Looking back at January

February is the shortest month and it is packed with special occasions. January had it's moments as well...starting with our quarter 2 school wide assessments.These show our growth since the beginning of the year. Young students are not always able to grasp the importance of the moment and may not demonstrate testing stamina from beginning to end. Small group work with a teacher allows meaningful insight on how the children truly approach their work daily.

 I-Ready has built in brain breaks...deep belly breathing with eyes closed helps children to relax and take some time away from the screen.

We piloted National Geographic's Ready Reading program in January and February. The unit was focused on animals and how they survive. We took a moment away from our anthology readers to view 2 deer that frequent the greenway behind our classroom. It allowed us to observe how deer 'browse' rather than graze...eating a little bit here and then moving on. 

After studying data and graphing in math, we decided to use it in a way that has relevance to us. The children are now tracking their spelling and math facts scores. We make sure to note if we were absent, or were an alternative speller.  The children can also make note of how much they practiced and if it changed their scores. I am quite surprised at how much they are enjoying this. They even remind me if I skip it!

Our school counselor, Mrs. Olson, comes to visit every Thursday morning. It is an opportunity for us to focus on our value of the month and how we use it in our lives. The children especially like when they get to act out situations and apply our peace builder promises.

Expectations are higher now that we are well into our year. Improperly placed capital letters are now counted off in our spelling tests and maths require more forethought and problem solving. We are also learning the craft of writing.
We started thinking about writing opinions in December, and in January, we started Writers Workshop. We began by selecting a topic we liked (There were 4 offerings and children were also allowed to use their own if they chose.) We learned that brainstorming allows us to get our ideas out in brief notes that make sense to the author. Then we can go back and organize these ideas into sentences.

 Mrs Franklin has been a great help keeping us on track!

We need to firm up our basic math facts to 20! If these are solid and fluent, we can even use them to aid our subtraction so they are very important. We use flash cards and track the facts we know within 3 seconds. We also use MOVE IT- a program that is similar to flash cards but includes intermittent breaks for movement. These breaks use 'Brain Gym' like moves which help both hemispheres of the brain communicate with each other.

 In case you do not have some sort of daily practice set up at home, I am sending home another copy of the sign up information for Xtramath.org to use at home. I have one student who has gone from 4 facts to 45 from using it! It is free and is very quick. 
click for more info on Xtramath
We ended our month creating valentines for Vets. The children loved learning how to make their own hearts . We cut out pictures from magazines and garden books to add that special touch. It was great fun to say thank you to our special guardians.

We only have about another week of February! March 9th is a day off for students while teachers gather for professional development. We have a potential day off on the 23rd if we don't have a surprise snow day, and then our spring break starts with a 1/2 day on March 30th.

Enjoy President's Day Monday, and we will see you on Tuesday morning.