I hope that you are all doing well! Here are the plans again for Halloween. We will have the parade to the Laurels at 1:00. The parade route is as follows: walk down Park Ave. to Van Buren. We will take a right on to Van Buren down to 36th. Turn right on 36th Ave. Then walk toward Curtis. Turn right onto Curtis, taking it back to school.
Our class party will start after we get back from specials at 2:45 and go until 3:30. We will have snacks and a couple of games to play. It will be a great time!
Project Calvin is off to a great start! I am so overwhelmed by the money that is coming in and I am loving the big smiles on the faces of the kids as they transfer their money into our large container. There is such joy and pride in those smiles. Thank you for your support with this project. We will continue to collect money for awhile so there is still time to collect and send in money. I will give you an update sometime this week about how much we have raised so far.
This week in class we will be taking a math test which will cover both addition and subtraction strategies. Our focus has been counting on in addition, but the kids have been taught multiple strategies to use. In subtraction, the kids have learned multiple strategies as well. The main focus has been on using circle drawings. As we move through the year the kids will learn new strategies that will help them as well. We are also working on learning our math facts in a snap.
One way I am motivating the kids with their math facts is through something called ice-cream math. The kids will get a laminated ice-cream cone that will hang in our classroom and each week they will be able to take a timed quiz on the math facts they are learning. When they pass, they will earn a "sprinkle" on their ice-cream cone. When the kids meet the goal they set for themselves, they will earn a cherry sticker for the top of their ice-cream. At the end of the year we will have a real ice-cream party to celebrate our accomplishments. The kids are really excited!
Please continue to have your child read 20 minutes 5 - 7 days a week! You can also read to your child or take turns reading pages. It's a great way to end the night :) The kids are learning to look for chunks in words, small words in bigger words, digraphs (ch, wh, ck,etc.) and blends (bl, fr, sm, etc.), and word endings. This will be something that they continue to learn throughout the year, so you can help them chunk unknown words.
Before I share pictures of our Turkey Trot, which was so great!, and our partner readers, I want to remind you that the students have a half day on Friday. Please have your child wear his/her color run t-shirt on Friday as we will be having an assembly in the morning to share more ways we are better together!