Sunday, September 30, 2012

October Is Here Already

Good Morning! I hope you all are enjoying the weekend even though it has been a damp one. My husband and I took a drive up to the the new outlets in Merrimack, New Hampshire yesterday and the trees are changing color. It should be a beautiful fall. Our class is buzzing and very busy! In Fundations, your kiddos have learned five new glued sounds with the closed syllable exception. They have started to learn their second grade trick words. The children should be on Spelling City several times a week. I came across a new vocabulary site called Vocabulary.co.il which has many activities as well. Remember, your children need to know how to spell all the first grade trick words and the second grade words. They have a spelling bag in their desk to practice all new second grade words daily by rainbow writing them. All new trick words are introduced on Tuesdays. So, look for additional spelling homework on Tuesday night.
In grammar, the children are learning about sentence structure. They should know that every sentence is a group of words that makes sense and is a complete thought. It should also have two parts; a subject (someone or something) and a predicate or verb (what the subject is doing. Ask your child to tell you about Mr. Morton. Last week we touched upon compound sentences (two sentences connected by and). This week the emphasis will be on nouns in a sentence.
October will begin with our children switching classes for math. The children have been grouped according to their needs and where the fit best with students with similar needs. All groups will be covering the same material but doing so in away that best fits their learning. Math fact practice continues to be so important. Students need to be able to fluently add and subtract to twenty. Keep that Math Fever going with fact practice daily using games, flash cards and work on Xtramath.com. Also go to FunBrain for more fun and activities. Please engage your children in mathematical conversations that solve real world math problems each day. These will be accessed and explored daily with a problem of the day.
Daily Cafe is in place and your children have 35 minutes of stamina when they READ TO SELF. Children are experimenting with selecting GOOD FIT books and books of interest to them. When children have control in book selection, they will have more stamina. I am still monitoring some with this selection. Second Grade will be ready to switch by next week. Finally, Community has been the main focus in social studies. The community of Room 14 is a friendly, fun-loving, hard working group of kiddos who love school and are helping each other grow and learn together. The Killam community is a group of TRRFCC staff and students who work together to keep everyone happy and safe each day. The second grade community is learning about the community of Reading and communities in general. There will be information soon about our field trip downtown to explore the important town buildings; fire station, police station, town hall and cable studio. We will have the date to your shortly, we are justing waiting to hear back from all these groups to coordinate the days events. If you can, clear your calendar to join us. It would be helpful to have you to assist us as we WALK uptown.
Happy Fall and enjoy the cooler days ahead. I am sad to see the warm weather fleeting but such is life. -Deb Dellovo

Monday, September 17, 2012

We Are Happily On Our Way!

I am happy to report that Room 14 is happily on the way to a successful school year. We have established classroom rules, routines, and procedures to help keep us moving forward safely and comfortably. Everyone seems excited to learn new things and share their learning experiences with families and friends. Hopefully you have heard from your children what we have in store.
Photos will be posted here on the blog as well as special websites for spelling, reading and math practice. Spellingcity.com and Xtramath.org will be regular sites for nightly practice. You can explore these sites here but I will send home more information this week in homework folders. Also, please feel free to check out The Daily Cafe website for articles and strategies for helping your youngsters with their reading. It is so important that your children are reading good fit books each night. Ask your child about "the five finger rule" for selecting a good fit book. Remember reading to your child is just as important. Children need to hear what good reading sounds like. I am in the process of assessing their reading to find their instructional and independent reading levels so that we can begin grouping students for our TIM TIME (Tiered Instructional Model).
For those of you who attended Open House, you heard me discuss our tiered model for math as well. We are assessing students in math as well and grouping kiddos who would work best together according to their skill set. Hopefully all assessments will be completed and groups for reading and math will be established by the end of the month. Remember these groups are flexible and students maybe moving in and out according to their skill needs. We will keep you informed when this will happen. All classes are building stamina for reading daily, building math routines and practicing fact strategies. On Wednesday, the PTO has planned our annual WALK FOR CHARACTER. I hope the weather cooperates. I think the committee is still looking for volunteers so please let them know if you would like to help out. Enjoy your week and the last few days of summer!