Ramona
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Thursday, November 05, 2009
Newsletter 5
Newsletter 5 11/5/2009
Dear Families,
What a lot of illness we've had lately. Let's hope it's done, soon.
Halloween Party
This was great. I had three different students tweet about it, since there was so much to tell. Thanks to all who worked to make it a success.
Twitter / Blog
We continue to tweet several times per day. We began with writing them as a class, and now students are writing them on their own. The class helps me revise and edit before I post them. The tweets the kids are writing provide wonderful snapshots of what they can do in writing, and next steps we can take. We hope you're enjoying reading them, and that they help inspire conversations about school and learning. Look at the end of the tweet for the author's initials.
Our tweets also appear on the blog, where I've also been adding links for articles that may be of interest. It's a good place for me to easily collect things to share.
Conferences
Conferences days and times have been scheduled, and are coming home on notes today. Let me know if you don't get one, or if you need a different time. Please plan to bring the students to conferences. We'll celebrate progress, and discuss next steps. They need to be here for both, and they deserve it.
Classroom Visits and Volunteering
I welcome visits and volunteers, any time, no need to call first if you want to drop by. If you want to help on a regular basis, that would be great. There are still many opportunities, including coordinating some or all of our celebrations.
Chapter Book
Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary.
Calendar
Friday, November 6—No School
Sunday, November 8—Mallory's birthday
Wednesday, November 11—Ashley's birthday
Wednesday, November 11—No school
Saturday, November 14—Evan's birthday
Thursday, November 19—Half day, conferences
Friday, November 20—Half day, conferences
Monday, November 23—Half day, conferences
Tuesday, November 24—Half day, conferences
Wednesday, November 25—Half day
Thursday, November 26—No school
Friday, November 27—No school
Sincerely,
Jeff
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Monday, November 02, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Newsletter 4
Newsletter 4 10/26/2009
Dear Families,
I'm sad to say that Alex S. and Carter will now be attending different schools. We'll miss them, and we wish them the best!
Halloween Party
This will be on Friday, October 30, from 11:30-12:30 in our classroom. Parents/families are welcome to attend. We'll be doing math with pumpkins and having treats.
Students are welcome to bring costumes to change into, but they do not have to. I'll give them time to change at recess. It would be helpful if they practiced doing it alone at home before trying it here. Please remind them that weapons are not allowed.
We need volunteers to help at stations, plates, cups, napkins, and treats. If you're able to volunteer to help, or contribute something, please contact me.
You'll now notice audio links as well as text. Students volunteer to read to the class, and before they can be recorded they must read to themselves, to a classmate, and to an adult. This is to ensure performance quality reading. Reading in public and being recorded can be highly rewarding, and it motivates some kids to read and reread texts. This can have a positive effect on fluency, punctuation usage, pacing, phrasing and intonation. These are all highly desirable qualities for readers to attend to, and the power comes from them doing so voluntarily. Even those who don't choose to be recorded benefit from hearing classmates practice, and from our discussions of what good readers do.
Math
Ok, so this is sort of in flux. I've been having kids keep the pages in their books, and now I'm thinking it may be useful to save them in case we want to talk about certain things at conferences, or if I need evidence of learning when doing report cards. This program is new, so I appreciate your patience as I figure out the best way to use it. Our lessons have included: listening to story problems, drawing pictures to help solve problems, addition facts, money, counting, skip counting, checking work, and explaining answers.
Classroom Visits and Volunteering
I welcome visits and volunteers, any time, no need to call first if you want to drop by. If you want to help on a regular basis, that would be great. There are still many opportunities, including coordinating some or all of our celebrations.
Snack
Thanks to those that are sending in snack. Seems like we have at least half of the kids eating what's here, and the rest bringing their own. We are again getting low, so this would be a good time to send some in.
Chapter Book
Our first chapter book was Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business by Barbara Park.
Our current one is Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary.
Calendar
Friday, October 30—Joe's birthday
Friday, October 30—Halloween party, 11:30
Sincerely,
Jeff Kurtz
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Jeff