Reading, Writing, Reading!

I have really enjoyed watching the students take off in their workshop routines!  Here are some glimpses of our Language Arts Workshop times.  Next week I will focus on math.

Each day we have a star name.  These names help us learn letters, write other words, and learn spelling patterns.  Here we are cheering for Nando's name!

And here we are cheering for Mackenzie's name!  It was a long cheer so there is no video!

Partner reading and read to self has been really fun this week since we are reading "Old Favorites" with our partners!  We practice retelling familiar stories and using exact words. Of course we make the words and pictures match.

Check out these kids re-telling familiar stories!  Have your child do this at home with favorite bedtime books.

 We are also learning about finding letters everywhere!  Here we are on our letter Ee hunt!

This week we learned that words and pictures go together when reading and writing books!

Reading:  This week we talked about characters and settings in books.  We know that we can learn from pictures and we can learn from words!  We will be doing some re-telling of "Old Favorites" this week using the pictures to help us remember the words. 

Writing: Students are writing books during Writers Workshop.  This week we will move from teaching books to books that tell a a true story.  Routines are falling into place and more and more time is spent writing! We learned about how pictures help us tell the story. 

Phonics: This week we are using names to learn letter sounds and letter formation.  We met Mabel, our class mascot, and she taught us some name cheers.

Math: We continue practicing counting sets and practicing number formation.  We have worked on calendar routines.

Learning about character and setting.

We marked "WOW" pages in our books.  These are pages we can't wait to share with our friends!

Readers learn from pictures.  We learned how to look at pictures to learn from them.  Then we search for words we might know.

Did you ever have to write something down so you don't forget about it?  Us, too!  We wrote a sign to remind us to work all the way through writing time!

Math partners played a game of "Match It!"  We practiced number formation, counting sets, subitizing with dice and checking each other's work.

It was WONDERFUL seeing so many of you at Curriculum Night!  If you have any questions about the presentation, let me know!

Business Items

Conferences
As promised- here is a link to the Fall Conference Sign Up.  If you have any concerns prior to conferences, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Lunch Boxes:  It is really helpful if your child's lunch box is labeled on the outside.  Thank you!

Folders: Please go through the folders regularly and empty them out!  I will try to send an email if something important is going home. Every Tuesday a packet goes home and daily work is sent home as well. 

School Pictures

It's almost time for Picture Day! Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades will be photographed on September 13th and 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders will be photographed on September 14th. 

We are also offering sibling photos on the youngest child's scheduled Picture Day.  Please complete the form in the link below if you would like your children to have a sibling photograph taken and return it to school by Monday, September 10th.

 Click here for all of our Picture Day information. 

We are looking forward to our partnership with Norysm School Photography this year. 

You can contact the owner/photograhpher, Tiia Norysm, directly with any questions at info@norysmphotography.com or 773.610.1008

Reading:
Students are working on re-telling informational books and sharing "WOW" pages with their partner.

Writing:
We learned to s-t-r-e-tch words out and listen to all the sounds in the word when we are writing.  Partners helped each other plan teaching books.  We are launching Writers Workshop routines that will be used all the way through 5th grade!

Math: 
We are working on proper number formation and matching sets of objects with the number.  Math Bins are focusing on turn-taking and talking about math thinking.   

2nd Step: 
We are working on focusing our attention on a speaker.

Curriculum Night is this Thursday!  I hope all of you can make it to our curriculum night. It is really the only chance you will have to hear about our classroom routines and curriculum.  There will be information about conferences, volunteer opportunities, and time to meet special area teachers. The presentation is for adults only.  Childcare is in the auditorium.  The school is open for students to give tours after presentations.

Thursday Sept 6th: Curriculum Overview in Classrooms

6:30 – 6:55 Kindergarten, 1 st Grade, Ms. Weck’s class

7:00 – 7:25 2nd Grade, Ms. Vella’s class

7:30 – 7:55 3rd Grade, Mrs. Mohammad’s class

8:00 – 8:25 4th & 5th Grade

** Art, Music, Physical Education, and Support Staff will be available in their classrooms/offices from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Writers Workshop! When we are done-we've just begun!

The red sticker means, "I'm finished!" The green sticker means, "I'm going to keep working on this!"

Looking at Information Books

We stay in one spot when we read.

Practicing our fine motor skills during our Daily 5 time.

Learning to take care of markers!

We did a reading survey with Ms. Noonan.  The  students told us what they like and then they each got a few books that I knew they would LOVE!  It was so exciting to give them their book boxes!

Learning to partner read!  Look at the focus!

This is what it looks like to be a reader!

Look at her reading!

Reading:
This week we read The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Carrot Seed and Chrysanthemum.  These are old favorites that we will re-read many times in these next few weeks.  We learned how to partner read.
Writing:
This week students learned "When I'm done...I've just begun!"  We can go back and add pictures, words, or start a new piece.
Math:
We are working on number writing 0-5 and matching sets of objects. They learned math bin routines.

Background Checks:  A background check is required for people who want to serve as a chaperone on a field trip or as a volunteer.  Our first field trip will be on October 18th.  (More information to follow.)  Background checks are needed only one time.  There is no need to do an additional background check if one has been completed with the district in the past. 

To schedule a one-time background check, please visit this link:

https://www.signupgenius.com/index.cfm?go=s.signup&urlid=5080b48a9ab22a0fd0-district&view=calendar&mo=1535756400&adsWidth=1&adDisplaySide=1

Please bring your driver’s license or State ID to your appointment. All appointments are at the District 97 Administration Building at 260 Madison.  Results take about 7-10 business days (sometimes longer), so please plan accordingly.

If appointment times are filled, please check the link periodically. New dates and times will be added.