Pages

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

December 2016

December 2016 

Our class is continuing to work hard. We have been really focused on reading and writing nonfiction text. The students have been reading many books on similar topics and thinking hard about how the information can go together even if it is in different books. We have also been looking carefully at nonfiction authors to see how they organize their books and what types of features they use to teach information. The kids are finding features they really like and using them in their own books. Yes, your kids are authors! We have a basket full of nonfiction books written by students in room 112. 

In math we are learning lots of shortcuts to adding and subtracting. Strategies that help us add and subtract without our fingers. The numbers are getting bigger and we just don't have enough fingers to use anymore. You can help at home by practicing adding doubles! Also, have your child explain how they figured out various math problems. Explaining aloud is a key element to their learning. 

A wonderful shout out to one of our parents, Brooklyn, who has been coming in once a week to teach art to the kids. They are making some amazing projects. We look forward to displaying them for everyone at our art night next spring. 

Hoping you all have a wonderful holiday season!

Ms. Kirk



Tuesday, November 1, 2016

November 2016

Welcome to my very first blog!

This has been a fabulous start to the school year. I am looking forward to meeting with each family during conference time next week. 

We just finished our first units in Reading and Writing. This is a new curriculum for the district and we all seem to be learning together. The focus for the first unit has been about how we are GROWING AS LEARNERS. We filled our wall with examples of how we have each grown and continue to grow as learners. We ended the unit with a celebration at the amount of growth each one has had. 

We are beginning November with new units in reading and writing on nonfiction. We will be studying nonfiction books as well as writing our own. Our goal is to watch ourselves GROW IN KNOWLEDGE. Each student will have the opportunity to share what they learn on our class board. I am excited to see us cover the board with all of our new knowledge. 

We are entering a new unit in math focused on adding and subtracting. I will be teaching strategies to help students with their math fact fluency. You can also help at home by practicing math facts to 20. This can be done with games, flashcards and websites you can find on our portaportal.

Thanks for helping make the beginning of the year such a success!

Ms. Kirk