Hey All,
It was wonderful meeting with all of you for conferences over the past few weeks. I really appreciated the time to sit and discuss your child's progress and goals for the rest of the year. If ever you'd like to talk more or if you have anything to discuss anytime, let me know. I am always happy to meet and talk about any questions, concerns or celebrations.
We had some great discussion about the election where we talked about how the process of picking a president works and how that led to Donald Trump became president. We gave them a helpful anecdote, which they immediately understood. We talked about having them imagine losing a game that they really wanted to win. It can feels disappointing, discouraging and frustrating. That said, your job as someone who loses is to congratulate your opponent and then ask yourself this question: what do I need to do to give myself the greatest chance at winning the next time (if that is, in fact, important to you)? Does it mean working harder? Yup. Does it mean practicing more? Yup. Does it mean that you will win next time for sure? Nope. It only means that you did everything you could do to make the outcome the one you want, and that you can always feel good about working hard and getting better at something. You'll always have that.
We have been working hard on some small moment writing stories, which will lead to a wring prompt and assessment in the weeks to come. The kids are working on applying their spelling skills as well as stretching out their story to add more and more details to make it fun to read for the reader. The kids are making great progress!
I am meeting with reading groups and I have loved seeing them continue to grow as readers. Make sure that your children are doing lots of reading at home. If you'd like strategy sheets that show the reading strategies we use in class or the sight word lists that help kids read more and more fluently. You can check out my class blog reading page to find out more. I have some of this posted there.
We will be starting our science unit on sound after Thanksgiving break. If you could, send in some toilet paper rolls when you get the chance. They will be used in our unit when we do some building. I really appreciated Emily and Hannah coming in and doing a great 4 Winds lesson on bugs and metamorphosis. The kids (and Chris and I) learned lots!
After Thanksgiving Break our "Lunch Bunch" will be changing. This new group will meet in a quiet space outside of the lunchroom to eat while practicing social skills. Your child may or may not be involved in this.
As the weather changes, the kids will need clothes at school that meet these new needs. Please be sure your kids are coming in with appropriate clothing (snow next week!).
I think that's about it for the update. Let me know if you need anything else!
~B
