There was a buzz in the air as the students first arrived, conversations of vacation stories filled the room, hugs and cheers of excitement exploded as each new student arrived, voices grew louder and louder as they began to announce the best gifts found under the tree, and the occasional glancing around was witnessed as if looking to see if Mrs. Pittorino was actually gone. Yes, it was true. She has now officially left the building. If we're lucky, we'll see her back soon as she promised she would visit us. But for now, the students will have to settle for good OLD Mrs. Webster as their Commander in Chief.
Once the newness wore off the class went straight to work on a writing piece that I had assigned right before the break. No words need to be spoken; they knew their assignment and got straight to work. Much to my surprise, all students completed the small writing piece, cut it out, mounted it on colored paper, and placed it in their scrapbook portfolio before the day had ended. This was a great sign!
With Mrs. Pittorino gone, I had big shoes to fill with the smartboard. Today I embraced the challenge as we spent almost 40 minutes on our "Every Day Counts" calendar math. Students reviewed the vocabulary of 3D shapes and counted the faces, edges and corners of each one displayed, they dabbled in area and perimeter, explored more multiplication combinations as it pertains to area, went shopping and made change after purchasing 5 items, and began to graph the weather in Upton as it compares to Seattle, WA. Overall, an engaging and fast paced math lesson that introduced, reinforced, and practiced math skills.
Building Stamina. Today we began to rebuild our reading stamina. There was not a sound to be heard as noses became buried in books. It's amazing what happens when students finally find books at just the right fit. During library class today the students were asked to find books that were their "good fit" book in other words, according to their Lexile number. Mrs. Gale showed them how they might check for a lexile number on our library computer system. There are two other places you can quickly find a book Lexile number to help build your child's reading comprehension. Lexile.com or Scholastic Book Wizard if your child is looking to find more books at their Lexile comfort Zone; check out these two sites for recommended books.
Speaking of books...today was the great Reveal of a brand new web resource...RAZ-Kids! Thank you so much for the gift that keeps on giving. With the generous classroom donations I was able to purchase a membership for our class on this website. Each student has his own icon on the site. Once logged in, they can click on their own personal icon and find an assortment of books at their individual reading level. Students can do many things with each book. They can listen to the story as it is read aloud to them, they can read it to themselves, or they can record themselves reading the story in order to work on their fluency, and even take a short quiz to check for comprehension. Similar to IXL in math, I will have access to each students reading performance. If your child gets a question wrong, I am able to identify the type of question it was. (For example: Main idea, cause and effect, inference) Subsequently, I can provide follow up remediation and support in areas that your child struggled with.
I am asking that each student login to RAZ-kids at home at least once a week. Our login is room313 (all one word) If you should have any trouble accessing this website, please let me know and I will be sure to support you. Parents can also access the information from this website to see how well your child is progressing and areas that you may be able to support at home. Once on the site, there is a parent’s login. You will need to register and provide an email in order to receive updates on your child's progress and performance. We will be using this site in class as much as we have time for. For those who have an ipad, ipod touch, or similar devices, you can access the site using these as well. There is an app for RAZ-kids you can download, but it is not part of my subscription so you will not be able to use the same login. I do suggest, and you can still use the app as a guest user for additional reading comprehension support and practice.
Jan Brett is January's Author of the Month. Today we spent a little time getting to know her as we watched a short autobiography. Did you know she lives right here in Massachusetts, owns a hedgehog, raises chickens and is married to Joe Hearne, who is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra? After trying to draw our own hedgehogs, we spent some time in the technology lab exploring her website. JanBrett.com Throughout the rest of the month we will be reading and studying her writing style and one of a kind illustration. Students are encouraged to visit her website at home. Check out the Author of the Month section to access her website directly.
Finally, you may have noticed that I did not give a lot of homework this week. Before you get too excited, NO.this is not my New Year's Resolution! Although I bet it would be the first one I would stick to if I had chosen it! One reason for this is, it's a short week. Another reason, more importantly, we are about to embark on our multiplication facts. This is going to involve a tag team approach of home and school skill and some drill. Our math program teaches students the concepts of multiplication and what it looks like. However, in order to become more fluent with number sense and computation, it is important for students to know their math facts down cold. Beginning next week, we will have weekly 1-minute tests to reinforce our multiplication facts. More details will be sent home and provided on the website. To get things rolling, I asked students to start practicing their 2's tables. Doubles facts have been worked on since 1st grade and should be mastered by this time in third grade. Therefore, for most students, this should be an easy task. On Friday we will take our first, quick, assessment. I will give all students many chances to pass the test on Friday so that ALL will feel success! Success breeds success. Again, more information will be sent out describing this process and what you can expect each week. For now, that is all I am going to divulge!
In 2013 my resolution is simple... b grateful for what you have, b thoughtful and respectful of what others have and don't have, and b a positive influence- b the change you want to see happen.
Here's hoping that you have the best and brightest year of all in 2013!