Fall is Here!

I hope you all had a great long weekend!

In case you haven't noticed, I do not write oodles and oodles on this blog. When I do have a lot to say, I often try to write it in point form. I do this because I find that when I read my own children's school blogs and they are paragraphs and paragraphs long, I sometimes tend to start skimming. It's not that I am not interested in the information, it just happens. If you ever want more information, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am happy to share more.

My goal is to keep you posted on what's happening in the classroom and to keep you in the loop on school happenings. Since you all get Kathy K's weekly blog, I do not go into detail as she explains a lot of school events in that.

I have not posted anything into Powerschool yet. I am still getting to know the kids. I will input more information in October.

I hope you all have had a chance to check out the September photos that I've taken so far. You'll see that we did a special activity on Thursday. We had some borrowed Beebots in our classroom and practiced doing some basic coding. Later on in the year we will practice more coding with the Chromebooks. The kids did lots of planning and had fun executing their plans with their little Beebot.

We also had our first bubblegum draw. Let me explain. Each student has a small paper bubblegum machine in their spot. When I see him/her doing great things, I color in a bubblegum. When a machine in all colored in, the student gets 2 bubblegums from a machine (real gum) and puts his/her name into a draw. Every 2 weeks, I draw 10 name and the winners get to pick from my treasure box. I have a range of small toys, fun school supplies and coupons. Some of the coupons are for pj day, free chromebook time, show and tell, etc. Our next draw will be at the end of the month. Please let me know if your child cannot chew gumballs and I will find an alternate reward.

Tomorrow is Monday so I will be giving the students 2 new poems to put in their poetry duotang. The students will take these duotangs home and bring them back after they have had a chance to practice the poems a couple times at home.

On Friday we will participate in the annual Terry Fox walk. Please let me know if you'd like to join us.

I hope you all have had a chance to complete the verification forms on Powerschool.

I hope you all had a chance to read the home reading information that I sent out last week. I've already seen some initials in agenda calendars. Thanks so much to all of you who take the time to sign agendas each day! Feel free to write you child or me a note in it. It's a great communication tool. We try to write in it everyday. It's a great opportunity for the kids to express themselves, to practice writing sentences and to practice skills. Throughout the year we will use it to practice writing thoughts, names, phone numbers, addresses, etc. We will begin writing sight words in it this week too. Your child does not have to spell these words, just read them. If he/she can spell them it's a bonus.

Have a great week!