What a success the third and fourth grade plays were last Thursday. Michael Wehrlie did a splendid job of teaching our students the process of putting on a play. The students learned to listen, enunciate, and cooperate. These are very important life skills. However, it was the palpable joy that the students radiated that...
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We have begun writing about “small moments”. The goal is for students to choose one idea to write about, such as taking the dog for a walk. We will work to add details, details, details so that readers will have clear images of what we saw, heard, felt, etc. I am impressed with the...
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*I’ve been working on the Direct Reading Assessments (DRA’s) for our students. I want to know exactly where they test in Reading, so that I can place them appropriately and move them ahead at a steady pace. *The class enjoyed listening to the sound of two violins playing as we learned about our new ...
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I am currently setting up RAZ Kids’ accounts for first and second graders in my reading groups. Raz Kids is an on-line, animated leveled books program that supplements the direct, small  group instruction students receive from a teacher. Children really enjoy the books and it is a great way to ensure students are reading...
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We began our first week of drama class this Monday.  Children will be performing poems by Shel Silverstein.  Children participate in drama Monday-Thursday in the afternoons.  Drama will compliment our reading program by truly teaching children how to read with expression. This week is science we will be mixing solids with liquids.  Children will...
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Reading logs will be checked on Thursday; please help your child add up the minutes and sign the calendar!  Please keep working on those multiplication facts.  The students who are memorizing these facts at home are finding out that math is multiplication and division is easier. We started our drama classes this week.  You’ll...
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Our class enjoyed performing the plays on Thursday night tremendously, as well as all the learning that took place these past few weeks with Michael Wehrli.  We are appreciative of his talents and the skills he has for working with kids, and are making thank you notes to tell him so! We are finishing...
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This week will be a short one since Wednesday is a Teacher Professional Day and students do not come to school. The focus of the week includes Ss topics as well as the letter/sound recognition. Children will “sequence”, practice making pattern “snakes”, learn about bats while reading “Stellaluna”, and many other fun and educational...
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It has taken a long time, but we have finally solidified our itinerant schedule. On Monday mornings both our Occupational Therapist, Kara Ford, and our Physical Therapist, Christine Lentz, are here for consultation. Classroom staff talks with both Christine and Kara about pt and ot concerns. Motor skill problems greatly impact the students’ educational programs, and our motor...
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Our week started with wonderful journal entries about trips to the Pumpkin Patch, drinking apple cider, families and friends playing together and much more! Your children are very creative and enthusiastic in their writing of stories through pictures and words. We have several great parents who are able to volunteer during journal writing each...
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None of us can believe how the silkworms have grown.  They were about 1/8 of an inch long when they hatched.  Now, 2 weeks later, they have tripled in length.  Students are taking turns feeding them, though their mulberry mash does not smell great. In math, students are taking surveys to gather information about...
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*Last Friday, Alexandre’s grandfather  read our class the book “Skippy Jon Jones.” It was a huge hit! He practices and practices all the voices before he comes, which keeps the children enthralled. His voice is so rich that it is  like having Walter Cronkite or Paul Harvey in our class!  =-) *On Tuesday of...
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Look for the Reading Is An Investment booklist and bookmark coming home today. Fifty scholarships from $250 to $1,000 will be awarded. Complete the program to enter the drawing. Some students will also be bringing home applications for a Multnomah County Library card. Please return the completed applications to school ASAP! We still need...
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This week I started doing assessments with students in my reading groups and as always am happy to see the gains children are making. If your child is in one of my reading groups and you would like to schedule a conference with me in addition to the one with the classroom teacher, I...
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We are excitedly preparing for the performance of our classroom’s two Dr. Seuss plays,  adapted and directed by Michael Wehrli.  We’ve been memorizing parts individually, and working very hard, as a class, to get background scenery ready.  On Thursday morning we will perform for our buddy class, Mrs. Swan’ s second graders, and then...
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Band has started this week. Monday after school was the first meeting for all returning band students. Level 2 band meets Monday and Thursday after school until 3:30 PM, while Level 1 groups meet at different times through out the week. Check the website for the schedule. There is no limit to the number...
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I don’t know if the weather was too stormy to walk to Jean’s farm last Tuesday. I hope we went because we were going to cook stew in the farm’s cob oven. The students would have done the food preparation, and then they would of gotten a bite of the meal. Yum! Yum! Thank...
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Words, words, words. We’ve been spending a lot of time learning new information about words.  Dictionaries are aiding our class in finding definitions and parts of speech.  We are learning that words often have more than one meaning, and that all words fit into a category of speech (noun, verb, adjective). Multiplication continues to...
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We are finishing our character analysis assignment in writing this week.  Students have made good progress in writing topic sentences and supporting sentences.  Check their writing homework this week; I think you’ll be impressed!  My math group is working on dividing large numbers and we will be finishing our Investigation book entitled “Packages and...
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Our snails, (Ss is for Snail!), have been joined in their habitat by several crickets from the outdoor center and next week spiders shall be part of their community too! We have learned poems and songs about our snails and done observations of them including their climbing abilities, interest in different foods and other...
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Pumpkins are ready to harvest and this week our class will use pumpkins for Math (estimation of seeds, circumference, problem solving, sequencing, and counting by ones and tens); Science (stages of pumpkin growth); Literacy (fiction and non-fiction books, writing, vocabulary and reading); Art (DBAE art lesson using a visual resource to create a pumpkin...
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