September 11, 2016

September 11, 2016

Class 216 News

Families,
We have tucked 7 full days of school away, and now enter our first full week.  I hope your children are coming home feeling positive about their experiences, and ready to embrace each new day as it arrives in the morning.  Here is a little snapshot into some of our endeavors these past 7 days.

This Is Me and What I Believe
The student, oral presentations are getting underway this week.  Class 216 students had the opportunity to see two adult presentations so they could better understand the expectations of the presentations.  Mrs. Francke, school Guidance counselor and I both presented this week.  Take a look at the schedule in the email for your child's presentation date.

This Is Us!

Self-Portraits
An important tradition at the beginning of a school year is to have students do "self-portraits."  This work becomes one of the first pieces of student work/art to be displayed in our classroom and one that builds classroom community in the process of creating.  This year's beginning of the school year portraits were inspired by New York City pop artist, James Rizzi.

Math and Reading Workshop
Each day, students have been spending about 45 minutes in both math and reading workshop.  As mentioned before, students go to Ms. Slesar's classroom for Reading Workshop, and are in my classroom for Math Workshop.  These past few days have been spent setting routines, and building expectations, as well as incorporating some reading and math along the way.  Ask your child which math work station they enjoyed most - Connect Four, Tangrams, Dice Roll Addition, or Pattern Blocks.



Read Aloud
Our class read aloud is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  Many students are familiar with this story, but very welcoming of another listen.  This is the first time I have ever read this book to a class, in my 16 years of teaching.  It certainly stands among one of the most significant books in children's literature, ever.