HELLLOOOOOO Weckie Parents!!
Wow, the inn is FULL!! We have grown this week by four students and our room is full and my heart is so happy!! We were able to get ALL of our virtual "our path" learners back from the beginning of the year and it has been like a dream come true!! There has been A LOT of excitement and energy this week as our four friends returned to the classroom after a year of virtual learning. Of the original 25 students we had on Zoom, I have 24 back with me. I feel like my little ducklings have all come back!
We have also had to slow down this week and really focus in on our safety protocols and hygienic routines! Please make sure that you are sending your child to school daily with minimally 3-4 masks. We are going through masks right now at record pace and many kids are saying they only have one mask with them. With the warmer temperatures outside, we are coming in with soaked masks from recess and most kids change them after recess as well as any time they sneeze into their mask. I know, gross, but it happens. I do have some paper masks here, but with 24 kids, we can go through those in a day or two. We have also been talking a lot about our masks and how to wear them properly. A few too many noses have been sighted lately. Please make sure that your child's mask have a good snug fit. Last, reminders about keeping our hands to ourselves and distancing are always helpful too.
With my own first grader at Keith Elementary, I have seen firsthand this last week just how fast a school can close down due to an outbreak of Covid... and it's scary and quick! We got one email Tuesday night of a positive case, an email in the morning about a staff member who was exposed and then a third email about three more positive cases. It was quick and now they are on Zoom over there until after Spring Break. We REALLY want to try to prevent this at Dublin Thank you for your help and understanding. While I am fully vaccinated, I want to make sure we keep these kids as healthy as possible. I greatly appreciate parents keeping kids home as well to err on the side of caution when they are feeling under the weather. I realize 100% this gets tricky with spring colds and allergies!
Math Workshop
In Math we have been wrapping up our work in Unit 5. This last unit has focused a lot on: coin value, counting coins, using coins to pay for items and making change with coins when subtracting from a dollar. We have also spent time working on number story problems and have used different diagrams (change to more, part-part-total and open number lines) to help organize our data and our thinking about the solution. A unit 6 Home Link packet has come home with your child to remain at home for the remainder of the unit. When pacing out the lessons, we will do:
Lesson 6.1 - Tuesday, March 23
Lesson 6.2 - Wednesday, March 24
Lesson 6.3 - Thursday, March 25
Lesson 6.4 - Tuesday, April 6
Lesson 6.5 - Wednesday, April 7
Lesson 6.6 - Thursday, April 8
Please make sure to look over these with your child as we get into the more complex math work of our year these last few months! At the end of the unit, please send the Home Link packet back with your child.
Readers' Workshop
In Readers' Workshop I have NEARLY heard all of my original students read and have been adjusting their just-right reading levels in the classroom with our classroom library as well as the books that have come home in the book bags. New books were sent home this past Friday. Please keep them the remainder of this week and if needed, over Spring Break. Returning them on Monday, April 5th will help to quarantine them for the week and send out new books on the 9th!
I will continue working with students on reading assessments as well as taking time to listen to our new students read and get some books out to them as well, I just cannot guarantee this will all get done before spring break. It takes a lot of one on one time with each reader and is important to go slow.
In Workshop we have been digging deeper with series books. We have been noticing patterns in how a character acts throughout the series and within each book. We have noticed similarities in the problems that arise and the solutions that are used. We have looked at author's craft and noticed patterns in this throughout a series. We have also been looking at the details our authors use to tell a story so that we can picture what we are reading!
Writers' Workshop
In Writers' Workshop we continue to dig deeper with our work around writing about our reading. We are learning to pull evidence from the books we read to use in our writing to support our opinion. So if your child found a book to be funny, they are learning to pull out details from the story that made them laugh and how to add those details into their written letters. Learning to write about your opinion is hard but also such a great life skill to have and be able to do effectively!
Science
We are wrapping up our Science unit on Air and Weather this coming week! The last few weeks we have been exploring with air! We blew bubbles safely spread apart outside and watched as the soap caught air. We used cups and tubs of water to see how we could trap air in water. We created pinwheels and snake spinners to take outside and catch air. It was hilarious to see how well they worked last Thursday when the temperatures were cold and the wind was blowing hard! The kids were frozen but loving watching their pinwheels take flight!
Important Reminders/Notes
1. Sunday, March 21st is World Down Syndrome Day. As a way to raise awareness and educate people about the day is by wearing brightly colored socks. We are going to talk about this on Monday and I would love to see your kids in their best and brightest of socks on Monday, March 22! Feel free to even just wear mismatching socks! A good friend of mine has a young son with Down Syndrome and I would love to send Briggy a picture of all of "my kids" honoring him and his importance while also educating our kids a little more about kids like Briggy!
2. Devices - Please make sure your child's device is in working order. As the year goes on we are having a lot of trouble with working devices. Remember, you can take your WL Chromebook back to the ESC to swap for a new device if it is not working. The Dublin office only has a limited number of spare computers and most often they are gone before we can get kids down who need them. We use them daily to work on iReady Math and Reading lessons. A charged device is also helpful!
3. Friday, March 26th is a school wide Read-In Day at Dublin! Please send your Weckie to school on Friday in their pajamas. They can also bring in favorite books from home (please make sure these are labeled) as well as a small blanket and stuffed animal friend. Each child will have their own space around the room to read and will not be allowed to share books, stuffed friends or blankets. Nothing needs to come in early as there will be NO sharing. Please remind your children of this as I will too! They will have access to the classroom library, but it will work as it always does, once you take a book, it's yours for the week and cannot be returned!
Thank you, thank you for your continued support this year! I know it has been the most strange of school years, but I am grateful and thankful for our supportive parent community! We have been LOVING seeing parents on Zoom this month as we miss having you all in the room and in the building. We are striving really hard to keep things as normal as possible and the enthusiasm in the kids shows each day as they truly are excited to be at school! :-) Jen W.
