Our first week and a half together

Week 1: We have covered a lot our expectations and procedures. I am very excited to teach this group of individuals this year.  We will continue to review our classroom routines and procedures as well as expectations next week as well as throughout the year.

As something new, I asked the class to write a week in review. I will try to include this each week. Here is what they came up with: "We read Horrible Harry Moves Up to Third Grade. Our class worked on making and being friends. I like our "Taste of a new friend" where we answered questions depending on the color of Skittles. We made "Me Poems" to let others learn more about us. I had a lot of fun. We took reading assessments. Mrs. Yuska read a lot of books. We enjoyed learning more about Mrs. Yuska this week." 

 
This week we read Horrible Harry Moves Up to Third Grade by Suzy Kline. In this story Harry and Doug are coming back to school, starting their third grade year. So many things have changed, yet they soon realize a lot is the same. We discussed finding the main characters, creating a super sentence, and determining the setting where the story takes place. The class loved listening and reading along to this book!

We have also been working on describing ourselves in a positive way. We wrote comments about on cards saying, "I am, I hear, I see, I think, I feel, and I know." Me poems have clues about a person. These are on display outside of our classroom. I have also included pictures under the "Student Work" page above. Me poems include, their first name, two things to describe them, two things they enjoying doing ending with an -ing, a phrase of something they like to do with their family, two ways to describe how they feel, and then their last name or nickname. 

Week 2: Week in Review- "This week we continued to get to know each other. We worked and gained stamina on Read to Self.  It was HOT! We took our first spelling test. There were a lot of new fun things to learn and try this week. " - members of 3Y

Here are some of the things we did this week:
Math- This week we have taken time to learn how to use Flashmasters, as well as learning some new games to play with flashcards to increase our fact fluency. We took our initial time tests for addition, subtraction, and multiplication. 
 
Reading- This week we  discussed how to pick a "Just Right Book" and worked on building our reading stamina.  Each day we show more and more progress.

Writing- Towards the end of the week we continued to just work on gathering ideas and not to be afraid of writing what pops into our minds. For this we completed "Free Response" pages in our writing notebook. I paused different times during the reading and have students reflect and respond to various forms of written work or pictures. We will complete more of these next week. Most seemed to really enjoy this activity! :) Poems and picture can be found below. 

Wednesday- 

Welcome Back to School
by Kenn Nesbitt

 
“Dear students, the summer has ended.
The school year at last has begun.
But this year is totally different.
I promise we’ll only have fun."

“We won’t study any mathematics,
and recess will last all day long.
Instead of the Pledge of Allegiance,
we’ll belt out a rock ’n’ roll song."

“We’ll only play games in the classroom.
You’re welcome to bring in your toys.
It’s okay to run in the hallways.
It’s great if you make lots of noise."

“For homework, you’ll play your Nintendo.
You’ll have to watch lots of TV.
For field trips we’ll go to the movies
and get lots of candy for free."

“The lunchroom will only serve chocolate
and Triple-Fudge Sundaes Supreme.”
Yes, that’s what I heard from my teacher
before I woke up from my dream.  

Thursday-

Friday- 

Spelling- This week we took our initial Words Their Way assessment. This will help me place students in groups. Expect spelling words to start coming home the week after next. :) 

Science and Social Studies- This week we discussed how our classroom was a community. We also took a look at cities, suburbs, rural (farming) communities, and towns. In addition we have spent a lot of time during our Morning Meetings as well as Social Studies time to discuss respect, quality or work, and work on our social skills with others in our class to help build community. We even had an afternoon bubble party for all of our hard work!

That is a quick wrap up of our week and a half . We have quickly built a community, which I am so proud to be a part of. Thank you for your assistance in raising such wonderful children. I look forward to our adventure to success together.

Have a great extended weekend! 
Mrs. Jodie Yuska