Field Day!

Field Day was so much fun! The kids did a great job being good sports, working together, and learning a ton of new games. Thank you to everyone who came out to help and make that possible!!!

Readers Workshop and Writers Workshop Students finished readers and writers workshop by reading their favorite comics! Students have had so much fun with this unit creating and imagining their own characters adventures. Have your child read their favorite comic to you at home!

Antarctica! We wrapped up our continent study by watching a video about the researchers and explorers in the South Pole. Ask your child the most interesting thing they learned about Antarctica!

Fruit Unit

All K/1 classrooms are ending the year with a fruit unit. We each chose a fruit in season to study and learn about, our class learned about blueberries! We made several recipes, including blueberry milkshakes with Mr. Castiglia. Next Wed will be having a mini farmers market to share our treats with the other classes. Look for those fun recipes to come home soon.

HOMEWORK FOLDER

I will be sending home a homework folder this week! This folder is meant to be worked on over the summer. Over the summer students reading levels can drop and all their hard work can be forgotten if students don’t practice! The homework folder contains a lot of activities to work on reading, writing, math, etc. If your child works on a little everyday or every other day they will come back to school in the fall ready to go! If your child turns in the reading log they will receive a FREE DRESS PASS and PENCIL! If your child turns in the whole summer workbook, they will get any BOOK of their choice!! Please use this homework folder as an opportunity for your child to continue to grow and learn over the summer.

Our caterpillar turned in a moth!!

Reminders Music concert for Monday morning assembly and Friday is a small awards assembly announcing Seymour Kaplan award * with SECRET performance by some 5th grade students and teachers.

Please return you library books and homework books!!!!!!

The end of year picnic is on Tuesday. Please help sign up to bring something, and we need lots of extra help that day running activities!

I sent home a flyer for summer birthday celebrations, please let me know if that time or day doesn’t work.

Tide Pools Fieldtrip!

Our annual tide pool field trip was so much fun! Thank you to those who chaperoned and braved the slippery rocks and the cold water! We really appreciate it and hope you had fun as well. We saw lots of different kinds of sea life! Ask your student about this!

Readers Workshop and Writers Workshop This week in readers and writers, we began our new unit: Comic books! Students spent time exploring comic books as a way to write fiction stories using detailed pictures and character dialogue. For writers students spent time making a story map, which is a quick snap shot of their comic book story and they included key story elements such as character, setting and adventure. A fun and exciting activity would be to grab a newspaper and look through the comics section and ask your student what features they notice. Next week, we are going to write our first draft of our comic books and work towards finalizing it and publishing it at the end of the week.

Antarctica! We have started our last continent study for the year! We wrapped up Australia by making Fairy Bread with Ms. Ooton! Fairy bread is white bread with butter and sprinkles (it’s actually really good...), and they each had a little piece for snack. We started our Antarctica unit by looking at all the interesting animals that live there and watched a video about how researchers explore the continent and its animals to know more about the global climate.

Ms. Ooton's Corner For the last few days of school Mrs. Castiglia and I have been planning a 10 day countdown but shhhh... its a secret for the kids! We'll be doing something fun to celebrate all of the work students have done this year - from a special sidewalk chalk writing day to a picnic with our 4th and 5th grade buddies. One of the activities I am most excited for is the time capsule we will be making on the 2nd to last day of school. Students will be encouraged to draw or write something about themselves as a Kindergartner/1st grader or bring something that will remind them of this past year they've had in school. We will first share what we are putting in the time capsule as a whole class before we lock it away for the future. Encourage your student to reflect on their year and think about something they might want to bring in!

Star Student!

Volunteers Thank you so much to all our parent volunteers who have helped out in the classroom, at school events, brought in snacks/supplies, attended field trips, run after school programs, and helped with prepping materials. We appreciate all that you do for our class and our school. I know I speak for all the teachers at Leschi, THANK YOU!!!!! Please join us on Monday for a special appreciation lunch from 1:00-2:00 and then a volunteer appreciation assembly from 2:00-2:30.

As the year is wrapping up please take a look at the calendar for upcoming dates such as Field day, music assembly, end-of-year picnic, etc. We will be celebrating summer birthday’s the last week of school. I will send home a notice about the information next week.

Alki Beach

This Thursday is our field trip to Alki beach. Still room for volunteers if you want to come along! Don't forget to please pack a lunch and wear sunscreen its going to be sunny! The students get to explore the pools, which means getting wet. Please make sure to have your child wear shoes they don't mind getting wet, muddy, and walking around on rocks.

Getting Ready for Next Year! We are all getting ready for next year! Kindergarteners will become first graders and first graders will be going off to second grade! Kindergarteners have progressed so much this year! They are independent, helpful, self-sufficient, decision-makers, and problem solvers! Kindergarteners are now working on more content based material and working toward their own personal goals. They learning to manage their time with more works on their work plans as the work load gradually increases! Give your kindergarten student a high-five! First graders are now experts at being teachers and mentors to our kindergarteners. They are leaders and ready to move on to second grade because they have worked hard all year to hone their crafts in math, writing and reading during work time. First graders are dealing with the excitement of moving on to another grade, but also may also be having a hard time leaving the comfort of their sturdy K/1 years. Give your first grader a huge pat on the back for all the work they’ve done.

Readers and Writers Workshop

This week in readers and writers workshop we continued our Writers Workshop poetry unit. In writers, the students wrote acoustic poems for their names and finalized their best part of me poems. It was wonderful to see their creativity and the way they are able to use new descriptive words to write about themselves. Students ended the unit with a poetry celebration! Our 4th/5th grade buddies came down to celebrate, it was a wonderful way for students to share their hard work. Have your child read you their favorite poems or some of their best work. We also started our comic book unit this week. Students learned about features of comics such as text boxes, frames, speech/thought bubble, sound/action words, etc. Student also started brainstorming characters for their comics.

Geography/Science This is our last week studying Australia and students were able to hear a great guest presentation in Ms. Chin's class about New Zealand. We've learned a lot about Australian animals (especially sharks) and Australian landforms, ask your child what they favorite part of our Australian study has been. We also wrapped up our science unit this week, students learned all about fabric, types of fabric, weaving/sewing fabric, staining/washing fabric, and finally dying fabric. Have your child read their observations from their science notebooks.

Ms. Ooton's Corner My highlight of this week was without a doubt the students' poetry celebration. Our 4th and 5th grade buddies joined us Thursday morning and each student in room 204 shared a poem they either wrote themselves or a favorite one they read during reader's workshop. I was so proud and impressed that every single student shared - some were nervous but they overcame their fears to read with strong voices and lots of expression! The Kindergarten and First grade students in our class then met individually with their buddies to talk about more things they had learned during their poetry unit and do some additional reading in small groups. It was great to see the older students offer suggestions and make connections to their own writing and see the younger students share their work with confidence and excitement. Check out the pics from the celebration and be sure to ask your student to share their poetry books with you!

Star Student

Dakota has worked so hard this year on his reading and writing. He has moved up several levels and continues to challenge and push himself. He is also checking to see what else he could be working on and is always willing to help others out. Dakota has made so many great friends not only in our class, but in other classes as well. He has been a great role model that students really look up to, Way to GO Dakota!!!!

Jog-A-thon

Wow! What a great event and turn out. Thank you to everyone who helped count laps, set up/take down, and cheer our students on. This is such a great event for everyone to come together. It brings our school together as a community, gets kids outside, and builds team spirit! The students had so much fun and I heard so many of them at the end of the day say, "I beat my goal" Way to go TEAM LESCHI!!!

Work Plans This week all the kindergarteners practiced what it is like to have a work plan. Everyone worked very hard to challenge themselves at choosing different works, trying to check off goals they had, and work towards finishing their plans. All of their work plans went home so please talk with your child about what they are proud of and goals for next week.

End of Year Picnic Every year we have a great end of year celebration and we spend the day at the park playing games, BBQing, hanging out, and celebrating the year. This year our plan is to have a K/1 picnic at Madrona Play field. We are coordinating as a K/1 team to make sure to have enough food, activities, and volunteers to help with this event. I will be sending out a flyer/e-mail soon to ask for help with food and activities. The Date for this End of Year event is June 17th from 10-2

Readers Workshop and Writers Workshop

Wow we have a room full of Poet's. This week students have worked so hard on learning about different poems. We learned how to read poems that have onomatopoeia with expression and fluency. Students learned to look for similes to trying to convey the meaning of poems through figurative language. So far in this unit students have learned how poems have rhyme, rhythm, repetition, alliteration, and onomatopoeia. Students have read a variety of different styles and authors. Ask your child what their favorite poem has been so far and what type of poems they like the best. Students wrote “If I were poems and are starting to work on the “Best part of me” by brainstorming things about themselves that they love and things that they do. Look for those poems to be displayed in the hall soon! Next week we will be wrapping up our poetry unit by reading some of our favorite poems to our 4/5th

Geography

Australia this week students learned more about the great white shark. They labeled different parts of the shark and learned about the sharks habitat. Students also worked on an animal report. They chose an Australian animal and researched their animals habitat, diet, facts, and any other interesting thoughts. Ask your child what they did their research on.

Ms. Ooton’s Corner
I'm excited to let you know that I will begin lead teaching in Room 204 next week. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to take on the full responsibilities of our classroom - this includes taking the lead on planning, whole group lessons, and all the little odds and ends of making the class run smoothly. Mrs. Castiglia and I have also been working together closely all year to ensure that students feel supported and have attention from all the available adults in the room. If you have any questions about this time, feel free to contact me at any time at alooton@seattleschools.org.

This week, the students in room 204 blew me away with the fantastic with the work they are doing on reading and writing poetry. So far, students have written 3 kinds of poetry and will be learning one more kind next week before they publish their book of poetry. Mrs. Castiglia and I are planning on holding a "poetry slam" to celebrate all the great work our class has done. Students will have the opportunity to read a favorite poem or one of their original works. More details to come soon next week!

Star Student!

Nina has been a consistent role model in our classroom this year. She has pushed herself as a reader and writer, making huge growth! She focuses on her goals and then challenges herself to do more! She is a welcoming, kind, and nurturing friend to everyone in class. While we will miss her in our class next year, she is ready for 2nd grade!!!!

Ava consistently challenges herself during work time. She pushes herself to always finish her work plan and then see what other goals she can make for herself. She is always willing to help others and is a great comforting friend. She is a strong role model in our classroom and is a strong member of our classroom community! Way to go Ava

Happy Mothers Day!

I hope you all enjoy this special day with your family! You deserve it for all the hard work and love you commit to your child everyday! I know they appreciate every little bit of it.
Teacher Appreciation Week! Thank you so much to all our families for making us feel so special during this week’s Teacher Appreciation week! We feel so lucky to have such amazing families at our school. We couldn’t do it without your support! Thank you again, we appreciate it!

Readers Workshop and Writers Workshop

This week in readers and writers workshop we started our poetry unit. We looked at some different color poems and discussed some things that we noticed while reading them. We noticed that poems can rhyme. We also noticed that you can use your 5 senses to describe them. Students noticed that poems usually address one subject and can articulate particular feelings. They also brought up the fact that poems can be in different languages and can be about topics that you are interested in. We also started writing our color poems! Ask your student about this!

Geography/Community Helpers

Thank you to Dan, Ruby’s dad in 206, for coming in and sharing information about Australia! Students saw many different We also tried something called Vegemite which is a paste-like substance (no meat), that students were able to try. It was a fun experience for all of us. Thank you Dan for sharing your time with us!
Also a big thank you to Camilla Eckersley (Reni’s in 2nd’grades mom) and Julia Curren (Solene’s mom) for sharing with us their job as community helpers of being a fashion designer and a midwife. Students designed their own clothes and learned about babies.

Timeline Project Thank you to those who brought in your timeline projects this week! This helped students understand responsibility and ownership of their homework. Students had fun making their own timelines and writing about their lives thus far! Students also presented their timelines to their peers and received compliments. They are outside in our hallway to share with everyone! Please take some time to look at the amazing work they accomplished.

Ms. Ooton's Corner As we get nearer to summer, it has been so exciting to see students move closer and closer to meeting their reading goals for the year. During reading tests this week, many students approached the task with more confidence than I have seen before. Even when students struggled with tricky words, I saw each and every student trying multiple strategies to figure them out. Help your student meet their goal by asking them what they find tricky about reading and encourage them to think about all the different ways they can figure out words they don't know! I'm really looking forward to seeing students make the final push in reading in our last couple months of school.

Star Student!

Lena works hard to finish her work plan every week. She is always focused and even when schedules change. She does her job in school by following directions, participating in class discussions and being incredibly kind to others. Lena continues to work on her reading, math, and writing with full determination! Keep up the hard work Lena!!!!

May 2nd

Timeline Project The timeline project will be presented next week, if you need more time to complete this project please take it. I really want this to be a family activity, but where the students are working independently. I understand busy days and weekends may not allow for adequate time to work on this project. If your child would like to turn in their timeline project anytime this week or next week that is great, no pressure on completing it by Monday. These do not have to be fancy or elaborate, but rather a chance for you to work with your child. Let them show you how much they have grown in their reading, writing, and presenting skills. A great idea would be to have them practice presenting for the rest of your family, to help them get ready to present to the class!

MAP Testing Students will start MAP testing next week. Please look at the calendar to see which days we will be testing. This should not be a stressful test for your child, in fact most of them have a lot of fun getting to answer questions on the computer. DUring that week just please make sure they are at school on time, have a good nights sleep, and eat a great breakfast! Having a conversation with them about taking their time and thinking about the best answers is a good practice skill for any subject they are studying. IF you have any specific questions please let me know. Planetarium

Thank you to all the volunteers who were able to come to the Planetarium. It was a wonderful learning opportunity and something different for the kids to see. They asked meaningful questions and were an excellent audience throughout the presentations! If you would like to volunteer for any other field trips this year, I have put them on the calendar so you can know the dates ahead of time.

Chess Champion from Uganda! Phiona Mutesi is a chess champion from Uganda who came to speak with our students on Thursday! It was such an honor to see someone who is an expert at chess and followed their dreams!





Parent participation and Australia

We are about to start our new continent study of Australia! Next week we will be introducing Australia and learned about all the interesting animals, such as marsupials that only exist in Australia. We also learn that it is the sixth largest continent in the world and that Australia is an island! We welcome ANYONE to come and teach us about Australia! Please feel free to contact us if you are interested! Our students love learning from guest teachers!!
We started our geography unit on Australia this week. Students looked at different maps and pictures to see that Australia is an island. They also learned about the great barrier reef and different thought of different ways to help protect it.

Readers Workshop In readers last week we started our Community Members Unit! We are learning about different ways to that people help in our community. We started with looking at our families and Leschi. We also looked at what police officers, postal workers, and architects do in the community and practiced in learning how to work in a group. We revisited how to read non-fiction books for our community helpers.

Writers Workshop In writer’s last week we wrote about our community member and how they help make our community a better place for everyone. For example, we looked at what police officers do as community helpers and practiced paraphrasing what the do, who they help, and tools that they use in their job. The students are working together in a group to research a specific community member. Students are learning about how to listen to others, participate, and work together. We will be writing more in depth their own learning about the community member they were assigned!

Readers Workshop and Writers Workshop This week in readers and writers workshop we worked on our community helpers project. Students researched their community helpers job, training, equipment need, contribution to our community, and interesting facts. After they finished their research they worked together as a group to create a presentation using Prezi. Each member of the group helped type, read, spell, and find pictures for their presentation. Then they presented to the class. The rest of the class listened carefully for information they learned and something they were still wondering about. It was a wonderful project for the students to learn to work together and learn more about the community around them!

Ms. Ooton's Corner It was so great to see students come back from break energized and ready to learn. This week, the minute the students of room 204 walked through the door, I heard wonderful stories of what everyone had done during their time off and so much excitement for being back at school. This positivity only continued throughout the week. As I worked with students in reading groups, many of them brought challenging books to me that they had been working on independently and were excited to share with the group. I also saw many students challenging themselves to work on word sorts and sight words without any prompting from a teacher. I am so excited to see how students continue to challenge themselves as readers and writers throughout the spring. Ask your student what is one way they are challenging themselves at school - I bet they will have lots to say!

Spring is definitely here and not only did the students of room 204 handle the change in the weather this week but they managed a crazy schedule this week due to MSP testing. Every day, I see our students growing into their soon to be new roles as 1st and 2nd graders. They showed leadership by walking super quietly in the hall so as not to disturb students who were testing, by sharing the work and responsibility when putting together their community member presentations, and by supporting each other's work - that May Day basket pattern was tricky and it was so nice to see students volunteering to help each other to put it together. I look forward to seeing students continue to grow as they make the transition from K to 1st and 1st to 2nd grade.

Star Student!

Last week's star student was William! William worked very hard all week in challenging himself with his sight words. He learned a new game to work on his sight words ( popsicle sticks) and wanted to practice everyday until he mastered the words. He showed a great sense of dedication and hard work. He also was focused and really participated in our classroom discussions. He was a great leader and example to everyone in class, way to go William!!

Gibson, Henry, Brandon, and Kieran ! I have chosen all four of these boys this week because they really displayed all qualities of a star student; respectful, responsible, kind, and safe. While we were working on our community helpers project these boys were also extremely respectful of each other. They listen to each others ideas, complemented each other, helped each other, and really worked together as a team. Way to go Gibson, Henry, Brandon, and Kieran!

Readers Theater/Family Dance Students performed their Readers Theater this week. It was fun for them to illustrate their characters, learn what it is like to speak in front of others, and perform for another class. The students worked very hard at not only learning their parts, but also helping their peers read. I’ll post the video of the performance of If I ran the Zoo soon!
The Family Dance was a big success!!!! Thank you to everyone who came out and a special thanks to all the volunteers who helped make it happen.

South America

This was our last week of our South America studies. The kids have learned more about the culture, food, and landmarks. We celebrated our last week by making guacamole and salsa. The students also learned how to weave on a traditional loom. If you would like to continue this project at home, here is an easy way to make a loom.

SPRING BREAK!!!!! Spring break! I hope everyone is ready for some sunshine and relaxation. Over spring break please don’t forget to read to or with your child every night. Have students work on sight words, phonics skills, and math facts. Here are some great on-line resources:
Sight Words
Reading
Phonics
JiJi Math
Math Games

Readers Workshop

In readers workshop this week we continued our fiction unit, talking more about main idea and key details. Reading groups work at their specific levels to answer questions about the text. Many guided reading groups focused on new vocabulary and how that is important to figuring out what the story is about. Make sure when your reading with your child you stop and ask them what new words might mean.

Writers Workshop

In writers workshopthis week students worked on developing a more in-depth character for the fiction series. Students worked on developing their characters inside characteristics such as, like/dislikes, thoughts/feelings, and traits. Then they wrote adventures to match their characters traits. For example if their character is brave, trying to make sure and create an adventure where their character had to display bravery. Finally to finish up their stories they worked on adding supporting characters to help their main character.

Ms. Ooton’s Corner Even with spring break right around the corner, the students of room 204 were very focused learners this week! One lesson that stands out to me in particular was when students learned to write adventures for their characters. The students were eager to write and before I knew it, many of them had already written more than one story! I’m so excited to see how students’ series turn out as they finish up drafting their fiction this week

Taste of Leschi! We had such a great night at the Taste of Leschi! Our Equity Team worked hard to put together a Leschi cultural cookbook and a wonderful mix of all the rich food from many of our cultures represented at Leschi. We even had a video of students from different classes which showed them speaking about their culture and what they know about it! Make sure you take a look at the cookbook! I saw some really tasty looking recipes in there that may be fun to try at home with your students!

Work Time: Just to share some amazing, hard, independent works students have been doing in class!!
Readers Theater

Students have been doing a great job on their Readers Theater parts. Wow have they grown as readers! Please help them keep practicing at home, not only reader the words, but speaking in a loud clear voice. We have been talking about slowing down so your audience can hear your parts and really read with expression. We will be having a performance soon and let you know the dates to that performance.

Readers Workshop In readers last week we continued our fiction unit talking about cause and effect. The students listened to the story I ran a zoo! By Dr. Seuss. Students were assigned parts and partners to read with or help them with their reading script. We are having a fun time changing it up with Reader’s Theatre and seeing how much our readers have grown this year! Please continue reading with your child at home every night!

In readers this week we continued our fiction unit talking more about main and idea and key details. A big goal is to use texted based evidence to support the main idea. Students had to highlight the details they used to retell the main idea. When you at home reading this is an important skill you can practice with your student. Have them go back in the book and look at the evidence to retell the main idea.

Writers Workshop

In writers last week students edited and published their fiction stories! They were able to share their great writing with the class. We also started our series unit. Writers explored different series books such as Frog and Toad and Henry and Mudge. They learned about how the characters usually stay the same, but the setting and adventures are different in each series. They developed their own character and wrote details describing their characters outside traits. Ask your child what outside traits their character has.

In writers this week we wrote a story using the characters, settings, adventures, problem and solutions and ending that we have been learning about for our fiction writing! We added beautiful language and sparkle words to our writing. We talked about giving our characters dialogue and action words to our writing Next week we will be learning about how to write a series. We will take a closer look at some famous series such as Henry and Mudge, Frog and Toad, and Piggy and Elephant to help inspire us!

Ms. Ooton’s Corner Last week was packed with excitement but I have to say one of my main highlights was teaching a lesson on galaxies as part of Room 204's stars unit. Students explored the different types of galaxies and worked to great their own artistic representation of each type using chalk. A couple of the students were so excited to know more about this topic that they exclaimed, "I want to be a scientist!" and continued to ask more questions about outer space throughout the week. I'm looking forward to seeing students expand their scientific investigational skills as we begin our fabric science unit in the upcoming

This week the students in room 204 did a LOT of writing – over an hour each day! I think Mrs. Castiglia and I are both so impressed by how much the students’ stamina has grown over the course of a year. It was also fantastic to see students challenge themselves over several days to expand on skills they have been learning in our fiction writing unit to begin to create a series. These ideas are also translating into students’ reading – a group of 7 students or so was immersed in the “Jack and Annie” series during library and they were all able to talk about what makes that series a series. Ask your student what they are planning for their series!

Student of the Week

Solomon Solomon has really been an author these past few weeks! He has worked very hard on his fiction stories. When it is time to write he gets started right away and has dreamed up some great characters! He has really worked hard this week choosing challenging works. He learned the 100 board and loves work on that! He loves reading in the library and is a great game player with his peers! Way to go!!!

Student of the Week Everyone! This is the last week before spring break and it is important to recognize how much our class has grown as readers, writers, mathematicians, sciences, and independent learners. Please take some time this week to recognize your child’s achievements. Overall as a class we have worked hard to be kinds, welcoming, and respectful to everyone. There is so much great learning going on everyday, I know Ms. Ooton and I feels so proud to be a part of it. Way to go EvERYONE!!

Stars Unit! We have started our stars and constellations unit! So far we are what stars are and their life cycle. Students are very excited about this unit, so ask them what they have learned so far!

Lion King

We had a very exciting assembly on Thursday. Several actor and actress from the Lion King came to our school to talk about what it is like to perform. We even had the two young girls (11yrs, 9yrs) that play Nala in the musical. The students were able to ask them questions, do a little acting themselves, and sing Hakuna matata as a thank you! It was a wonderful experience for our whole school!!!

Donors Choose:

Donors choose is currently having a promotion that they will match any donation made for the next 7 day. When someone donates to your project and enters the code INSPIRE, DonorsChoose.org will match their donation dollar for dollar. Check out Room 204's project or other Leschi projects. http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/search.html?state=WA&community=18300:3&school=35959


Work time/ Words their Way

Work time has been going well. Students have been focused and remembering to be independent learners. We also started focusing on words-their-way more this week. Students did an excellent job practicing their words sorts and hopefully they enjoyed working on them at home as well. Let me know how its going for you student!

Readers Workshop In readers this week we talked about identifying the setting. Students looked at many different ways books to find the setting. The setting is where and when the story took place, but students also took a deeper look. Learning how the author described the time and the environment.

In readers this week we talked about identifying the main character. Students helped to determine the main characters feelings, thoughts, personality, and actions. We learned about how the main character is often the protagonist. They also learn about characteristics of a protagonist. We then took a closer look at supporting character, and how they can sometimes help the main character. Finally students learned about the antagonists in stories, such as the Fox in Dr. Desoto!

Writers Workshop In writers this week we brainstormed settings for our fiction story by thinking of some great setting for our stories. We also thought about what it might be like at those places using our 5 senses of touch, taste, hear, sight and smell. We also used descriptive language to write out our settings. We practiced identifying place, time and environments of settings and we noticed that place and time affect the environment. We used words to visualize our settings to help paint a picture for our writing audience. We also started imagine our characters. What their personality is a and physical features and why those are important for the character.

In writers this week we brainstormed adventures for our characters. The student’s thought about the problems their characters might come across. They thought of ways to write out those problems in an exciting way. Then they went back and wrote solutions to their stories. Making sure to have a clear way their characters problems were solved. Ms. Ooton read the story Dr. Desoto about a pair of mice dentist that outsmart a Fox! This was a great example of an exciting an adventure that can happen to characters in stories. Ask you child what adventures their characters went on!

Ms. Ooton’s Corner  

Hello all! It’s been a joy getting to know students more and more throughout the year and I’m excited to share some things they’ve been learning. I’m also happy to say that I gained my substitute certification in January and can now sub for Mrs. Castiglia when she has to be away from class.  
One of my favorite parts of this past week was when students explored the settings of different stories and worked to identify the place, time, and environment in a number of books. I was blown away by students as they took their understanding of setting to the next level by drawing detailed pictures of the settings they envisioned as I read Owl Moon. Students didn’t even stop there! They all pushed themselves to write down descriptive words they heard that helped them create their image. I’ll be back next week to share more of the fabulous things the students in room 204 have been working on!

This past week it was so exciting to see students take so much ownership over their work during work time and other independent work times throughout the day such as reader’s and writer’s workshop. Students have been challenging themselves to the utmost, picking out language and math works that stretch their thinking - so much so that Lyndsay and I were able to add three brand new work centers to work time the past few weeks including an iPad center where students can use technology to practice reading, writing, and math skills; a listening center students can use to follow along with stories and build their reading fluency; as well as a station for jiji math. I am looking forward to seeing how our students utilize these tools and continue to blossom into independent scholars throughout the spring!

Student of the Week

Dylan has been choosing quiet and more challenging works during work time. Dylan has been focused on writing and is really creating some great fiction stories. Dylan also does a great job contributing to our classroom discussions about characters and setting. Dylan has really focused on his language work plan and trying to push himself to learning to read and spell more words! Way to go Dylan!!!!!

Aisha has been writing a bunch of amazing fiction stories this week. She loves adding many details to her writing and pictures. She has become so much more focused on her writing and is really pushing herself as a writing. She does a great job at work time finding a work to work on, and focusing on that work. She has been a great friend not only to students in our class but to any new student she meets on the play ground.

Exciting News !

I have some exciting news that I wanted to share with everyone.  Mr. Castiglia and I are expecting a new bundle of joy Aug. 30th!  We can’t be more thrilled and I know I will need all of your expert parenting advice.  I plan to return back to teaching after my maternity leave.  I will be telling my students on Monday, but I wanted to let you all know first. Any helpful advice is welcome!

Dr. Seuss’s Birthday!

We celebrated his birthday this week by reading many of his incredible stories and writing. We read about his life story and how he came to be Dr. Seuss. We also made rhyming Cat in the Hat, hats and made Thing1 and Thing 2 puppets with Mrs. Gardner’s class. Ask you child what story they life best so far.

Readers Workshop

In readers this week we talked about the difference again between fiction and non-fiction. We took a look at some great fiction stories, such as Piggy and Elephant and Woolbur. The students helped point out elements of fiction writing such as a made up story that includes: characters, a setting, a series of events (beginning, middle, and end), and a problem and solution. When your reading with your child at home, ask them if the story is fiction or non-fiction. See if they can point out the elements of a fiction story to you!

Writers Workshop In writers this week we are starting our fiction unit! The students wrote their first fiction story, and they were so imaginative! We then looked at some other first grade writing examples of fiction writing. The students pointed out how the writing examples had characters, a setting, a problem/solution, and a beginning, middle, and end. They continued to work on their writing making sure to include all those fiction writing elements. Next week we will take a closer look at characters and setting.

Student of the Week

Aislin has been working really hard this week on our new fiction writing unit. Her first fiction writing was three pages long.!She has grown so much this year as a student and continues to challenge herself. Aislin is always making new friends and inviting others to play. She is incredible kind and respectful to everyone. She really has stepped up as a kindergarten leader in our classroom. Way to go Aislin!!!!!

Black History Thank you to everyone who came to Black History Night Celebration. It was so wonderful to see the hard work everyone put into their projects. I know the students loved learning about the different historical figures and especially getting to sing!!!!!

READ ACROSS AMERICA

This Monday, March 3rd Dr. Seuss’s Birthday. His birthday celebration starts the week of reading across the nation as a way to get families, students, and the community to come together to share their love of reading.!!!!!! We will be dedicating this day to some fun reading projects, as well as exploring more of Dr. Seuss in the month of March.




Readers Workshop

This week in readers we reviewed different strategies we can use to figure out tricky words. Not only can we sound them out, we can hop over a word, take a guess, or look for chunks of letters we know! We also made sure to always ask ourselves if what we are reading makes sense, and go back and re-read if it doesn’t. We even used these strategies to uncover a secret message. Please ask your reader what strategies they are using!

Writers Workshop This week for writers, we finished brainstormed ideas for persuasive writing topic. Student’s were able to drive in and start writing their own letters. We learned who to write to, our main audience. We learned how to state our opinion in a polite way, and how to list our reason’s using big feeling words. They ended their letters in kind ways. The students also tried to not just write about things they want but things they want to change. We choose our favorite letter to fix up and publish. Ask your child to read their letters to you.

Student of the Week: Owen!

This week Owen has been working incredible hard on his work plan and challenging himself. He has learn how to set challenging goals for himself and learn how to achieve those goals. All this hard work has paid off, because he has also moved up several reading levels! He has been participating more in our readers/writers discussions. He also gave some really nice complements in our classroom meeting. Way to go OWEN!!!!!