I hope this current blast of sunshine has added pep to your step. Happy Mother’s Day to the fabulous room 16 moms! We are headed on a field trip to the Belmont Historic Firehouse this coming Monday, so please make sure your child is punctual on Monday morning. Ramona Baker has asked our class to join her in supporting a local food bank. With your help, we’re hoping to fill a grocery bag with non-perishables by the end of the week. For the past month, our weekly literacy discussions have focused on the theme of freedom. This week’s question was, “When are you allowed to follow your dreams?” Children’s responses were varied, but most ended up in two categories: 1. You are able to follow your dreams when you’re left alone in a quiet place. 2. You are able to follow your dreams when you graduate from college. In the story that followed our discussion, the protagonist followed her dream as a young girl in the midst of lots of people. I found it interesting that most children thought that following their dreams took place in a particular setting or specific time in life. In writing, we are focused on our Portland Unit and are writing journal entries from the perspective of early settlers in the region. The vivid imaginations in our classroom have made these pieces come alive. Children often request to read their pieces aloud because they are brimming with excitement about their writing. If you have a moment, stop in and read your child’s last two journal entries. We had our second round of the OAKS test today. We remembered to go slowly and use our strategies. I am really proud of all of the effort that our students have put in to make sure they are doing their best work. This week, we will be wrapping up our Money, Fractions, and Probability unit as we prepare to delve into strategies for tackling more complex multiplication problems. You can support your child in this new unit by continuing to practice multiplication fluency with flash cards at home. Thank you for your continued support.

This entry was posted on May 8, 2012 at 8:54 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.