The Gower Gazette
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In the Classroom... Sept. 1, 2017
It was a great week of learning at the Willow. We focused on questions words: who, what, when, where, and why and are making sure to answer these questions as we work on our personal narratives. The kids are great writers and I am enjoying conferencing with them as they finish up their pieces.
In reading we focused on story elements with a focus on describing the characters in stories as well as the setting. Our Book of the Week was Farmer Duck. This is one of my most favorite stories that not only is great for reading, but integrates Social Studies nicely as we focus on having empathy and building a community of helpers. The kids worked collaboratively on Friday to create posters for each story element of this story and next week we will be turning it into a technology project. I'll share it with y'all when it is complete.
We were super excited to visit the garden this week for the first time. The kids learned appropriate garden behavior and little bit about the vegetables that grow in there. We will be visiting the garden throughout the school year to help plant and harvest the foods grown in it. Our school does provide garden gloves that is shared with all the students at our school; however, if you'd like to send in a pair for your child to keep in the classroom and use when needed that would be fine. Sometimes it takes awhile for the kids to find a pair that fit so having their own would help get us working in the garden a little faster. Please know it's not mandatory, your child is certainly welcome to use the shared gloves from the garden.
In Math this week we focused on addition. We learned some new math words: equation, addends & sum. See if your child can explain to you what these words mean. We learned the math method of counting all when adding and then discovered that it was faster to count on. We had math stations this week that helped us practice this math method. On Friday the kids were introduced to Math Mountains. We will continue to work with this method next week.
Science has been fun this week as we learned more about the moon and its phases. We sang some fun songs and took a trip into space through Discovery Education to learn more. We will continue to focus on the moon next week before switching gears to understand more about night and day.
Has your child come home saying he/she needs a rock? Our word this week in Social Studies was "Kindness". I loved the Flipgrid videos that the kids did for homework sharing how they would choose kindness. I'm not sure if you've heard about the kindness rocks that have been hidden around many different NC counties. It was designed to make peoples' day and spread a little kindness. I actually found a kindness rock myself over track out and had blast learning more about it and rehiding it for others to find. This got me thinking about how we could spread a little kindness to others so our class will be painting our own kindness rocks next week and then the kids can take them home and hide them anywhere in the community or other places you visit to help put a smile on peoples' faces. I am in the mountains for the Labor Day weekend and will be bringing home some river rocks for the kids to paint; however, I did tell the kids that if they found a good painting rock that they could bring it in. We will paint these on Tuesday and they will go home on Friday.
As you can see it has been a very busy and adventurous week for us. Thank goodness for a long weekend ;-)
I hope you all enjoy this time with your family. We have many more adventures ahead of us. It's going to be such a super year!
Take Care,
Ms. Gower
BYOD-
Please scroll down to the Notes section for more info on this initiative.
Apps to download on your child's device:
QR Scanner (not reader); Seesaw, Kids A-Z, Spelling City; Flipgrid, Kahoot, and bookmark menti.com.
I will share with you more apps that can be downloaded at a later time. It will save us time if your child's device is setup with the ones listed above.
We Could Use...
- HP Printer ink 950/951
- White Cardstock
- Laminating Pouches
Mark Your Calendar:
- Mon. Sept. 4- Holiday/No School
- Fri. Sept. 29- Early Release
- Oct. 16-20- Spirit Week & Boosterthon (More Info to Come)
- Oct. 20- Track Out Day & Early Release
Notes~
http://msgower.weebly.com/uploads/9/1/6/4/9164529/byod.pdf
Please note that this contract must be signed by both parent and child. Also, any device that comes to school cannot be on a 3G/4G network such as phones. All devices will be connected to the Wake BYOD network and will only be used during instructional times. Your child will be the only one who is allowed to use his/her device. It is not mandatory that your child bring a device. I love technology and have purchased many devices to use in my classroom through my own funding. Your child will have access to technology whether he/she participates in the BYOD or not.
Devices can begin coming in on Tuesday (again, remember to print the contract and have it completed so that your child can start using their device).
WSES- Embracing the Needs of Every Child!
Email: egower@wcpss.net
Website: msgower.weebly.com
Location: 6800 Dwight Rowland Road, NC, United States
Phone: (919) 557-2770
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/msgower/
Twitter: @MsGowersClass