Below is a video of our performance at the event. The video is unlisted on Youtube so you cannot search for it - you have to have the link below to see our performance. I apologize for the quality - I am far from a professional!!
Then continuing on our great month, our Twitter Account won a contest!! There was a contest put on by a twitter account that celebrates Children Picture Books. By retweeting their contest, we won several books by Ryan T. Higgins from the Mother Bruce series! The kids were so excited and we posted this message back. Shortly after we heard back from Ryan T. Higgins himself! If you are not following us on Twitter, please do! You can find us at username: @wearetheweckies - lots of great things are posted on our Twitter from this year you can also view.
Last but not least, last Friday afternoon we had a special BMX Bike Assembly as a celebration for the school for raising over $13,000 with our Fall Fundraiser (cookie dough and entertainment books). We got to watch this great show outdoors while learning about safety when biking, skateboarding or scootering!
 |
| Our very brave principal, Mr. Drewno, having a bike go right over him! |
Readers' Workshop:
In Readers' Workshop there has been a lot of activity and change! I spent the first few weeks of the month doing reading assessments with several of our students. Many are making great growth already in their reading, writing and spelling... yay! I have reconfigured the groups and we will resume our meetings after the Thanksgiving Break. Thank you for your patience with this. The reading assessments are detailed and time consuming, yet so very valuable for us to continue instruction! As many of you have seen, your child's iReady Reading Assessment information has come home and this provides us with even more data about what and how to instruct your child with as a reader.
In Workshop we have been busy!!! Each Friday students have the opportunity to log two books they have been reading from the week in their Book Logs. As readers' it is important to keep track of what we have read and to review the books we read. Then each reader has time to "Shop for new books" from our classroom library. Each child knows which leveled books in the classroom are just-right for them as well as how many they should collect for the following week. Additionally we have several hundreds of non-leveled books that the kids can select from as well. All of these books are in labeled baskets and we have been taking time learning how to properly return these books when we are done to the right basket.
Mini-Lessons in Readers' Workshop the past few weeks have included:
- I can use every bit of info that a book gives me, to help me figure out what words mean.
- I can read smoothly and when I hit a bump, I can reread for fluency.
- When I'm stuck and lose parts of the story, I can go back and retell the big parts of the story.
- I can predict and ask myself questions as I read the story.
- I can visualize the parts of a story as I read.
- I can find and collect new words from the books I read.
- I can infer to better understand the author's message.
- I can make connections to the story as I read.
Writers' Workshop:
We have a room full of young authors! You read that right! After studying in depth our Mentor Author, Kevin Henkes, we have been taking many of his writing craft styles and creating our own picture books. Mini-Lessons in Workshop have included:
- I can plan a story about a personified character with a problem.
- I can consider my audience and create an interesting lead for them.
- I can use the rule of three in my story.
- I can use quotation marks or a speech bubble to show dialogue in my story.
- I can use the "show don't tell" technique to interest my readers.
- I can use adjectives in my story to give details.
- I can end my story with closure.
Word Study:
Many of the components addressed on the iReady Reading assessment are areas we focus on in Word Study. We have done lessons on the following topics:
- Prefixes and root words
- Syllables in words
- Vowels followed by 'r'
- The 'y' sound in words
- The 'ooh' and 'oo' sounds in words
- Past tense in words and adding 'ed' endings
Math Workshop:
In Math we just wrapped up our second unit of study! Many brought home their Unit 2 Assessments this week. Again, these documents have to be returned to school via district policies on testing. If your Unit 2 test did not come home and you would like to see it, please let me know and we can set up a time to meet or I can have it readily available at parent teacher conferences on December 14th. Thank you for understanding. Unit 3 tests will come home again for all with the hope that all are returned.
Lessons in Workshop have included:
- Adding doubles
- Combinations of ten (what numbers can you add together to make 10)
- Using double ten frames to represent numbers and how you can show the same number many different ways on a double tens frame.
- The Making 10 Strategy
- The Near Doubles Strategy
- The Turn Around Rule for Addition
- Recognizing Numbers on a Domino
- Odd and Even Patterns
- Even and Odd Addends
- Name Collection Boxes
- Frames and Arrows and their rules
- Fact Families for addition and subtraction
- Fishing for 10
- Two-Fisted Penny Addition
- The Number Grid Game
- Fact Triangles (addition and subtraction)
- Salute!
- Name that Number
Lastly in Math, we have been working hard on two very challenging STEM projects! The dynamics behind the STEM project is that the students are having to work on a very challenging problem solving type activity, in a group. It has been eye opening to watch some students struggle with this - and to be honest - it has been really good for some of the kids to struggle because things are typically pretty easy for them! Groups have had to have patience, learn to be resilient when faced with a challenge, let everyone participate and listen to different ideas and viewpoints in the groups. Neither object has been completed yet, but we are close!
Science:
Science has definitely been a hot subject as of late! Our scientists are loving studying plants! We have all sorts of things growing in the room and each one has been planted and maintained all by the kids. You should have had a cup of grass and alfalfa come home this week. We finished up our discovery on grass and alfalfa (weeds) and wanted to make sure these came home before they dried up for the season!
Our primary focus has been on the Brassica plant. The Brassica is unique because it grows rapidly and demonstrates all of the plant parts we have been learning about (roots, stem, leaves, flower, bud, seed pod and seeds). Each child has grown a Brassica and many have successfully pollinated across themselves to then produce a seed pod. We will now stop watering our Brassica plants and let them dry out over the Thanksgiving holiday. The idea is that once they are dry, we can harvest the seeds from the pods and plant the new seeds to start the cycle once more!
 |
| These are our Brassica plants drying out so we can harvest the seeds. |
Additionally as the unit is titled "New Plants" we have been taking clippings from plants and watching them grow into new plants. All of our clippings you all sent in are alive and well and new roots have grown off of the stems. Our scientists have been making observations in their science logs and have been carefully charting progress and growth! Additionally we are growing new plants from wheat seeds, garlic cloves and potatoes... stay tuned!
Social Studies:
Social Studies has been on the back burner lately while our Science Kit has been here! We have been learning about communities and this week spent time talking about the three different types of communities: urban (big city), suburban (us), rural (farming) and the different features and characteristics of each. We even talked about the pros and cons of living, working and playing in each community. Lastly the kids had to select if they could choose, which community they would live in, work in and play in of those three choices. It was fun to see what many said and why!
Important News and Reminders:
- Please sign up for Parent Teacher Conferences on December 14th. We have a shortened half day of school that day - a half day dismissing one hour earlier than a normal half day to make time for PTC. If you are needing help using Skyward to sign up, please contact the Dublin office ASAP.
- No School - Thursday, November 23 and Friday, November 24th: Have a fantastic Thanksgiving Break.
We all have so much to be thankful for - I am so thankful for your children and your support each and every day! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work with the best kids in WLCSD. Happy Thanksgiving! :-) Jen Weckstein
