Friday, August 29, 2014

Welcome Back


Welcome back to a new school year!  It has been wonderful seeing old friends, and getting to know our new batch of third graders!  Everyone seems eager to begin new learning. What a fantastic group! What a fun first three days we have had together! 
We have been doing a lot of reading aloud:  First Day Jitters, Is There Really a Human Race? and How to Fill a Bucket to name a few.  We discussed expectations for our classroom library.  We have so many wonderful book choices!  We also went to visit the Library on Thursday where we were able to check out books for the first time.
Fourth graders in Equinox House have either Ms. Weegar or Ms. Stewart & Ms. Cuttitta for math.  Schoolcraft and Weegar third graders have math with Ms. Schoolcraft.  Fourth graders have been establishing math routines and took the unit 1 pre-assessment on Friday.  Third graders have created “glyphs”.  Do ask!  You should be getting a sheet from both teachers outlining what Unit 1 is all about, so when the homework starts coming, you will have some understanding of what’s going on.
As part of our mission in Equinox house, to “know one another well,” we will be spending a lot of time over the course of the first six weeks building our classroom communities and larger team community. Exercises have included group outdoor games, name games, discussions about classroom and school rules, our S.M.A.R.T. assembly (reviewing schoolwide expectations), a tour of the building and opportunities for guided discovery with classroom materials.  Ask about our Tin Foil challenge, Card Challenge and the test we took on the first day of school!
New, heavy-duty folders will be coming home on Tuesday with team-wide info like permission slips, book orders, and any homework assigned for the week.  It should come back and forth each day, as this same folder will be used for all homework and notes coming back and forth.
Stay tuned for your student writing a weekly reflection on their new Kidblog!  We will begin the first full week of school.  Keep up to date on all classroom happenings by following our class blog!