The first week back from winter break was a great success! Students were quick to remember their daily routines and just as eager to get back to working hard with everything. From our morning journal and phonics, to reading and math, and through writing and spelling words, children from Room 108 were positive, cooperative, and showed great signs of responsibility and respect. With all the excellent performance and effort, children earned plenty of independent work time and even a couple whole class recesses!
To celebrate the New Year, many cities have elaborate firework displays. Here is one that stuck out in my mind from the Fourth of July last year. I know it's not a New Year's Eve display but I think it's an outstanding display nonetheless. Happy New Year!!
Friday marked the beginning of Room 108's Art Start experience with local musical professional, John Milan. He is teaching all Mann first graders to play the harmonica. "John," as he prefers the children to call him, will teach six sessions on consecutive Fridays with each session lasting approximately 50 minutes. Our first session covered the basics of playing the instrument and had the class play simple tunes like "London Bridge" and "Twinkle, Twinkle." John really motivated the kids with his opening rendition of the Star Wars theme song! Check back next week for more info and pictures from Harmonica 101. Many thanks to the Oak Park Education Foundation for funding the Art Start program and making these unique opportunities available to our students.
Homework packets went home on Friday as well. Homework packets will be sent home every Friday from now until spring break. Each packet is due by the following Friday, at the latest. Packets can be turned in as soon as they are completed. The idea of the packet is to provide some extra work for your child at home to strengthen skills taught at school, extend thinking, and provide some enrichment in a variety of content areas. If you have any questions about the packet or your child has misplaced it, e-mail me.
Room 108 has a full five day week ahead with another list of spelling words and all our specials. We will honor Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday on Friday with some activities and schools will be closed on Monday, January 18. That's all for now. With warmer weather this week, students should be lining up outside in the mornings. Hope to see you on the blacktop!
Happy 2010!! Hopefully the new year brings plenty of opportunity for for new learning experiences and excitement for you and your family! 2009 was a great year for students in Room 108 going back to students from the spring and continuing on with a new group of first graders in the fall. Learning can be designed in a very organized and structured pattern for children but the children and their personalities are always unpredictable. As we look ahead to the second half of the first grade experience, expectations are heightened for student responsibility, behavior, and performance. Remember, success is relative to individual needs and measured by effort.
Unit 5 will be underway in both Everyday Math and Open Court Reading. New math concepts will focus on place value, number problems, as well as "easy" math facts and double digit addition. Other math skills will be frequently reviewed in a variety of methods such as games, worksheets, workbook pages and mental math. The Family HomeLink Letter for Unit 5 (and all future and past units) can be found here. The next unit in Open-Court Reading is titled Weatherand will storm through a variety of stories aimed at enhancing knowledge and awareness of weather. Specific reading skills for the unit will include making predictions, cause and effect, summarizing, and making inferences. Some of you might want some additional resources for the unit or a refresher on some of thebasic sight words, both can use this site as a starting point.
Most of this week will also include plenty of "refresher" activities like community circle, calendar, and of course our morning routine. The idea is to get back into the swing of things in Room 108 and at Mann School. There will be spelling words for the week and they will be available on the blog Monday after school. I hope you are all ready to get back into the school routine and had a blessed and restful winter break. In parting, I will leave you with a photo slideshow of pictures I took during the Zoolights Festival at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. I'm interested to know if any of you took your family, or any other loved ones, to this light festival or the one at the Brookfield Zoo. Please comment below to share!
