Weekly Newsleteer 12.15.13

This week, KIS ACHIEVE continued Touch Math Unit 2: Introducing Place Value Tens and Ones. We reinforce this skill daily in our "Rise and Shine" binder. Students have been counting down our days of school and also using their place value by manipulating blocks. The "Rise and Shine" binder has been a wonderful tool implemented because the students can reinforce the skills they learn in class while incorporating functional daily skills such as recognizing days of the week, weather forecast, and number sentence building.

In Social Studies, we read Weslandia by Paul Fleishman. The students were introduced to the first two characteristics that make a strong civilization. The two we focused on were cites and government. First, they learned what a "boss" meant. Second, we learned about who our USA, State, and City bosses were. The students knew Obama right away. I made each student come up and point out the USA. Then, we learned about John Kasich and he was the "Ohio Boss." The students came up to the board and pointed to Ohio. Last, we talked about Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. The students came up to the map once again to point to Cleveland. The students completed a sort between all three political figures.

We finalized our Solar System with the students making moons made out of glue and shaving cream. The students learned "Who does Science?" this week. We watched a video on BrainPop about astronaut Sally Ride. After the video, the students tested the hypothesis on "Who can do Science." We did an experiment called "Walking Water." The students followed directions by adding water and food coloring. Next, you put a paper towel in one side of the cup with the concoction and on the other side should be a cup with nothing in it.

Friday, the students went on a field trip with APE. They went to Spires in Geneva to do gymnastics and other activities. I was at a conference for Milestones but I heard it was a good time had by all.

This week we reviewed:

Word Wall: him, into, time, has, look

5th grade words: language, discovery, hour, length

December Word Wall: Hanukkah, Kwanzas, traditions

Reading: Weslandia

Phonics: hard g

Social Studies: Regions and People in the Western Hemisphere

Writing: Opinion

Math: Introducing Place Value Tens and Ones & IEP Goals

Science: Solar System

Weekly Newsletter 12.6.13

This week, KIS ACHIEVE some students started Touch Math Unit 2: Introducing Place Value Tens and Ones. Other students worked on fact families. In Social Studies, we are continuing our unit on Regions and People in the Western Hemisphere. This week we will read Weslandia by Paul Fleishman and link the 8 characteristics to Weslandia worksheet. We continued to work heavily on blending words and the practice of phonemic awareness. We also continue to work on building sentences and identifying adjectives. We continued to study planet Earth and the students were introduced to Mars.

Last Thursday, we were invited to KMS to make crafts for their sale to support Geauga Humane Society's Rescue Village. The kids made hair bows, ornaments, chocolate suckers, and duck tape wallets.

This week we reviewed:

Word Wall: some, her, would, make, like

5th grade words: language, discovery, hour, length

December Word Wall: ornament, gifts, sleigh

Reading: Our Good Night Story (Reading A-Z, Level D) and Friends in the Stars (Reading A-Z, Level F)

Phonics: blending words

Social Studies: Regions and People in the Western Hemisphere

Writing: Opinion

Math: IEP Goals

Science: Solar System

Dates to Remember:

12/13 - APE Field Trip

Weekly Newsletter 11.22.13

This week KIS ACHIEVE continued to work on their Thanksgiving theme unit. We read Mash the Potatoes (Reading A-Z, Level C) and Maria’s Thanksgiving (Reading A-Z, Level H). The students completed a sequence on how to make mash potatoes. We incorporated our counting by 5's lesson by making our own classroom anchor chart. We all traced our hands and designed our turkeys. Thanksgiving is such a fun time to create themed activities for math!

This was an unusual week with back to back field trips Wednesday-Friday. Wednesday, we attended Playhouse Square with the 5th graders from Mrs. Austen and Mrs. Johnston's class. We learned Improv and how to act and dance using scripts and choreography from Wicked.

Thursday, Geauga ACHIEVE students, teachers and staff were fortunate enough to be treated to a movie day by an anonymous family. We saw Free Birds and everyone was given a snack of popcorn, lemonade, and Skittles. The kids enjoyed the movie so much. Friday, we went swimming with Ms. Katelyn and our Timmons friends. We ate lunch at the Y and was able to let some energy out.

This week we reviewed:

Word Wall: many, them, then, these, so

November Word Wall: Mayflower, Pilgrim, Indians, Cornucopia

Reading: Mash the Potatoes (Reading A-Z, Level C) and Maria’s Thanksgiving (Reading A-Z, Level H)

Phonics: blending words

Social Studies: Native Americans

Writing: Content

Math: IEP Goals

Science: Solar System

Dates to Remember:

11/27 - No School - Conference Break

11/28 - No School -Thanksgiving Day

11/29 - No School –Thanksgiving Break

Weekly Newsletter 11.15.13

This week, we continued our unit on Earth and Space Sciences. The students will demonstrate an understanding about how Earth systems and processes interact in the geosphere resulting in the habitability of Earth. This includes demonstrating an understanding of the composition of the Universe, the Solar System and Earth. In addition, it includes understanding the properties and the interconnected nature of Earth's systems, processes that shape Earth and Earth's history. Students also demonstrate an understanding of how the concepts and principles of energy, matter, motion and forces explain Earth systems, the Solar System, and the Universe. We are beginning with the Solar System and this week we studied the planet Earth. We watched the Nova episode on Earth, read an adapted book on Earth and completed a KWL chart. On Friday, the students made the planet Earth with playdough. To prepare for Friday's project, the students incorporated reading and math to make their own playdough to get ready.

Our goal was to apply what they learned from class by layering each Earth layers.

What the earth layers are:

RED – inner core

ORANGE – outer core

YELLOW – mantle

BLACK – crust

BLUE AND GREEN – land and water

This is how the project was supposed to look :)

This is what one of the finished products looked like.

We sure did have a lot of fun making it!

We studied Veteran's Day on Monday. We tied in our Social Studies standard of timelines. We read about the history of Veteran's Day, how it got it's name and completed a KWL chart. They learned that it was originally called Armistice Day. We cut and glued a timeline and wrote in our journal why we are thankful for military folks. One of our teacher's made an amazing "Veteran's Wall" with pictures, newspaper articles, and personal mementos from their family members. As a daughter of a Vietnam Veteran I am so blessed that we are teaching student to recognize contributions they have made to our nation, and for our students to see people who live here because they have done things. They have been a part of armed services. They have served our country.

This week we reviewed:

Word Wall: will, up, other, about, out

November Word Wall: Earth, Native Americans, Feast, Pilgrim,

Reading: "I Can Count Money"

Phonics: initial sounds

Language Arts: Noun Sorts and will be introducing verbs.

Social Studies: Veteran's Day

Writing: Thankful to our Veteran's

Math: Arrays, Counting by 5's, Money, Place Value

Science: Solar System

Dates to Remember:

11/18 - United Way Week

11/20 - Field Trip with KIS 5th Grade to Playhouse Square for behind scenes of Wicked! (Rescheduled- Please wear comfy clothes, tennis shoes for dancing and a bagged lunch)

11/21 - Geauga ACHIEVE Movie Day

11/22 - APE Field Trip Swimming

11/27 - No School - Conference Break

11/28 - No School -Thanksgiving Day

11/29 - No School –Thanksgiving Break

Weekly Newsletter 11.8.13

This week, we continued our November unit on Thanksgiving. We wrote why we are thankful and what it means. The students had it displayed in the hallway. We watched a National Geographic video on The Mayflower. The kids were very fascinated with the large ship. This is the second week of our new calendar routine and the students morning binder. They are doing amazing memorizing their months, days of the week, and numbers. The students were also introduced to arrays and place value. We began our Big Idea unit on Money. We all read "I Can Count Money" from Reading A-Z and integrated counting by 5's to count pennies to make the coin. This is good because they all know and will tell you the reason they need to count by 5's is to learn to tell time on an analog clock. I am very proud of all of their progress of memorizing and fluently counting. Our goal is for some of our students to count by 5 by Winter Break.

In Social Studies, we read "Duck for President." We learned about voting, rules, and even did a mock election in class. The students had to vote for Duck or Mr. Carroll. The students learned that what they put on the ballot was private and nobody's business. We tallied up the votes on the Smartboard and announced the winner. The winner was Duck.

We participated in the Scholastic Book Fair this week at KIS. The KIS PTO was generous enough to include Geauga ACHIEVE in allotting all teachers $50.00 to spend on books for the classroom. I was so humbled by the Kenston PTO's generosity and how much we are all included. We purchased National Geographic Meerkats, Animal Picture Books, Ripley's Believe it or Not, and Leveled Readers. I also wanted to thank The Lynden's for buying our class a book. Thank you so much. :)

This week we reviewed:

Word Wall: she, do, how, if, there - Read the High Frequency book "She will be".

Fall Word Wall: Pilgrim, Mayflower, feast, celebration

Reading: "I Can Count Money"

Phonics: welded words

Language Arts: Noun Sorts and will be introducing verbs.

Social Studies: Thanksgiving History and Election Day

Writing: "What am I thankful for?"

Math: Arrays, Counting by 5's, Money, Place Value

Science: Insects

Dates to Remember:

11/11 - Veteran’s Day

11/12 - Field Trip with KIS 5th Grade to Playhouse Square

11/13 - KIS PTO Mtg. 9:30 AM

11/18 - United Way Week

11/21 - Geauga ACHIEVE Movie Day

11/22 - APE Field Trip Swimming

11/27 - No School - Conference Break

11/28 - No School -Thanksgiving Day

11/29 - No School –Thanksgiving Break

Weekly Newsletter 11.1.13

This week Mrs. Marshall's fifth grade friends wrapped up their spiders and bats unit. The week just flew by (no pun intended). We started the week off excited about Halloween. We were invited by Room 212 from KMS to make cupcakes and play games. Mrs. Schweickert and her class did a lovely job on making us feel welcomed. To prep my kids for going to a new place, we did a social story about KMS, the teacher, the rules we will follow, and to have fun. I am so proud of the students. They were very well mannered and we all had so much fun.

We will be sure to write out thank you cards on Monday. We are hoping we can get together again with Room 212. We were lucky that KIS Achieve was able to make connections with our units of bats. We made bat cupcakes!

KIS goes all out for Halloween. Mr. DiCello was dressed a fox and the PTO made our hall look like a real haunted house! Mrs. Robertson invited our kids to make slime and we made a scarecrow in Mrs. Marshall's class.

My brave girls even went past the scary haunted house to have their face painted.

This week we reviewed:

Word Wall: there use, an, each, which (Reiterated not the same witch from Halloween) Reviewed past sight words and made sentences.

Fall Word Wall: bats, nocturnal, life-cycle, Indians

Reading: Farm Animals

Phonics: consonant digraphs

Language Arts: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words

Social Studies: Plain Indians

Writing: Writing a thank you letter

Math:Geometric Shape Sort, time, money, Touch Math addition,

Science: Bats

Dates to Remember:

11/4 - Book Fair Week

11/6 - Gr.4 Breakfast & Books 7:15AM

11/7 - Gr.5 Breakfast & Books 7:15AM

11/11 - Veteran’s Day

11/13 - KIS PTO Mtg. 9:30 AM

11/18 - United Way Week

11/21 - Geauga ACHIEVE Movie Day

11/22 - APE Field Trip Swimming

11/27 - No School - Conference Break

11/28 - No School -Thanksgiving Day

11/29 - No School –Thanksgiving Break

Weekly Newsletter 10.25.13

What a week! As much as we all love school, I am sure your kids loved having the snow day on Thursday. It looked like a winter wonderland over on the eastside. I am sad to say that I did not see any snow over here where I live. We wrapped up our unit on landforms and will be studying Native American tribes Southwest and Plains. The kids love doing hands on activities and this week we made a volcano. Check it out!

The kids loved following the multi-step directions and we used our measuring skills. The activity consisted of vinegar, dish soap, baking soda, and food coloring. The volcano erupted! Why does this happen? The red lava is the result of a chemical reaction between the baking soda and vinegar. In this reaction, the carbon dioxide gas is produced, pressure builds up inside the plastic bottle until the gas bubbles out of the volcano. This is a good representation of what happens in real volcanoes.

The students were introduced to a real spider this week. It is a Rose Hair Tarantula named Sweetie Pie. I thought the kids would be scared but they were not. I am not 100% comfortable having a spider as our class pet so we will be bringing it back to my husband's room this week. Sweetie Pie likes eating a diverse menu including grasshoppers, crickets, moths, beetles, cockroaches and mealworms.

This week we will start our Bats unit. I do not plan on bringing any live bats to our class.

This week we reviewed:

Spelling Words: Reviewed words and started making sentences. Fall Word Wall: pumpkins, spider, scarecrow, apples, candy corn

Wilson Reading: consonant one syllable blends, welded sounds olt, old, ind, initial sounds

Language Arts: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words

Social Studies: Landforms - Volcanos and Mountains (Canadian Rockies)

Writing: Prewriting-Students generate ideas for writing through class discussion and by drawing pictures about their ideas for self-selected and assigned topics.

Math:Geometric Shape Sort, time, money, addition,

Science: Spiders

Dates to Remember:

10/29 - Conferences 3:30-8:00 pm

10/29 - Mix it Up Day

10/31 - Fall Festival Parties

Weekly Newsletter 10.18.13

It is time to start thinking about tricks and treats. October is such a fun and spooky month. It is a great time to bring in some nonfiction learning on bats and spiders. The students loved to learn about creepy, crawly things! Did you know that four out of my five students wanted a pet spider? We asked them what they would do with the spider if they had it as a pet. Some students wanted to put make-up on it and hair bows. One student named it Sweetie Pie! Another student picked the name Sam.I am super excited to see if they still want a spider for a pet when I bring the real one in this week. Luckily, my husband is a Science teacher and he was generous enough to lend the spider to us! I will be sure to give you the update and I plan on taking a new survey once they visit our spider.

This week we reviewed:

Spelling Words: we, when, your, can, said 5th grade sight words: community, dance, expensive, automobile, bicycle Fall Word Wall: pumpkins, spider, scarecrow, apples, candy corn

Wilson Reading: consonant one syllable blends, welded sounds olt, old, ind, initial sounds

Language Arts: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words

Social Studies: Landforms - Volcanos and Mountains (Canadian Rockies)

Writing: Writing lists and opinions and introducing journal

Math: Geometric Shape Sort, time, money, addition,

multiplication and subtraction(Student A)

Science: Spiders

Dates to Remember:

10/22 - 5th Grade Skate Night

10/24 - Conferences

10/25 - Crazy Hat Day

Weekly Newsletter 10.11.13

Hello Parents! I hope you had a great week! This week went super-fast but we accomplished a lot! Here are a few updates to bring to your attention!

As you know we had so much fun going bowling with Miss. Katelyn. I never knew some of our kids had mad skills on the bowling lanes! We were lucky enough to bowl with our friends from Timmons Elementary and Cardinal High School. We are all so excited for the next trip swimming.

Our character trait of the month continues to be 'Respect.' We are continuously reinforcing the trait by encouraging the students to be positive, polite, and work as a team. We like to offer many opportunities for the students to practice respectful behavior. By reinforcing positive character-building skills at home and school, students will acquired the essential character-building skills and habits.

This week we reviewed:

Spelling Words: but, not, what, all, were 5th grade sight words: community, dance, expensive, automobile, bicycle Fall Word Wall: pumpkins, spider, scarecrow, apples, candy corn

Wilson Reading: consonant one syllable blends, welded sounds olt, old, ind, initial sounds

Language Arts: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words

Social Studies: Ecosystem, Owls

Writing: Writing lists and opinions and introducing journal

Math: Geometric Shape Sort, time, money, addition,

multiplication and subtraction(Student A)

Science: Pumpkin Unit - Life Cycle of a Pumpkin

Weekly Newsletter 10.4.13

Another week went flying by! KIS ACHIEVE were very active on Thursday when we participated in KIS PTO Fundraiser- Run Blue, Walk Blue, Pledge Blue at KIS Stadium. One of our students ran twelve laps! Way to go!!! The students got their pictures back and they looked so wonderful.

In reading, we will be learning that good readers ask questions before, during, and after reading. This week we started formulating questions. Literal questions are a hard concepts because most students take every literally. It is my goal to have them "think and search" questions.

In Social Studies, we introduced the students to Google Earth. The kids loved it. We entered KIS and saw the school. They wanted to see where they lived, so we entered our addresses.

On a side note, I would like to remind the parents that we have a PTO meeting Tuesday night at Mangia! Mangia! in Newbury. We are so appreciative of Mangia for supplying the food for our fundraiser.

This week we reviewed:

Spelling Words: or, had, one, be, word and 5th grade sight words community and expensive

Wilson Reading: closed syllables, blends and short o

Language Arts: They will continue to practice the strategy of “asking and answering questions” to help them better understand what they read.

Social Studies: Timeline, US Regions, and Maps

Writing: Writing lists and opinions

Math: Solving word problems with addition and subtraction

Science: Pumpkin Unit - Life Cycle of a Pumpkin

Our PEAK Character Trait for the Month of October is RESPECT.

Dates to know:

10.8 Geauga ACHIEVE PTO Meeting at Mangia! Mangia! - 6-7:30 pm

10.9 KIS PTO Meeting - 9:30 AM

10.10 Picture Retake Day

10.11 Bowling with APE

10.17 Chagrin Falls Park "Lights On" Evening

10.22 Grade 5 Skate Night - 6:30-8:30 pm

Weekly Newsletter 9.27.13

This week was action packed in KIS ACHIEVE! The students kicked off our Fall Unit with pumpkins galore! The students used inquiry to predict what is inside a pumpkin. Mrs. Karn cooked the pumpkin seeds and we ate them. :) We set aside a few to glue on our craft and when Mrs. Marshall opened the pumpkin we discovered mold all over! This got us thinking that we will do a "Pumpkin Jack" experiment and watch it change or rot. ;)

We also went putt putt with Ms. Katelyn and our friends at Timmons. A huge thank you to Bella's mom for providing a room and ice cream. We appreciate it. We were so proud of our kids considering our bus broke down and we had to wait for it to be fixed. Another huge thanks to Ms. Rex and Ms. Katelyn for running out to Wendy's and feeding us!

This week we reviewed:

Spelling Words: at, be this, have, from

Wilson Reading: short a sound and students read aloud We all Can!

Language Arts: They will continue to practice the strategy of “asking and answering questions” to help them better understand what they read.

Social Studies: Timeline, US Regions, and Maps

Writing: As a whole, we need more practicing with adding describing words to our personal stories! We will continue to work on the strategy this week!

Math: We began unit two which focuses on making up, representing, and solving addition number stories, reviewing and applying alternative strategies for addition and subtraction, and practicing addition and subtraction facts for sums and differences up to 10.

Science: Pumpkin Unit "Outside-Inside a Pumpkin

Dates to know:

10.3 - KIS PTO Fundraiser- Run Blue, Walk Blue, Pledge Blue at KIS Stadium

10.4 KHS Homecoming Game

10.11 Bowling with APE

Weekly Newsletter 9.20.13

This week, KIS ACHIEVE students continued to work on our Charlotte's Web book. I sent home the book and their comprehension packet for you to review. We will continue to work on Charlotte's Web and cannot wait to move into Global Read Aloud. Most of the students are working on Touch Math to reinforce their number sense. Everyone is doing a wonderful job. We have worked on the skills of reading and writing numbers 0-5. We have also focused on the concepts of greater than, less than and equal to. Finally, we have started working on the concept of one more. Since we have such a diverse group of learners, my other students are working on multiplication and arrays. I would like to try to enhance fluency so we may be doing quick drills daily. We will be introducing our Fall unit this week.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature was not too kind to us this past Friday. We were forced to cancel out field trip but I am happy to report that it has been rescheduled for Friday, September 27th. Students will get on the bus at 10:30am, golf from 11-12 and take a trip to Wendy’s in Chardon for lunch. We will return to school by 1:30. I will send out a menu for Wendy's and forms for you to order and send money. If you want your child to bring their lunch that is fine too. We were able to participate in International Peace Day this past Friday. The student's made flags in Mrs. Allemang's art class. International Day of Peace provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of peace on a shared date. In 2002, the General Assembly officially declared Sept. 21 as that date but because it fell on a Saturday, Kenston students celebrated Friday, Sept. 20. We also kicked off the KIS PTO Fundraiser. The kids got to see their favorite Kenston teachers do activities in the gym. Everyone was super excited with lots of high energy. We sent the packet home with you.

This week we reviewed:

Spelling Words: as, with, his, they, I

Wilson Reading: short a sound and students read aloud Let’s Be Pals and Zak and Cat

Social Studies: All About Me Timeline

Writing: Our Address Social Studies Strand - All About Me

Math: Base 10 number operations

Science: Animal identification

Dates to know:

9/27: APE Field Trip - Putt Putt

Weekly Newsletter 9.13

Good Morning! It is hard to believe we have been in school for over a month! September has been flying by and the students are settled in.

The students will be taking their STARS assessments soon. STAR assessments allow teachers to accurately evaluate students’ abilities in just 10 to 15 minutes. I will then use information provided by the assessments to target instruction, provide students with the most appropriate instructional materials, and intervene with struggling students. They are not allowed to use accommodations for these tests but there will NOT be a grade. All students will get a “benchmark score” (completed 3 times a year) and we’ll use the assessments to progress monitor (approx. every 2 weeks) your child as well.

We were visited by our therapy dog Calena. The students had so much fun and we are happy to welcome her every two weeks. :)

The students read the first four chapters of Charlotte's Web. We completed comprehension checks and they were introduced to the characters. On "Fun Friday" we watched the first few chapters during lunch.

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This week we reviewed:

Spelling Words: he, was, for, on, are; 5th Grade Sight Words: exercise, dance, expensive, forecast, heart

Wilson Reading: 3 sounds in a word - cat, mat, sat

Social Studies: All About Me and Hero's of 911

Writing: Our Address Social Studies Strand - All About Me

Math: Count with base ten blocks using a cube (1) and a long (10), Addition numbers 1-5 using touch points

Science: Weather Unit - Weather Sort

Dates to know:

9/20: APE Field Trip - Putt Putt

To reinforce the skills we learned in class. I would love if your children could practice Spelling City at home. It has some wonderful games with their targeted sight words. See the sidebar under websites to login.

Weekly Newsletter 9.6.13

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for the wonderful items our kiddo's shared in their "Me Bags." We enjoyed seeing family pictures, baby pics, and items that were special to them. :) Some students will be sharing on Monday and we cannot wait.

Friday picture day was a success. Thank you Mrs. K. for making sure that our students had beautiful smiles. The boys looked handsome and the girls looked very pretty. (They are always adorable)

In Social Studies, our topic will be "All About Me" unit. This will tie into our Grade 5 standards. <

Theme: Regions and People of the Western Hemisphere

Strand: History

Topic Historical Thinking: Historical thinking begins with a clear sense of time – past, present and future – and becomes more precise as students progress. Historical thinking includes skills such as locating, researching, analyzing and interpreting primary and secondary sources so that students can begin to understand the relationships among events and draw conclusions.

Content Statement: 1. Multiple-tier timelines can be used to show relationships among events and places.

We lesson will be to create a timeline. I am so excited because I cannot wait to see all of the special events in my student's life.

Parents: If you could send 4-5 pictures in your child's life we will create our timeline. I understand how precious pics are. Your children are my son's age and I think digital cameras came around a few years after 2002. I will copy the photos, laminate them and return them ASAP. If you were able to print the digital on paper, I can laminate it as well. If you do not have a colored printer, please email them to me and I will print. Stephanie.Marshall@geaugaesc.org. I will send a hard copy note in case you did not read the blog. I would like them in by Tuesday or Wednesday.

This week we reviewed:

Spelling Words: in, is, you, that, it; 5th Grade Sight Words: exercise, dance, expensive, forecast, heart

Wilson Reading: Consonants

Vocabulary in Social Studies: longitude, latitude, equator

Writing: Our Address (Social Studies Strand - All About Me)

Math: Number Recognition and addition with manipulatives

Science: Weather Unit - KWL Chart on Weather.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend with your family. Mine was busy as usual. My son had his first football scrimmage and my youngest daughters 4th birthday is today. :) Again, if you have questions, please email or call.

Weekly Newsletter 8.30.13

Good Evening Parents! It is 8:30 p.m. on Friday as I am writing you and it is dark outside  Where did the summer go? I guess this means we are quickly approaching fall. The past two weeks in the class have been busy following our various schedules of inclusion, therapists, gaining trust, and learning routines.

As we roll into September, I am looking forward to introducing new concepts to the kids. One, will be a Math Journal called “Number of the Day.” You will get one from your child each quarter. I will have them work on it during math centers. It is great because I can also differentiate each student’s abilities.

Second, we will be participating in a program called Global Read Aloud.

Last year, one of the book studies was Charlotte’s Web. Since Global Read Aloud does not start until September 30th, I would like to practice the student’s stamina of reading/listening to a chapter book. We will do a modified version of Charlotte’s Web starting Tuesday.

Reading: We will continue to practice our mastered sight words as well as introduce new ones.

Science: Nonliving/Living Unit

Social Studies: Maps and Community

Math: Work on individual IEP goals…ranging from Number Sense to Applications

Spelling: We spelled our sight words using play dough this week. (Sorry for the mess!)

Important Dates:

September 6 - Picture Day

I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend!

Weekly Newsletter 8.23.13

We had a wonderful first week! I was so excited to meet all of my students and am so lucky to have Mrs. Karn and Mrs. Porkorny on my team! My #1 goal is getting to know each child and keeping them safe, happy, and learning.

This week we introduced the new schedule to our kids. We were very proud on how well they can adapt to the chaotic schedule and how well they progressed over the summer. We worked on collecting data on IEP objectives and establishing a set routine that mirrored the hard work of Mrs. Southhall last year.

Our goal is to challenge our students and prepare them for middle school. We plan on doing a lot of fun activities and are excited to have Ms. Jen and her therapy dog Calena come into our classroom on Friday, September 13th and will continue every other week for the rest of the year.  I sent permission slips in the Friday Folder.

One of my favorite books is Doug Lemov's “Teach Like a Champion.” I am excited to implement a few techniques in my class this year.

One being SLANT which stands for Sit, Listen, Ask and Answer Questions, Nod your head, and Track the speaker.

One of my passions is teaching reading. I kind of fell into it by accident and rised to the challenge. One of my education idols is Dr. Robert Marzano. Marzano is an educational theorist and expert. He feels that involving students in assessing their own mastery of classroom content has a direct impact on mastery and achievement. It is very important to always have learning outcomes up on the board. I would like to get our students in the habit of expressively communicating what they did in our class. Since some may have trouble with expressive language we can incorporate their talker and make the “I Can” statements easy to repeat while posted on our board.

This week we reviewed:

Spelling Words: the, of, a, and, to & 4th and 5th Grade Sight Word Assessment (Student A)

Wilson Reading: Introducing short vowels - a apple /ă/, e Ed /ĕ/, i itch/ ĭ/, o octopuss /ŏ/, u up ŭ

Vocabulary in Social Studies: longitude, latitude, equator

Writing: Daily Journal Prompts

Math: Review addition (Student A) & counting and identifying numbers from 1-20

Science: Introduced the Scientific Method by playing the game “Saving Fred” and Understand the nature of scientific inquiry by doing the experiment Mountain Dew Light Up Bottle. I am sad to say that it did not work like we thought it might. 

Therapy Dog Program

I am very excited that Ms. Jones has asked us to participate in the therapy dog program! We will begin Friday, September 13th and will continue every other week. We will be addressing our academic and behavioral goals through our work with Calena and her owner Ms. Jen. I will send home a permission slip so that your child may participate.

Class Calendar

My Talented Daughter!

She is amazing!

Welcome!

I am so excited to be your teacher this year! Our Educational Aides this year with be Terri Karn and Shelly Porkorny. I would like to keep this blog as an added communication along with the usual notebooks, emails, and phone calls. I have a lot of fun things planned this year. Many of you have asked about supplies. These are not necessary, but rather a donation.

Supplies for 2013/2014 KIS Geauga Achieve

3 large glue sticks

1 plastic folder with pockets, any color (Friday Folder)

2 "O" Rings

2 Ziplock Bags (Gallon or sandwich size)

2 Disinfectant Wipes

1 Pack of Markers

2 Box of Tissues

1 Box of Velcro