The Gower Gazette
Week 1- July 14, 2018
In The Classroom...
Our Book of the Week was David Goes to School. Our objectives targeted using illustrations to describe the characters in the story; we also wanted to think about words in the story that identify feelings. The kids enjoyed this story and we had some great conversations about David and how he felt in the story as well as making the connection to our own feelings.
This week in Letterland we worked with Annie Apple. The kids love singing her song and identifying rhyme words that went with our spelling words: ~ad, ~ap, & ~at. We learned a Kagan Structure called Think, Write, Round Robin. The students worked collaboratively with their table teams to think of words, write them on a poster, and share them with their peers. We didn't take our "practice spelling test" Friday since I had to be out and wanted to help them through this process. Next week's words will continue to focus on Annie Apple and other word families that she is in. We will have our practice spelling test next Friday the 20th.
This week in math we took a few math assessments which will help place the kids in their enrichment and remediation groups when we track back in. We also worked on number sense and counting from any number. We will continue to work on number sense next week.
Teamwork, community and being a good citizen is our big concept for Social Studies this quarter. The kids are learning to work together, help each other, and what it means to be a member of a community.
As you can see it's been a busy week. We are team building each and every day! The kids are awesome and I just know it's going to be the BEST year ever!
Don't forget to scroll down to read the notes section of the newsletter for more important info. I hope you all have a terrific weekend and enjoy your time with family.
Take Care,
Ms. Gower
Birthdays:
We Could Use...
- Playground Equipment
- Board Games for Game Day Friday
- HP Printer Ink 950/951
Mark Your Calendars!!!
- Tues. July 24- Fall Pictures
- Tues. July 24- Class Social at Sunni Sky's (Parents & Students meet Ms. Gower there at 4:30 to celebrate the start of an amazing year & our upcoming Track Out! Mrs. Williams Class will be joining us too)
- Thurs. July 26- Track Out Day!
- Mon. Aug. 20- Track In =)
- Mon. Sept. 3- Holiday/No School
- Fri. Sept. 28- Early Release
NOTES~
- Supplies- Many of the kids have brought in their supplies, but we are still missing items. Please try to get these in on Monday especially their Scholastic's money ($6). I have to place this order soon and I don't want a child to not have it. We use these every Monday for a lesson and then the kids do an activity with it for homework.
- Friday Folders- Your child has his/her Friday Folder in their backpack. Inside you will find their work from the week, & school information. These items can be removed from your child's folder and kept at home. Please look over their conduct and work habit grades and read my comments. Then initial and add any comments you would like to share with me. Please make sure to send this folder back to school on Monday!
- Classroom Website- If you haven't checked out our class website yet then please do! There is lots of info on there for you. My Google calendar has important dates listed for the entire year; you can find homework in there, newsletters, and there are even interactive activities for the kids to do. Your child can solve the Math Stumper for a treat, earn lunch with me by taking part in our Read & Respond Blog, and later in the year they can help write a collaborative story on the Write with Me link. Take a peek and let me know if you have any questions about how that works.
- Class Dojo- Please connect to Class Dojo if you have not done so. This app allows you to follow your child's behavior daily and to connect with me. This is my preferred method of contact. It sends messages directly to my phone where email is only when I have a chance to check. I do have office hours set up so any messages sent before 8 or after 5 will not come to me until I open the app. I also do not check Dojo on the weekends as I try to devote this time to my family.
- Parent Survey & All About Me Bags- If you have not completed the parent survey please do so this weekend and return it to me on Monday. You can place it inside your child's Friday Folder. Also, send in the All About Me bags. We will be sharing these on Monday =)
- Assessments- Reading assessment begin next week. The State has changed the books and levels used for these assessments; this may change the level that your child ended with in Kindergarten as some of the texts have increased in difficulty. I will share with you your child's TRC level and mclass report once assessments are complete. We will also talk in detail about these assessments during our first quarter conferences in September.
- Class Social- Every year we have a class social to celebrate the new school year. Parents and kids are invited to attend. We will be meeting at Sunni Sky's on Tues. July 24th at 4:30 to enjoy ice cream and meet/greet each other. Parents do have to stay with their child and buy your own ice cream :). I've invited Mrs. William's track 3 class as well. Come on out if you can. It's a great opportunity to meet other families and get to know me as well.
WSES- Embracing the Needs of Every Child!
Email: egower@wcpss.net
Website: msgower.weebly.com
Location: 6800 Dwight Rowland Road, Willow Spring, NC, USA
Phone: (919)5572770
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/msgower
Twitter: @MsGowersClass