News and Greetings from Room 24!

Here is a brief summary of what's going on !

In reading, the children continue to meet in their Guided Reading groups.  Ask your child to describe the focus of the work he/she is doing in guided reading.  Also, see if your child can explain how the work done in guided reading helps them to understand their good fit books. In addition, during Turn and Talk we have been discussing how readers listen to their "Inner Voice" as they read. Have a chat with your child about how he/she uses their inner voice to help them comprehend. The children are gradually becoming more accountable for documenting their deep thinking while reading. This process will soon be added to their daily reading at home. Look for more info. in the next week or two explaining how this will work and the general expectations.

In the writing the children continue to work on a variety of pieces and are individually at various steps in the writing process. We have been exploring poetry in preparation for some fun and creative poetry writing. Hope you had a chance to see your child's thesaurus activity. They had fun burying those old tired and overused words, and replacing them with words with more pizaaz! Most children need lots of practice with the application of language mechanics, capitalization and punctuation. That is an ongoing focus of their individual writing conferences with me.

In math, we are in our next unit, multiplication and division. Many of the children would benefit from additional fact practice at home. It is a good idea to keep those game directions handy when they are returned. The games are a fun and painless way to work on those facts! You should have received your child's math unit reflection sheet. Please review it, sign it and return it as soon as possible.

Veteran's Day is next week, Nov. 11, a regular school day. We will take time to honor our Veterans. Please send in the name and photo (if possible) of any veterans (family or friend) so that we can properly honor them at our school wide assembly. A notice from the office is coming soon. Also, we will be working on making "Thank You" and holiday cards which we will be sending to recovering American soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

IMPORTANT - Well it's all important, but.....

* If it becomes necessary to delay the opening of school, kindergarten sessions and morning pre-school sessions will be automatically canceled.

* If it becomes necessary to dismiss school early, afternoon kindergarten will automatically be canceled. Early dismissal will follow the abbreviated day systemwide schedule, which is delineated on the back of the school calendar.

* If it becomes necessary to delay the opening of school on an elementary conference day, the regular day dismissal times will be followed and conferences will be rescheduled.

* If it becomes necessary to dismiss schools early on an elementary conference day, conferences will be rescheduled. 

In anticipation of our annual clothing drive, you may want to start setting aside any cold weather clothing and accessories, blankets and sleeping bags. More info. soon.

Mrs. Maxa