Saturday, September 23, 2006
School Update #1
Wow! I can't believe that 2 weeks have gone by already. I guess that just proves the old saying true: "time flies when you're having fun!"
We sure have been having fun, but it has also been a busy two weeks! We're working hard to get ourselves into routines so that being in a one-room school house with 3 different grades and about 8 different levels is still conducive to learning!
A couple of changes for everyone to know about:
1. I would like to add 15 minutes to everyone's day because that will allow students to have those last 15 minutes for packing up and cleaning up and still getting out of the classroom on time. This way I can continue teaching right up until the 2 or 3 o'clock hour. Please take note that 1st graders will now be in school from 8:30 - 2:15 and 3rd and 5th graders will be in school from 9:30 - 3:15.
2. We will be studying either Social Studies OR Science. We will switch back and forth between units of study. Right now we are doing a Social Studies unit on Africa. We have recently been talking about stereotypes. Be sure to talk with you kids and find out what they're learning!
3. I have attached a calendar for the fall semester. Your child should also bring home a "hard copy" of it this week. More information about each event on the calender is forthcoming.
Also, I have done preliminary reading tests on most of your children at this point. I would like to schedule a time to test the rest of the children in the next week or two. I would also like to meet briefly with parents to discuss my findings. Please let me know when it's a good time to meet with you.
Finally, I have attached a few fun pictures of some things we did the first couple of weeks. Hope you enjoy the pictures! Be sure to ask your kids what we were doing if you're unclear about what's going on in the pictures.
The older kids practiced some science skills: classifying and sorting.
All students were apart of a human graph. First, they're lined up according to the month in which they were born. Then they're graphed according to their ages. Can you guess how they're graphed in the 3rd photo?!? I'll give you a clue: the children are, in order from left to right: Jae, Luke, Curt, James, David, Herin, Hannah and Elizabeth.
First graders made all bread letters for all 26 letters of the alphabet! It was fun and MESSY!
Elizabeth Fouts reads the book she wrote, "Orange Cat, Orange Cat" to fellow classmates, preschool students, and students' family members. James Baker also reads his book, "White Window, White Window" to the same group of people following a special lunch/recess visiting the Naramores house.
Thanks so much for all your help, support and encouragement. As always, please call or email with questions, comments or concerns.
We sure have been having fun, but it has also been a busy two weeks! We're working hard to get ourselves into routines so that being in a one-room school house with 3 different grades and about 8 different levels is still conducive to learning!
A couple of changes for everyone to know about:
1. I would like to add 15 minutes to everyone's day because that will allow students to have those last 15 minutes for packing up and cleaning up and still getting out of the classroom on time. This way I can continue teaching right up until the 2 or 3 o'clock hour. Please take note that 1st graders will now be in school from 8:30 - 2:15 and 3rd and 5th graders will be in school from 9:30 - 3:15.
2. We will be studying either Social Studies OR Science. We will switch back and forth between units of study. Right now we are doing a Social Studies unit on Africa. We have recently been talking about stereotypes. Be sure to talk with you kids and find out what they're learning!
3. I have attached a calendar for the fall semester. Your child should also bring home a "hard copy" of it this week. More information about each event on the calender is forthcoming.
Also, I have done preliminary reading tests on most of your children at this point. I would like to schedule a time to test the rest of the children in the next week or two. I would also like to meet briefly with parents to discuss my findings. Please let me know when it's a good time to meet with you.
Finally, I have attached a few fun pictures of some things we did the first couple of weeks. Hope you enjoy the pictures! Be sure to ask your kids what we were doing if you're unclear about what's going on in the pictures.
The older kids practiced some science skills: classifying and sorting.
All students were apart of a human graph. First, they're lined up according to the month in which they were born. Then they're graphed according to their ages. Can you guess how they're graphed in the 3rd photo?!? I'll give you a clue: the children are, in order from left to right: Jae, Luke, Curt, James, David, Herin, Hannah and Elizabeth.
First graders made all bread letters for all 26 letters of the alphabet! It was fun and MESSY!
Elizabeth Fouts reads the book she wrote, "Orange Cat, Orange Cat" to fellow classmates, preschool students, and students' family members. James Baker also reads his book, "White Window, White Window" to the same group of people following a special lunch/recess visiting the Naramores house.
Thanks so much for all your help, support and encouragement. As always, please call or email with questions, comments or concerns.
# posted by beth @ 3:34 PM 
