Motivating Monday!

The children came to school motivated to work today, and that we did! We accomplished a great deal.

Tonight they have only one assignment that requires writing. They are to group the spelling words into ir, er, ur, ar groups. They can decide which groups go first and so forth as long the words are grouped together according the spelling of the r-controlled vowel.

The children have a Wordly Wise Quiz tomorrow. They should have their workbooks and index cards with them. If you could read the definitions a couple of times and have the show you the matching index card, they should be find for the quiz.

Another big multiplication timed test is coming up tomorrow on the 7's, 8's and 9's. I gave them a couple of practice sheets to use at home if they wanted you to time them.

I have distributed the new baggy books. Some children are on the second book. The children that received a baggy book today, I told them they could turn them in on either Wednesday and Thursday, knowing what the homework load looks like over the next couple of days.

Keep reading the biography books. I told the children that they really need to have completed the reading by the end of the week with their notes so they can spend the following weeks putting the notes together into flowing paragraphs. I am giving them class time in the mornings once they have completed the morning work to read in their biography as well.

Please make sure you check out the letter from Marie Confident on E-bytes before it goes away. Quite lovely! I am so proud of my children with their big hearts and generous spirit.

We will beginning our new literature study, Stone Fox. This is the novel that I told about at our first open house night at the beginning of the year. It's the book that I always cry at the end. And now that I have my own puppy, I may bawl hysterically. The children always love this book and are intrigued by the character dynamics and the courage of the main character. We will read and discuss it chapter by chapter and they will often have comprehension questions to answer at home for homework. In this study, they will design a map of the sled race according to the details given in the book. In conjunction, we will begin our study of the Iditarod that is beginning soon. We will choose our own musher and follow his along with he and his dogs.

I need the children to begin thinking about the book character that they are going to dress up as on Tuesday, February 2. I am going to discuss this further in the classroom this week, but I wanted you to know that this is not quite like Halloween. I did tell the children that Harry Potter was off limits. They are to be creative in choosing a book character that has appealed to them either in a story or book. They must come to school that day with the book in hand that represents their character. This will be a fun day for the children of the Lower School.

Please make sure you contact me this week to schedule a conference if you have not done so already. I have one morning time of 11:05-11:20 available and the rest are afternoon times starting at 1:00pm.

Have a great week!