November 9, 2017

Although we had 2 short weeks in a row, we managed to fit in quite a bit over the past two weeks in room 7!  Last week started off with the crazy storm, but we were lucky enough to still have a very exciting Harvest Party, which was organized and run by our fabulous Room Moms- Monique Boucher, Nicole Breslin, and Lynn Lamburn! The kids had a great time making a jack-o-lantern craft, enjoying a yummy snack, and playing a ring toss game! It's always neat to see the kids get into the spirit by wearing their costumes.  Thank you for all your donations and help with the party.  We are looking forward to our next classroom party, the Winter Party, which will be held in December.

In terms of academics, we continue to see the kids working hard and learning new things each and every day.  Our math lessons have been focused on subtraction strategies such as: counting back, counting up, and subtracting 0 and 1. The kids also enjoyed playing 2 new games called Salute and Subtraction Top-It. Ask them about these games, as they are great games to play at home to practice their math facts! You can find the directions by logging onto your child’s Everyday Math Account. Their login information is in their Take Home Folders inside one of the plastic sleeves. Once you login, click on the Everyday Math book image to enter the site.

In reading we've been discussing the Infer skill. This is a very tricky concept for kids to understand, as it is something readers often do without even knowing they are doing it!  We used a poster similar to the one below to help make it clearer for the children, and then we practiced inferring in our guided reading groups as we read books at our own individual reading levels.

We are finishing up our final lessons in our Plant and Animal Survival Unit.  We have now learned more in depth about the plants and animals that make their homes in the Rainforest, Desert, and Ocean Habitats.  We have talked a lot about how the different plants and animals that live in each habitat have learned to adapt in order to survive in the place they call home.  Next week we will begin doing some library research to further explore these concepts.

Thank you for all that have signed up for Parent-Teacher Conferences during the week of November 20th.  I look forward to having the time to discuss your child's transition to second grade.

Have a great long weekend!

Upcoming Dates:

Friday, November 10th- No School in observance of Veteran's Day
Thursday, November 16th- Field Trip to see Beauty and the Beast
Monday, November 20th- 2 Hour Delay for Parent-Teacher Conferences
Tuesday, November 21st- No School for Parent-Teacher Conferences
Wednesday, November 22nd- Half Day of School; Turkey Trot