Hopefully you all read our weekly newsletter with our plans to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday on Tuesday, March 2, 2010. We will be reading Dr. Seuss books, comparing and contrasting characters and events, cooking green eggs and ham and then surveying our friends to see if they like green eggs and ham! We will also be doing some math activities related to Dr. Seuss characters.
On Friday, Miss Harrington sent the kids off with a reminder notice that they are allowed to wear their pajamas to school in as part of our Dr. Seuss celebration on Tuesday, March 2nd. Please remember that your child must wear regular shoes to school: no slippers!
If you have a desire to help cook with us that day, please let me know. We will be cooking after recess, beginning at 10:20 a.m. Thanks so much for your support.
Hi everyone! Just in case your parents are checking the blog to see what I am up to, I thought I would write a quick note to say hello! I am having fun on my trip to NY and Boston! This is a picture of me with my 2 nieces, Bella ( pictured right next to me) and Gracie( pictured at top) and John Peter who is on the right! We had a great time visiting together, sledding down a hill in the beautifully fresh snow, visiting the MET Museum in New York City and playing with their sweet dog Elsa.
I miss all of you but I am enjoying my time too. Today I arrived in Boston to spend time with my son NIck who is studying for his Master's/PhD at MIT. He is in classes right now but I will get to see him very soon!
Thanks for checking in and I can't wait to see you all when school starts. Remember, Miss Harrington will be the only teacher for the week we return, but I will stop by at lunch each day to say hi to you all :-) I will be busy working around the school and finishing up report cards!
Although there are many other fun things for your child to be doing during winter break, it is also a great time to practice letter sounds! These are the pictures we use in class to practice our letter sounds. We have songs to go with them; ask your child to sing the song as he/she points to the objects!
Feel free to print off this poster and use it at home :-) Knowing letter sounds will help your child blend sounds to read words and isolate sounds and identify them when trying to write new words.
By now you have probably already heard the big news that today was moving day in Room 11! After 100 days of school it was definitely time to give our students a new group of table-mates and a new view of the classroom.
We began the day talking about why we were moving everyone and encouraging kids to find something new and exciting to share about their new spots. We also talked about how Miss Harrington and I know lots about our students now: especially how they work really well with some friends and sometimes get distracted by others. ( No names were mentioned, of course!) We wanted to involve them in the move as much as possible, so we made a plan. Step 1: Clean out our old desks, check to make sure we had all of our belongings and Step2: bring all of our things to the carpet.
As the bright-eyed excited students sat expectantly waiting to find out where they would sit, I took the karaoke microphone and announced their names, being sure to emphasize the benefits of each new spot. ( like being near the drinking fountain or being away from the traffic path!) Kids were noticing connections and calling out : "Hey, the purple table has 3 "J" names!" What could have been a stressful anxious time became a connection-making game where kids were predicting who would be the next member of each table! By the time they were all seated, students were enjoying talking with their new neighbors.
It might seem silly to make such a big deal about changing the seating in a classroom, but change can be both positive and simultaneously stressful for kids. Changing the environment in a positive and playful way, with kids taking responsibility for their own belongings, is an effective and important way to help them feel valued, happy and safe at school. Today was, indeed, a very good day!