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Thanksgiving-Themed Activities

During our short, three day week students did a few Thanksgiving-Themed activities.  It is always nice when we can make a connection to our curriculum through special occasions that the children are looking forward to enjoying!

Students practiced measuring to the nearest inch with the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock.

More measuring

Making a fringe-cut turkey was a big hit for the whole class!

 

During math, students decided what foods they would like to have for their Thanksgiving dinner and then had to find out the value of their meal by totaling all food amounts.

More turkey art

Saying 'Goodbye'

We hate to have to say 'goodbye', but Miss Siekman's time at UMS is quickly drawing to a close.  Her last day will be this Friday, December 3rd.  Miss Siekman has been a true asset to our classroom and I know she will be a fabulous teacher with her own classroom soon!  Thank you for all of your hard work.  We have loved having you here at UMS!

Where is Mrs. Hughes

As you know from Miss Siekman's letter last week she is 'solo teaching' this week.  I've tried very hard to stay out of the classroom, but I do pop in and out throughout the day.  Miss Siekman has been keeping me up to date on how the boys and girls are doing and I miss them very much.  So, what have I been doing?

Miss Siekman's 'solo teaching' has allowed me the opportunity to do many assessments with the boys and girls in preparation for report cards and parent/teacher conferences.  I have being pulling students to give reading and math assessments (you will see the results soon). 

I will be back in the classroom next week and look forward to seeing you all soon for parent/teacher conferences!

Assessment

As you know we will be having our parent/teacher conferences in just a few short weeks.  In order to prepare for conferences and report cards I will be doing assessments with students over the next two weeks.  If your child mentions that they have been doing a 'different' type of reading with me this is probably what they are referring to.

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Spelling Groups

This week we have started a new system for our S.W.R. (spelling) time.  In an effort to meet all students' varying needs we are working in small groups during spelling.  The class has been broken into four groups (these are flexible groups and I will reassess them using daily writing samples and spelling 'check-ups').  Each group goes to one station a day (Monday - Thursday) with a whole-class 'check-up' on Friday.  The spelling stations are currently:  teacher station (differentiated skills), 'red' word practice, word family practice, and computers.  I can explain our system more at conferences, but I hope this gives you a general picture of how and why we have modified things a bit.

Rainbow words were a big hit!

I love seeing smiles during spelling!

One of our other stations is word building (practicing word family words).

Each spelling group will meet with me once a week (here Miss Siekman is leading the group while I snap photos).

Students always love time on the computer.  I am putting together an area on the blog where students will access appropriate games/activities for their computer time.