Oh My Goodness

I cannot begin to tell you how much I LOVE this group of kids! We are getting so much done and hopefully having some fun while we're at it! Today we started introducing workstations! I heard a lot of "WHAT ARE THOSE"? not sure they liked the idea of "work"! LOL I explained that workstations are what we call our literacy centers and they would be rotating to several different ones a week and working independently and in small groups! "Whew!" that didn't sound so bad...

Today we talked about poetry.  On Monday morning we will get a new poem to illustrate and add to our poetry notebook.  This week it is The Squirrel. After it had been illustrated and added to folders we talked about the workstation.  When your child visits the poetry station he/she will be putting the poem "puzzle" back together. They will have their own copy of the poem in their folder or the poster poem to help them!

We then talked about the HLT (higher level thinking).  When visiting this station your child will be creating thinking maps!  Today we introduced a new map...the Bubble Map is used for describing someone or something!  SO...we used our poem to help us describe the squirrel. After making a class bubble map about the squirrel we each made one to describe ourselves.  I was impressed at the describing words that were thought of! 

Lots of work was done this morning! Mrs. O'Hearn came in to talk to us today about the COOL KIDS PROGRAM.  (much like our blue/gold tickets last year) This year the students of Robertson Elementary will be collecting Cool Kid Cash. Once they have collected 10 from specials teachers then they can "buy" a pencil or a backpack tag!  She also talked to us about personal space.  Not always the easiest concept when you are 6! We will work on it for many, many days!

 
MATH TIME                                                                                                           

UPS check, UPS check, we can solve a problem with a UPS check!!  Have you ever heard that song before? I'm sure your child came home singing it last year! If not ask them to share it with you! 
In the U box we write the question that we are trying to answer and the information we need to answer the question.  P is for plan...we will be using SSM (Some and Some More/addition), SWA (Some Went Away/subtraction) and BSD (Bigger Smaller Difference/comparing more than or less than/subtraction).  S is for solve or sentence (number sentence). We take the information from the U and P boxes and make a number sentence.  Today we focused on acting the number sentence out to find the solution!  In the check box we drew a picture to make sure our number sentence was correct!  Everyone did an exceptional job!

We completed "setting" up our science journals today!  Tomorrow we are going to use and observe some science tools!  When I told them that...I had a few hopping up and down! I LOVE to see enthusiasm!!!

Again, I cannot thank you enough for sharing your little one with me!  I cherish every day with them! 

Don't forget THURSDAY is curriculum night! 7:30 in POD 1...SEE YOU THERE!