Week of September 10th

We've had a great first two weeks of school!  The students are starting to settle into our routines and we are enjoying learning all about each other.  As we head into our third week you will start to notice that students are being placed in groups that are specific to skills and things that I have noticed they need to work on.  We are striving to have a collaborative learning community and I find that when I group them with other students that are learning the same skills they are less afraid to speak up when they need help -as well as stepping up to support each other in their learning.  As the school is finishing up DRA testing, we will not be starting challenge groups until late in September.  We will be doing in class extensions for students who want and need a bit of challenge.  I am also teaching the students how to pick appropriate independent activities based on the skills they are learning and how to pick materials that are challenging to them.  I think it is very important for students to be able to take their learning to the next level independently, but it does take a lot of guidance and explanation as we begin- so be patient! 
For the month of September we are focusing on the thinking strategy 'Activating Schema'.  This thinking strategy helps students refer to their background knowledge on subjects and apply them to new skills or information.  As we head into the beginning of our 2nd grade school year this is so important as we've been out of school all summer. 
Don't forget that we don't have school this Friday, September 14th due to an Assessment day.  This gives us the chance to grade our benchmark tests as well as our DRAs and Math Assessments.
As always, in you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]