Ms. Wertheim's Little Leaders
News and Resources from Room 203
Week of October 12, 2015
Hi Room 203 families! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and is enjoying these beautiful leaves changing colors. Happy fall!
Snapshots of learning
Setting reading goals
Our CAFE reading strategy wall
Strategy focus
Non-fiction feature hunt
Learning about the earth's rotation
Fun Run video- score with practice!
What we're learning about this week:
- Reading- We are continuing with non fiction text features including: title, table of contents, headings, captions, bold print, charts, maps, and glossary. We are reading books and passages about weather and maps and use our knowledge of text features to navigate the texts. We are also beginning our written response comprehension practice. We use an acronym called RAPS (restate the question, answer the whole question, prove it with text evidence and page number, and sum it up.) I am really enjoying conferring with students and seeing them set reading goals based on CAFE reading strategies (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary). They are amazing reader leaders!
- Writing- We are beginning fiction narratives and will be learning the overall structure including beginning, middle, end, characters, setting, problem, and solution. We will explore a variety of exemplars and use the rubric to grade. Students are practicing the Writing Process: prewrite, draft, revise, edit, share (publish) and the Six Traits of Writing (ideas, organization, voice, word choice, fluency, conventions).
- Math- We are telling time to the nearest five minutes. Mathematicians will make their own clock and focus on counting by 5s to read to the nearest five minutes. Students are continuing practice with place value and money throughout Math Daily 3 Rotations. Here is a great time game to practice at home: http://www.abcya.com/telling_time.htm
- FUNdations- We are continuing Unit 4 which focuses on base words and suffixes. We will continue practice with closed syllables and closed syllable exceptions. A detailed description of this syllable type and other syllable types is attached to their FUNdations homework packet. For a video tutorial on marking base words and suffixes, please visit the Fundations page on my blog: http://mswertheim.blogspot.com/p/reading.html Our Unit 4 test will be this Friday, October 16.
- Science- We are continuing our explorations of weather in our interactive notebooks to study meteorologist weather tools and continue to track weather data. Our science vocabulary this week includes: meteorologist, climate, weather instrument, temperature, air pressure, wind, cloud, and humidity. I encourage you to make daily weather observations with your child. We will also be using Google Earth's weather filter to compare live weather around the world.
- Social Studies- We are continuing with geography. This week we use atlases and google earth to practice using compasses and latitude/longitude.
Wish List
We still need...
- Tab dividers for our Leadership Notebooks
- Snack (healthy options please)
- Clear page protectors
Our 7 Habits Hand Motions
Important Dates and Reminders
- October 15- CLAXTON FUN RUN at Memorial Stadium. Parents are welcome to attend. 2nd grade begins running at 9:15. Click here to learn more about our Fun Run.
- October 16- Picture Day and early release day at noon
- October 20-Anti-Bullying Rally: Asheville City Schools along with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Asheville Police Department, and Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office will be conducting an Anti-Bullying Rally on October 20th from 5:30pm—7:30pm in Pack Square Park - Downtown! There will be FREE FOOD, GAMES, and a couple of surprises! All students will receive tickets to the rally. When the student attends the Anti-Bullying Rally, they will turn in the ticket they received from school to the registration table. These tickets will serve as points for each school. The school with the most tickets, a.k.a. the school with the most students in attendance, WINS!!
The prizes include:
· A trophy
· School wide treat on field day
· An activity with Superintendent, Dr. Baldwin (i.e. kickball, softball, etc)
- October 26- No School--Teacher Workday
- October 27- No School--Professional Development Day
Class Dojo, Behavior Assessments, and Homework
Behavior assessments are filled out each day by your child. I am so proud of their self-reflection skills! They've done an excellent job with their self-assessments so far. Please be sure to discuss their achievements with them and sign the assessment each evening.
Homework this week consists of:
- Read each night for 20 minutes and fill out reading log/Bingo board
- Fundations
- Math packet (due Friday)
We will begin reading responses next week.
Students are tracking their weekly Dojo points on a hundreds chart. Please make sure this chart stays in the page protector in their homework folder. When they fill their hundreds chart, they can choose a reward. We had a class meeting to brainstorm possible rewards including: buddy lunch, bring a stuffed animal, wear a hat, pajama day, teachers chair. Be sure to ask your child what goal they're working toward!
As always, thank you so much for all you do. It is an honor to teach your child.
Contact Ms. Wertheim
Email: rebecca.wertheim@asheville.k12.nc.us
Website: mswertheim.blogspot.com
Location: Claxton Elementary School of Arts and Humanities, Merrimon Avenue, Asheville, NC, United States
Phone: 828-350-6514