SOARING WITH PRIDE
This is the theme for our positive behavior support system at Urbana. The students have reviewed the expectations and have been informed how they will be rewarded (classroom stickers, star student stickers, and tickets) and how they will be reminded/what consequences they will face if those expectations are not met. "Think Sheets" are one of the ways we're asking kids to think about their actions. A think sheet is given after a warning...a silent warning. In my classroom that silent warning is a "Thinkman" card...this is a picture of the same "man" that is on the Think Sheet...it is supposed to warn the student that "I've asked you to stop that behavior and now I'm leaning toward giving you a Think Sheet." (I will go over this more at BTSN.) This positive behavior system will bring consistency throughout our school...our entire staff is involved and we like what we've seen the first week back!
Math
This week we collected number data about our class...we measured heights, recorded birthdays, numbers of family members, etc. The students worked in cooperative groups to decide how to best display all of this data and then created data displays. On Thursday, the kids brought a "really big number" that we will be working with next week. Our focus will be numeration and place value. They will work with and manipulate numbers, decompose numbers, write numbers in expanded form, and practice problem solving using really their large numbers. They will also take a math pretest at the beginning of the week. The result of this test will help me to structure the lessons and groupings for each concept in math.
Writing
I am so excited about writing this year. The kids spent all week making different types of entries into their "Writer's Notebooks." The concept behind this notebook is to give the kids a place to store their IDEAS...which happens to be the first writing trait we are focusing on. We are having so much fun putting different topics, lists, and memories into it! Some kids are writing full blown novels already!! Now that we have these notebooks set up, they are one of a few choices that kids have when they finish their classwork. Many kids are dying to take them home and work on them...I am allowing that...BUT please refrain from helping them "improve" their pieces. These pieces will be taken through all steps of the writing process and need to be their own work! Trust me, I know how hard it is to not help...but try not to, please!
Language Arts
I read a book this week called By My Brother's Side. It was a story written by Tiki and Ronde Barber and is about when they were young. It's a wonderful story that Mrs. Wright, our media specialist, recommended...we used it to discuss the Pillars of Character that our school recognizes: citizenship, caring, responsibility, respect, fairness, and trustworthiness. The kids worked cooperatively to define and illustrate these six pillars. We also worked on some different reading strategies...we made connections to a book called Vera's New School. I worked with small groups to set up our system for how to keep records of the books the kids read silently in the classroom. We discussed genres and gave examples of each different type of fiction and non-fiction literature. We will be continuing our work with reading strategies this coming week, and we will also continue to work on the verbal discourse in our classroom. The kids understand the "talking" part of a conversation, but really need instruction on the "listening" and "engaging" parts. This will be a huge focus this year.
Speaking of talking...that would be my only complaint from week one...we have a lot of chatting in our classroom...I've already seen some improvement, but I will be sending home checklists every Friday that will help your child think about which areas he/she should focus on in their "personal and social development". This checklist corresponds to the new report card and will ensure that there are no surprises at the end of each quarter. That checklist came home yesterday...please look it over, review with your child, and send it back to me. Between the checklists and the tickets that I hand out for positive behavior, I'm hoping to control the chatting by the end of week two. We have way too much to do each day...no time for chattiness!! Thanks for your support!
DONATIONS
If you are so inclined...throughout the year I appreciate donations of these supplies:
kleenex
hand sanitizer
lysol wipes
I can't reiterate enough...thanks for sending me kids who are ready to dive in and get busy...we're going to have a great year!
The kids worked this week to help develop "Our Kingdom's Rules" after hearing the story The Kingdom with No Rules, No Laws, and No King. We decided that we could follow four rules easier than seventy-five, so we sorted all of the rules and wrote four rules we could all follow. They did a super job!
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