• Social Studies:  We will touch on Groundhog Day.  We will begin talking about our country, the good ol' USA!  :)

With Thanks and Appreciation:

As we move into the 2nd half of the school year, I continue to be so grateful for your children and for the support you offer them and me each day.  They are EXPLODING with growth, and it truly is my extreme honor to witness it each day. As always, thank you for sharing them with me.  May I honor the trust you have placed in me to care for your babies.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! 

Weekly Update and Reading at Home

Hi Everyone,

We are starting our mid-year literacy testing.  As I formally assess the kids on their growth thus far, here's a powerful graphic for you that illustrates the impact of reading just 20 minutes each day.  Your child must read.  Read, read, read.  Every.  Single.  Solitary.  Day.  It's simply the most important thing your child can do to increase his/her chance of success in school, and in life.  I am over-the-moon blessed to have my 2 amazing boys.  People often compliment me on their school success and incorrectly attribute it to my being a teacher.  It has NOTHING to do with that, and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that my boys are readers.  I strongly (but gently) encourage you to grow your own reader at home.  :)

Odds and Ends:

• On cold days, we have indoor recess.  Some of the kids are bringing little toys and/or Pokemon cards from home to use during indoor recess.  This is totally fine, as long as those toys stay in their backpacks for the rest of the day.  A few of the kids are having difficulty with this, so I did tell them if they try to get the toys out (particularly the Pokemon cards) during other parts of the day, they will lose the privilege of bringing these items to school.
• If you have not returned your child's signed Book Character Parade form, please do so immediately.  This form is your indicating your understanding that participation is expected of all students.  If you need another form, please email me and I'll send you an electronic copy.

Homework:

• This was the first week of the new homework packet.  I welcome any feedback you may offer.  

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading: We will talk about cause and effect in stories.
• Writing:  We will continue writing our How-to essays.
• Math:  We will finish our place value unit.  We will begin our geometry unit, in which we will talk about shapes we see in the environments, and the characteristics / attributes of shapes.
• Social Studies:  We will talk about the life and contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

As always, please contact me with questions, comments, or concerns.

Hooray for a long weekend...don't forget to read!

Quick Reminders

Hi Everyone,

A few quick reminders:

• Library books and homework are due tomorrow.
• If you have not yet signed and returned the bottom portion of the Book Character parade form, please sign and return it as soon as possible.  It is your acknowledgment of receiving the information about the Book Character parade, along with your acknowledgment that you understand participation is mandatory.  If you need another form, please email me and I'll send an additional copy to you electronically.

Thank you!  

Weekly Update

Hi Everyone!

Who's tired?  I'm happy to be back with the kids, happy to be back to a routine, but not so happy to be tired again.  #lovemykeurig

We've had a fairly easy transition back to our school routines and procedures, which is a testament to the character and behavior of your children.  Here's a look at the upcoming week, and some other information for you.  

Odds and Ends:

• Please be sure your child is reading for 20 minutes every night.  Please be sure to talk with your child about what he/she is reading.  Remember...because a child can decode a story doesn't mean he/she can comprehend a story.  Retelling, predicting, and connecting are as important to reading as decoding.
• The weather is getting chilly...I think...or at least it's becoming unpredictable.  Please be sure your child has a heavy coat, hat and gloves everyday for the possibility of outdoor recess.
• With cold weather comes chapped lips.  Feel free to tuck a tube of lip balm into your child's backpack.  I don't let the kids keep lip balm at their desks because it typically becomes a distraction, but we have enough breaks throughout our day that it's very easy for them to grab it from their backpacks, use it, and return it.

Valentine's Day Party:

• Mark your calendar...our classroom Valentine's Day party will be Friday, February 12th from 11:30-12:45.  All families are welcome to attend.  Details and volunteer opportunities will come soon.  Meantime, the kids are welcome to exchange Valentine cards at the party.  It's completely voluntary, and historically, the majority of the class participates.  If your child brings Valentine cards, please be sure he/she has one for every student in the class.  If your child wants to attach a little "something" to his/her Valentine cards, please don't attach candy... little items like pencils, erasers, tattoos, stickers are fine.  I'll send more details and a class roster home in the January 28th Thursday folder.

Book Character Parade:

• If your child attended Kindergarten at Pinebrook, you may remember the Book Character Parade.  We will be having another parade this year; it's scheduled for Thursday, February 4th from 8:15 - 8:45.  Families are welcome to attend.  I sent the information home in yesterday's Thursday folder, including a paper for you to sign and return indicating both your acknowledgement of the event and the book/character your child will portray.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  **Please note that participation is mandatory.**  

Homework Update:

• I have the new homework packet ready to go, and will begin sending it home on Monday, January 11th.  The biggest change is that you'll need to check your child's agenda each week for his/her sight words.  Please log your child's reading and sign his/her agenda while you're checking for sight words.  I am asking the kids to use a computer 2 times per week -- once for Reading and once for Math.  If this is difficult for you to facilitate in any way, please let me know.  We can come up with an alternative.  Please let me know if you have any questions after reading over the packet.

*Word Study / Sound of the Week Update*:

• Beginning next week, we'll be taking an experimental break from Word Study for a few weeks to focus instead on a particular vowel "sound of the week".  Our goal is to focus on both the sound and the correct way to read/spell that sound in our work.  I'm finding that for the majority of students, the work done in Word Study is simply NOT transferring to their writing.  While the theory of Word Study is that the kids will generalize and transfer learned spelling patterns to their everyday writing, the reality seems to be more about rote memorization, which does next to nothing to help them evolve as writers.  I don't know for sure whether Sound of the Week is the answer, but I do know for sure that I'd like to try something different.  If I'm being completely honest, sometimes my head hurts from trying to wrap my brain around some of the Word Study sorts....and then I think, "If my head hurts, and I'm the 41 year old teacher who has seen all these sorts before, how must the 6 year olds and their parents feel?"  That said, please let me know if you have any questions/concerns.  Your child will have a note in his/her agenda each week letting you know the sound of the week.  We'll start by reviewing short vowel sounds so I can get the kids into the routine of sound of the week at school; there won't be any written homework related to sound of the week.

Focus Areas for the Upcoming Week:

• Reading:  We will talk about characters' points-of-view in the stories we read.
• Math:  We will continue our place value unit.
• Writing:  We will continue writing our How-to's, in which we teach our reader to do something.
• Social Studies:  We will finish talking about Maps, and begin talking about the USA.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.  Enjoy the weekend...and sleep in!  :)

Weekly Update and Happy New Year!

Hi Everyone!  Happy New Year!

Remember me?  I am your child's teacher!  It seems a long, long time since I last posted.  I wonder what you've all been up to!  I wonder what the kids have been doing too.  For my part, I spent the last 2 weeks drinking too much coffee, eating too many treats, and reading, which I can never do too much of!  :)  In the meantime, my pants with buttons have grown lonely in my closet, my hair dryer hasn't had a workout, and my makeup is sitting untouched.  I've been spending time with my boys, time with my husband, and time with our sweet pup.  #happygirl 

All that said, I certainly do recognize that it's time to return to some semblance of structure, routine, and normalcy.  So, this weekend is about packing up the Christmas decorations, clearing out the treats, and reintroducing my children to....gasp!.....vegetables!  :)  Meantime, here's what you need to know for the coming week...

Odds and Ends:

• This week will be about reestablishing our normal school routines, reminding the kids about rules and expectations, and reestablishing our classroom community and identity.
• I will be out Tuesday morning for a school training; I'm not sure who my sub will be.  I will arrive to school at about noon on Tuesday.
• If you have pictures of your child engaged in a fun activity, or pictures he/she would like to share with the class, please email them to me.
• I have updated the "Important Dates" section of this blog with anything I know about for the coming months.  I will add dates as they come up.

Focus Areas for the Upcoming Week:  

• Reading:  We will read about New Year's resolutions and examine problems and solutions in the books we read.
• Writing: We will write about our New Year's resolutions.
• Math:  We will begin our unit on Place Value
• Science and Social Studies:  We will study maps.  We will talk about the features of maps such as map symbols and map keys, the compass rose, and cardinal directions.  

Homework Update:

• The only homework this week will be reading.  I am working with a few teachers on my team to redesign our weekly homework packet, so written homework will resume the week of January 11th.  My goals for homework are that it's both meaningful and predictable....meaningful so the kids get real benefit from completing it, but predictable so there are no surprises, and so some things can be completed on weekends to ease your busy weeknight schedules.  More specifically....The kids will still be required to read each night.  Beyond that, one night per week will be working with that week's sight words, one night will be a reading response to whatever book was read that night, one night will be using Raz-Kids to practice Reading, and one night will be using Dreambox Math or Reflex Math to practice Math.  If this sounds at all confusing, I promise it will make perfect sense when you see it in practice.  I think you may even like it for the predictability and flexibility it will bring to our homework routine.

I think that's everything for now.  As always, please reach out with any questions, comments, concerns, or feedback.  I apologize in advance if I've forgotten anything.  Honestly, I am sitting here starting at my computer with a furrowed brow because it feels downright weird to be typing a classroom update.  Maybe this break was too long. 

Anyway, please tell the kids hello and that I'm excited to see them!  If they come home Monday and say, "Mrs. Lombardo wore her pajamas to school today", you'll know the planned reunion with my pants with buttons didn't go so well... 

Happy 2016!  Let's do this!