Highlights From the Week of September 21-25

There was lots of great learning this week!

Monday was a day of firsts!  We had our first community meeting and our first guidance class.
Each month everybody at Rowe School comes together for whole school assembly. Two or three teachers plan and run the community meeting with their classes.  The exciting news is we will be planning October's community meeting with Mrs. Melevsky's class.

Approximately every two weeks Mrs. Gross comes to our classroom to teach a guidance lesson.  This week she taught the students about what her role as a guidance counselor is.  She also introduced us to her friend Dakota, who often visits with her to teach her lessons.

On Tuesday we were surprised to find caterpillars in our classroom!  We were scientists and observed what we saw.  Then we recorded our observations in our new science journals.  We made new recordings on Thursday when we noticed the caterpillars were getting bigger and there was more thread in the container.

During Reader's Workshop we had a chance to test out different reading spots and chose a daily spot for read to self.  Some kids prefer sitting in chairs while others prefer sitting or laying on the carpet. Readers practiced reading pictures and retelling familiar stories.   Readers also practiced reading with a partner.  We came up with four expectations: sit shoulder to shoulder, book between both readers, use quiet voices, eyes on the book.

During Writer's Workshop writers learned to keep working.  Our motto is "When we are done, we have just begun."   When a writer finishes a piece of writing they can either add more to the picture, more to the words, or start a new story.   Writers also received their very own writing folder to organize their work.  Stories they are still working on go in the side with the green dot while finished stories go on the side with the red dot.

During math time we did a variety of activities.  We created a birthday graph, played a new counting game called Zap, practiced showing numbers in a variety of ways, and learned about a new tool called a five frame.  We also continued to establish our daily math routines which include calendar, number of the day, and weather.

Showing 5 with Pattern Blocks

Showing 5 with Linking Cubes

Showing 5 with Dominoes

Showing 5 with Fingers

Showing 5 with Fingers

Exploring 5 Frames 

Our greeting this week was "Who Took the Cookie From the Cookie Jar?"  On Friday afternoon we created cookies to use as illustrations for a class book. Yum!