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!