I am still in complete shock and have been trying all night to think of the right words to express how honored and humbled (along with excited, baffled, mind-blown, etc.) I am to be chosen as the "Outstanding Elementary Educator Grades PreK-2" for CPS for the 2018-2019 school year...and I still can't come up with the right words! I have wanted to be a teacher since I was in 1st grade (thanks to my 1st grade teacher) and have lived my dream for 15 wonderful years! I love my job, every student I have taught (which is roughly 300 kids), their families, this town and the schools and staff I have worked at in CPS (Midway Heights, Alpha Hart, Paxton Keeley and Beulah Ralph) as a Kindergarten and First Grade teacher. I am beyond blessed and can't imagine doing any other job! I still don't know how I won this award with the hundreds of other wonderful teachers in this district, many of whom I learned from, but this is a moment I will never forget and am beyond humbled and grateful. Thank you to everyone who has inspired me, guided me, supported me and just been a part of this path with me. You are all loved so much! I am thankful I was able to share this with your wonderful children today (and about 30 other people who showed up in our classroom this morning as part of the surprise!) I also want to thank the many of you who wrote beautiful letters of support for me and helped make this possible. I will treasure your words forever and hold you extra close to my heart for the rest of my life!
Our class won the Lego Tub at last weeks school-wide Monday Morning Meeting and our creations are in the display case all this week across from the tech lab.
Illnesses galore! Influenza A has been going around Beulah Ralph the past couple of weeks and it seems to have hit our room as well. We have had several confirmed cases over the past 2 weeks. We are stressing proper hand-washing and keeping our hands and fingers out of our mouths and noses. I encourage every child to please bring a water bottle daily so we can make sure they are drinking plenty of water as well. Yay Brendi! She was chosen as our March Citizen of the Month!
A look at our learning...
Fundations: now that we are in 3rd trimester we are really stressing the importance of forming our letters correctly, writing on the lines correctly and writing neatly at all times, not just during Fundations/handwriting time.
Shared Reading: this week we worked on the new spelling words so & go. We read several new books to help us: We Go Up and Too Little, Too Big (this one was super silly, ask your child to tell you about it!)
Daily 5/Guided Reading Groups: in our reading groups we are working on building a bank of strategies to try when we come to an unknown word. When your child is stuck or if they appeal to you in hopes you will tell them the word, please use the following prompts first (don't tell them the word right away):
1) Look at the picture and think about what is happening
2) Get your mouth ready for the first sound (so if the word is hat, they need to make the h sound)
3) Tap it out or say the word slowly
4) Look for parts you know (ex: if the word is sand they should recognize the word wall word and and then be able to add the s sound to the beginning to put it together and read sand.)
5) Think "what would make sense?" or "what is happening in the story?"
If they are still stuck after trying at least 3 strategies then it is ok to just tell them the word. While we want them to try, we don't want them to become frustrated.
While we want them to sound out words, sometimes they get TOO focused on sounding them out that they lose all sense of story. Sometimes they just need to stop and think about what's happening and what would make sense. We can't sound out every word in the English language, so thinking what makes sense is very helpful.
Writing Workshop: to continue our non-fiction writing unit we have now began learning about dogs. We have learned about dogs as pets, service dogs, therapy dogs, farm dogs, etc. The children are now writing non-fiction books teaching about dogs, just like they did with penguins.
Ask your child to tell you 3 facts they have learned about dogs and plan on writing about.
Math: this week we focused on 3-D shapes. We sorted everyday objects and talked about what 3-D shape they are, made 3-D shape paint projects and learned a fun 3-D shapes song. Check it out below.
We will work on learning the following 3-D shapes: cube, cone, sphere, cylinder, rectangular prism and triangular prism
Mothersingers: the Mothersingers are a wonderful CPS tradition. They are a group of mothers, grandmothers, aunts. etc. who enjoy singing at the various schools. They are always a treat and leave everyone smiling! The kids enjoyed singing along!
Pi Night fun: we had a great turnout at the 3rd annual Pi night! Lots of fun games, prizes and of course Peggy Jean's Pies!
Science/Health: next week we will focus on nutrition and healthy food choices. We will celebrate on Friday with an "Eat the Rainbow" party. Thanks to everyone who has signed up to send in a food item for the celebration! There is still time to sign up if you haven't already! We hope to have many different and yummy foods to try.
