Newsletter 15

2005-2006                          Room 302—Newsletter 15                          http://room302.blogspot.com

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Dear Families,

I play two songs every day.  When I play The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) by Simon and Gafunkel, it means it’s time to clean up and gather together on the carpet to officially begin our day.  When it’s time to clean up and do our jobs at the end of the day, I play Samba Pa Ti from the Abraxas album by Carlos Santana.  Since we hear those two songs every day, I thought the students would enjoy seeing the faces behind the music.  I was able to find DVD’s from the library that had these songs done in concert, so I brought them in and we watched them.  
In reading….
The idea of visual images continues to pervade our work.  We talked about how authors make pictures in our heads—including telling what shape, what size, and what color—and now we’re trying to notice those as we read.  We also noticed this week how some of the writers in our classroom use verbs like sailing, burning, and crunched to create pictures in our minds.  This was a great opportunity to talk about verbs and nouns, and I chose Kites Sail High: A Book About Verbs by Ruth Heller as my read aloud.
In writing….
This will be our second round of writing book reviews for special project.  I also continue to encourage students to be deliberate about using descriptive language in their stories, and we try to share some of their examples every day.  This might be something you could ask about at home, too.
In math….
Our newest game is called Ten Turns.  One die is rolled ten times in a row, and a running total is kept.  It seems a fairly simple game on the surface, but as the total increases it can be tricky to keep track.  We use counters to help with that.  We also continue to practice word problems.
Valentine’s Day…
We’ll use our writing time in the first part of February to write Valentine cards for each other.  Then we’ll exchange them on the 14th.  If each family will use the time and money they usually spend on pre-printed cards to get some sort of decoration and send it in, we should have plenty to go around.  Ideas for things you can contribute include lace, stickers, tissue paper, heart doilies, stamps, pre-cut paper hearts of different sizes and colors, or anything else you think would make a nice addition to a card.  We’d also love some treats to enjoy while reading the cards we wrote for each other, if anyone would like to contribute.  That will be about the extent of our Valentine’s Day party.
Current Chapter Book Read Aloud…
Charlotte’s Web  by E. B. White (what a wonderful source of examples for writing that creates visual images!)  We also took a few minutes to go back and discuss A. A. Milne, since it was his birthday this week.
Calendar…
Monday, January 23—Book Orders Due     February 20-24 –Mid-Winter Break
Friday, February 3—Jesse’s Birthday     Wednesday, February 22—Aubree’s Birthday
Tuesday, February 7—Levy Vote     Friday, February 24—Kayla’s Birthday
Tuesday, February 14—Valentine’s Day     Sunday, February 26—Lukas’s Birthday
     
     


Sincerely,


Jeff