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!