Pre-Columbus Day Week!

We had a great week in our class. We worked hard and are ready for a nice 3 day weekend. I think we are all looking forward to a small break and catching up on some rest.

In literacy this week, we have continued to work on making good choices to make the most of our time in class. The kids are working on reading their sight words, writing the sight words they know well, picking "good fit" books, and writing lots of words. We've had to restrict the use of colored pencils and crayons for this time due to the amount of coloring vs. writing. Most kids have taken the news well, recognizing that coloring can happen at lots of different parts of our day, just not during literacy. We'll be introducing some menus for kids to use next week to help guide their time and use it in the most efficient way possible. I am looking forward to seeing if a new tool helps kids use their time more efficiently.

In Writer's Workshop, we have been practicing lower case letter formation, starting with the letters c,o, and s. When they finish, they then get out a picture and practice writing some sentences about the picture. I am checking to make sure they are really focusing on the letters we are working on, and depending on the child, also talking to them about other writing conventions (spaces between words, periods, capital letters at the beginning of sentences, etc.). The kids are going to make some great progress!

Next week will mark the start our unit on matter. I was posed the question by a friend recently, "If all things are made of matter, and matter has 3 states (Solid, liquid, gas), then when does wood turn into a liquid?" Good one, right? Check up on it and see what you think about the answer. I'll say this: carbon needs some very special circumstances to go into a state of liquid...

We had a great discussion at our last staff meeting about how we are doing instilling the idea of "grit" and perseverance when solving problems with our students. We have come to notice that with some of our students, they don't fully engage in a problem because of the fear of failure. They don't fully embrace the "growth mindset" that helps us all become our personal best in all areas, not just the ones we like or are naturally good at. This ties in well with our attitude of being brave in math class and Excellence, when referencing Rumney CARES. In class yesterday we were talking about Excellence, and what that means. The kids all agreed that Excellence is not being the best, it is being your best. I loved this distinction. I encourage you to talk more with your child about this.

Enjoy your long(ish) break, folks! Enjoy the foliage!

~B