Week 20 in Review

Greetings from Room 119!  This week for Thoughtful Thursday we lifted up Doug who is a beloved teacher in Clawson.  You can see our project by clicking HERE.  Please let Mrs. Doran if you know of someone who could benefit from one of our projects.

We heard back from last week's Thought Thursday recipient that she loved our video and would benefit from some music therapy.  Her dad (talented music educator at WLW) asked if we could do a little something for her, so we did. Mrs. Aaronson taught us a quick song for Emily.  You can see our song by clicking HERE.

As you know, we are taking part in Global Play Day next Wednesday.  We are able to bring in (non-electric) games that day to play with.  We are so excited.  We love using our imagination!  We learn so much much by playing including problem solving and getting along!

 We are back to reading groups and are so proud of our progress.  All of us progressed from last marking period and we're working hard to continue to grow as readers.

In math we looked at number models (or number sentences) and had to determine if they were true or false.  We did a great job working as teams to sort and solve the problems we were given.

We also started number scrolls.  They are called scrolls because we roll them up like scrolls.  If you'd like to send in an empty toilet paper roll, they work great for housing our scrolls.  We're getting better at counting and finding patterns in numbers!  Some of us are even choosing to work on scrolls in our free time!

As you know, we watched the Wizard of Oz and compared it with the book we just completed.  We talked throughout the movie but it was all on topic.  The book and movie were very different.

We enjoyed comparing the two to see how they were alike and how they are different.  Mrs. D. is now reading the Marvelous Land of Oz to us and we are practicing our skills of predicting, summarizing and wondering! We are really enjoying the book which has a fun twist at the end.  Mrs. Doran highly recommends it!

This week we performed the iReady assessment again.  We took the assessment on the computers in the areas of reading and math.

We ended the week the way we love to, with a special Mystery Reader! Paige's mom (a teacher) surprised her by showing up to read to us!  She did a great job (but then, she is a professional).
 ;-)

As always, this is just a snapshot of our learning!  To see more, you can click HERE.  Remember that Valentine's Day is around the corner!  If you would like to help out our wonder party planners (Jonny's mom and Gavin's mom), please let Mrs. Doran know!

Week 19 in Review

Greetings from Room 119!  It was a busy week and an even busier weekend for Mrs. Doran who played dance mom all weekend and also managed to complete report cards!  Be sure to check Skyward at 4pm on Wednesday to see them!  We all made some great progress from last marking period!  We also lifted up a very special person last week.  Emily is a WLW grad (and LLE alum) and is in need of thoughts and prayers.  You can check out our project to her by clicking HERE. 

Room 119 is not only lifting people up on Thursdays, we are also going to be helping the American Heart Association by participating in Jump Rope For Heart.  This is a great organization, plus we get these cute pups! Remember donations are tax deductible.  Kindergarten is also collecting spare change (or checks) for St. Judes. LLE is making the world a better place!

 The week was a little strange.  It was a short week with the MLK holiday and we also had TEAMS where we focused on Responsibility. Mrs. D. didn't take any pictures of reading (where she mostly tested us) or math (where we focused on greater than, less than and equal to).  She will be better next week!

In writing this week we spent time creating characters, settings, problems and solutions and will be putting them all together in a book next week.  We've really been adding detail to our work taking time each day developing different parts of our stories.

We loved sharing our writing with our peers to get input.  This is the start of some peer editing and making our work even better!

 We ended the week with a very special Mystery Reader. Bo's Papa Steve came in and read us Bo's favorite book!  We loved the book and loved hearing from Papa Steve since he was one of our Thoughtful Thursday recipients!  He also came with great news that he is doing well and his treatment was a big success!

Papa Steve also brought us a big card to thank us for our encouragement and he said it meant a lot to him!  We are always happy to lift people up who are in need of it. If you know someone who could use some encouragement or care, please email Mrs. Doran at lauradoran@wlcsd.org

As mentioned, Mrs. D. didn't take a lot of pictures with all the testing and the short week, but you can see some extra pictures of our star students and some more writing pictures by clicking HERE.

Have a great week!

Week 18 in Review

Greetings from Room 119!  It was a cold week!  Remember if it is zero or above, we go outside so please remember to pack our warm gear to send to school with us! This week for Thoughtful Thursday we lifted up Ed, an American hero who is going through a difficult time.  To see his project, you can click HERE.  Please let us know if you know someone who needs some lifting up.

 We spent a lot of time this week learning about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  He taught us that you can stand up for what you believe and you don't have to be one of to stand with. Be sure to check out the MLK day celebration at WLN!  You can learn more about the event by clicking HERE.

We had fun celebrating Miller's 7th birthday this week!  Happy Birthday, Miller!

In reading we've been working on retelling text and some of us decided (on our own) to take notes while Mrs. Doran reads "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" to us.  It is a WONDERFUL book and we're really enjoying it.  It is quite different from the movie our parents are probably familiar with.

In writing we continued to work on including a beginning, middle and end to our writing pieces.  Next week we will work on developing character and setting as well.

In math we've been learning about place value using tens and ones.  We also do this every day when we count the days of school.  We realized we do A LOT with ten.  We use ten frames and can get to sums of ten quickly!

 We did great with place value which made a great transition to learn about money.  We learned about dimes and pennies, what they look like and how to count them.  We know it takes ten pennies to make a dime and had fun playing "quick looks" with money.  Ask us about it!

We ended the week with two great books read by Gavin's mom. Gavin was very excited to see his mom who also happens to volunteer in Room 119 twice a week.  She did a fabulous job!

This of course is a snapshot of what we did and to see more, you can click HERE.

Please consider taking the quick TWO QUESTION survey about communication.  We have less than half of families who have taken it. It really helps Mrs. Doran know your preferences and can help her be a better teacher and communicator to you.

Week 17 in Review

Greetings from Room 119 and Happy New Year! We had a good first week back and were busy getting ready for the end of the marking period.  We are getting closer to becoming second graders and we are starting to act like it.  This week's Thoughtful Thursday project went to Emily who lives in Louisiana and lost both of her grandparents.  You can see our project for her by clicking HERE.

We've been working hard on our reading and made a lot of progress this year.  Mrs. Doran is starting to test each of us individually on our reading to determine our reading level based on the DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment). This is a time consuming assessment and she hopes to meet with one student a day. Please keep reading with us at home with the take-home books.

In writing we are no longer focusing on letter writing (though we will continue our letter-writing practice next week when we start celebrating our "Star Students.").  We are now working on including a beginning, middle and end to our pieces.

One way we can work on this and move our story along is by using time-order words and transitional words.  We listen for them in books Mrs. D. reads to us and are trying to use them more in our own writing.

In math we learned easier ways to add three numbers together and how to add and subtract ten quickly using a hundreds grid.  We also took a math assessment.  Scores will be coming home next week so be sure to check our Everyday Folders.

It's snowing!! We enjoyed reading about snow and learning about it.  We also learned about Snowflake Bentley (ask us about him) with our fifth grade buddies.

After learning about snowflakes, we then went to work making snowflakes.  Mrs. D. taught us how to fold paper and then cut to create really neat snowflakes.  We will be hanging them around LLE soon!

Last month our PBIS trait of the month was resiliency.  Gavin has worked hard both at home and school to really improve his reading and writing.  Way to go, Gavin!  This month we are focusing on Responsibility and learning what it means to be responsible. We are practicing showing responsibility in all areas of our school.

 And finally, we ended our week with a special Mystery Reader.  Jagger's sister came in and read to us.  She was in Mrs. Doran's class last year so knew exactly what to do.  She did a great job and we were a wonderful audience.  As promised, it is now January so if you would like to sign up for a second opportunity to read to our class, you may.  PLEASE if you have not signed up yet consider signing up someone to read on your behalf.  Email Mrs. Doran with questions.

Please remember to dress for the weather!  We go out whenever possible so be sure to wear that winter gear and LABEL it with our names. 

Back by popular demand (or one parent who said they liked it... :-) ).  You can see some extra pictures from the week by clicking HERE.

January's Feedback Survey is all about communication.  Let Mrs. D. know your thoughts by clicking HERE to answer a short 3 question survey.