Full Moon 🌑

Ask Your Child About...

1. Telling true stories

2. Using word bubbles in their writing

3. To compare groups of items

4. What happens when objects collide

5. To find the word 'a' in various texts
6. Thankful Pumpkins

What a whirlwind of a week! Time seems to fly by with these fantastic kindergartners! 😊 Thank you for returning the field trip permission slips in such a timely manner and a special shout out to those who are able to help us on that day! Along with your child's Friday Folder you will find a stuffed pumpkin. We created these with our 4th grade buddies with the idea that they can serve as a decoration until you decide to rip them open! On the inside you will find slips of paper that contain things our kiddos are thankful for. You can read these together all at once or spread them out through the coming month. 😊

🎃 Friendly reminder that next Wednesday is the Halloween Celebration. Keep an eye out for a Blackboard Connect text message around 1:00 pm if the parade will be cancelled due to rain (let's hope not!). All costumes are welcome as long as they are appropriate and do not include any toy weapons. You are more than welcome to watch the parade out on the playground by entering the south gate no sooner than 1:45. The classroom celebration will begin at about 2:30 pm. Thank you for all of your understanding and patience in this process!

📚 Reading focus this week was on details! We practiced retelling stories using all the details we could remember. We also focused on the word 'a'. Many of the students felt this was a silly word to practice because it was too easy, but we soon realized it is very important! We found the word all over the place and heard it throughout each day. You can extend this by asking your child where they could place the word 'a' as you shop around the store or pick up items in your house.

✏ Writing also focused on retelling stories... true stories! We have moved on from our teaching books and are now writing true stories. We are still using all of our old techniques: sound it out, stretch it like a rubber band, partner up, and add pages, but now we are focusing on stories that really happened to us. Help your child think of some great stories they can tell, help them remember all the details, and then ask them what should go on each page of their book or scroll!

🔢 This week in math we focused on comparing groups of objects. We got out some of our happy choice items and a pair of dice. We would roll the dice to see what number, then set out that amount of objects. Once our partner did the same, we would compare using the phrases "__ is less than __", "__ is greater than __", and "__ is equal to __". We could even count both groups of objects to see how many we had total! Feel free to try this game at home. 

⚽ In science we continued to work with pushes, pulls, and gravity while adding ramps! We used a ramp, ball and pieces of wood to see how objects collide. This was a fun activity that allowed for a lot of variation between students. They tested how the ramp affected the experiment, how the blocks could be placed different ways, and how releasing the ball differently changes the outcome as well!

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns please don't hesitate to reach out!

Have a fantastic Friday and a wonderful weekend! 🦁

Full Week Back

Ask Your Child About...

1. Why writer's have partners
2. To group items (toys, leaves, buttons, etc.) in different ways
3. Where wood comes from
4. What makes a ball go fast or slow, cause and effect, and gravity!
5. Rear bus evacuation (sit on bottom and slide out)

❄ Friends enjoying the frost on the ground! ❄

🚌 Field Trip! In your Lincoln Friday Folder, you will see a field trip form for the Iowa City Children's Museum. The orange sheet has a place to sign and send back to school (the bottom can be cut off and kept for your reminder). The green sheet also needs to come back filled out with your child's lunch choice. The orange and green sheet are due back by Wednesday the 24th! Thank you! *Also, we currently have one parent volunteer for this trip and are in need of two more. If you are able to join us by 8:45-12:00 please sign up and/or let me know! Thank you!! 😊

🎃 Halloween Parade/Party update:

This year students will parade out the north doors along the blacktop path on the playground and re-enter the building through the south doors in the early childhood wing. Parents are welcome to observe the parade on the playground and may enter the playground at the south gate beginning at 1:45 pm. After we parade, students will have a class party before dismissal time. Lincoln PTO arranges for parent volunteers and homeroom parents to help with the class party, games, and healthy treat options. All are welcome to wear costumes for the parade(no play weapons),  but it is not required. 

Reminder that in the event of rain, the parade will be cancelled. Please watch for a Blackboard Connect text message by 1:00 pm if it is decided to cancel the parade.

🍎 If you are able, I would like to ask for your help to bring more graham cracker boxes to school next week or at your earliest convenience. We've gained one box 🙂 Thank you in advance for helping provide snack for our class!

📚 In reading this week we focused on characters. This included identifying the characters of our story as well as working to understand them. We talked about how we can see emotion on character's faces and with their bodies. We even practiced showing some of these emotions ourselves! Once we decided on an emotion or feeling, we worked to understand why that character might be feeling the way they do. This is great practice to help understand stories, as well as our real-life friends!
📗 October's Scholastic order has been submitted and should arrive before Halloween! I was able to get a few new titles for our classroom library through order points, so thank you for the new additions in class as well! 😊

🖊 Our new focus in writing is adding details. We each have a writing partner that will help us clarify our writing! We spend a couple of days writing on our own at our tables, then we spend a day working with our partner. This allows the students to see how other students may be completing their work, as well as give and take help with peers! We focus on asking questions that we still have after our partner has read their story. This helps the writer add details to their drawings, labels, and writing!

✅ The big focus in math has been making different groups of numbers. This consists of the students grouping a set of ten objects in different ways. This helps the students see there are many ways to make the same number! 

🚂 We are starting our new science unit: Materials and Motion! This unit will include looking at natural resources and how they are used and manipulated by people, as well as balls and ramps! We had a sneak peak at one natural resource: wood! We learned a lot about different wood types and how they are made. This was a great connection to our tree studies! We will come back to natural resources in a few weeks, as we are going to focus on balls and ramps for now. This study will introduce how pushes and pulls make objects moves (even when we can't see the push or pull!). We will introduce gravity and forces!

What a short week!

Ask Your Child About...

1. Our new friend in class!

2. Leaf shape and color and wind socks

3. Another way writers create stories: scrolls!
4. How writers make books: they plan!
5. Filling the Paw Jar! 

6. To identify the word see (it was our focus word this week)

Wowzers! This week went by super fast! I hope you are all ready for the weekend again! 🙂

This week we had an exciting event: a new classmate! Be sure to ask your student our new friend and help them come up with some ideas to make him feel welcome in our school home. 💕

🎉 We have filled our Paw Jar once again! This time we will celebrate with a pajama day! Next Thursday, the 18th will be the day. Everyone in our class is invited to wear their pajamas all day, just be sure they are warm and appropriate for an entire day of school (no stuffed animals please - that will be a separate celebration). 😊 Way to go Lions!

🦁 Next Friday, the 19th we will have a school spirit day where kids are encouraged to wear a t-shirt of their favorite team. The following Friday, the 26th will be crazy hat/hair day! The kids will get reminders the Thursday before from a student council representative. Please let me know if you have any questions!

🙂 If you are able, I would like to ask for your help to bring more graham cracker boxes to school next week or at your earliest convenience. Our graham cracker stock is down to two boxes, which will last us through next week. Thank you in advance for helping provide snack for our class!

🎃 I've been getting some emails about helping with the Halloween parade and party - thank you! I believe there was an email sent out for signing up to bring things as well as help. We greatly appreciate anything you can do to help us celebrate at school! We are extra excited this year as we have all of the Mann students and teachers joining us in the parade!

👻 Here are some details about the event: 

1. It will take place on Wednesday, October 31st

2. The schools will parade together starting at 2:00 pm 

3. We will have snack and drink afterwards in the classroom

4. Your child may wear a costume for the parade and party - please place these items in a separate bag for them to change into during the school day. Thank you!

5. We will plan to wear our costumes home

*If you would like to watch the parade, you are more than welcome to find a spot along the route to watch. Keep fingers crossed for dry weather (if it is raining there will be no parade)! If you have any questions about our celebration please don't hesitate to ask!

📗 A friendly reminder that our October Scholastic orders are due next Friday morning the 19th. I will always wait until after I take attendance to submit the orders to ensure I get any that may be in backpacks, but they will be submitted before the end of the day. 

👁‍🗨 This week in reading we focused on the word see. This is a word that we have seen in almost all of our small books but haven't quite focused on. The kids had a fun time with this one as we use it so much in our day! Feel free to practice reading, writing, and spelling see at home!

🔢 Math this week focused on recognizing, writing, and showing the numbers 8, 9, and 10. Many of our classmates know how to count well beyond these numbers but it is important to help them understand what each number means. Help your child better understand each number by comparing these numbers; which has more or less. Practice writing each of the numbers to ensure they are facing the correct way. If you see numbers while you are out and about ask your child to identify them for you! Ask them what would be greater than or less than that number!

📜 We continued our work with creating books that have several pages about the same topic. This week we also learned a new way to continue a writing a story: scrolls! We talked about how scrolls are a fun way to show what happens first, next, and last. In order to make a scroll we learned to take a small piece of tape and place it on one edge of our paper and then place another small piece at the other edge of our paper. This allows us to connect our papers, roll them into a small piece, and save them for sharing in a unique way! Way to go Lion Factory Writers! 🦁

Our science studies have brought us to leaves and weather. Part of our daily routine each morning is to have a weatherperson look out the window and tell us what they see. We then record this on our weather data sheet and compare each type of weather to see what we have had the most and least of. This week we took that knowledge and put it to use during science! We talked about weather and how we can use symbols to show what the weather is looking like. We recorded one day's weather in our Science Journals! 🔆☔⛄
We also did some leaf studies! We talked about the different shapes and colors of leaves and what they might tell us about the tree. We then placed different leaves on a chart of shapes to help us better see how they compare. Your child may ask to go on a hunt for paddle shaped leaves - Ms. Grady couldn't seem to find any! 🍁🌿🍂
This week in science we also created wind socks! You should have seen your child's windsock come home yesterday. We used these to help us understand how wind moves and how to tell which direction it is going. ⛅

Flying our windsocks!

The whole class with our wind socks!

I hope you have a fantastic week and rest up for a full week of school ahead! 🙂

Long Weekend 🙂

Ask Your Child About...

1. Our new tree!

2. To sequence a story for you: what happened first, next, and last?
3. To identify the words I, like, to, we, the, and (these are all the words we have focused on so far)!

We had many exciting things during this short week of school! We had our Children's Museum Box Party celebration for filling the school Paw Ticket Tank, the Latin Jazz Concert, planted our very own tree, and we learned all about fire safety! Friendly reminder that we do not have school this Friday or this coming Monday.

Enjoy a few pictures of our friends playing in the boxes!

           

                                            

                                                             

                                                                         Latin Jazz Concert from U of I

Fire Safety Assembly

This week in reading we did not add any new words, but rather reviewed the words we've been working with for the past couple of weeks. Please help your child notice these words in the world around them. 😊 One fun way to help your child recognize these words is to write each on its own index card (or small piece of paper), then make another set and play memory match with them! Have them say the word when they flip it over in order to keep going, and if they make a match have them spell the word! We also worked on sequencing stories! We focus on the main events to retell what happened first, next, and last. You can do this with your child at home by reading them a story and helping them to identify the main parts. 

We finished up our work with grouping the numbers 0-5 and began to identify the numbers 6 and 7 as well as how to write them. Have your child count these numbers, group objects into categories and write each number! This can be done at home, at the store, or anywhere! 🏡🏫🌲🏦

This week in science we were able to check out our new tree and take some scientific notes about it! We learned what a tree needs in order to grow big, strong, and healthy (air, sunlight, water, soil, and space) and how a new tree might look, feel, smell, and sound differently than older trees. We also got to plant our new tree! It has a great spot next to the playground we always play on! 🌳 We will have lots of opportunities to check on our tree throughout the year and be proud of what we are leaving behind for our Hoover friends next year when they move in. 😊

  

Tree planting process

                                                 

                                                    Taking scientific notes!

Our class with our new tree and Tree Helper Nick!

Enjoy this long weekend with your family! 🙂

Hello Fall 🍂

Ask Your Child About...

1. What landforms they learned about and if they have a favorite.

2. What they learned about jobs and how anyone can be anything they set their mind to!

3. What writers do when they have filled up a page.

4. To identify the word 'and' in various writings (this was our focus word this week)!

A little note left on our class board 😊

Fall has made itself known! 🍂 The kids are getting excited for the changing colors we will see around us! Many of our friends were a tad chilly at recess today, so be sure to send them in layers as the temperatures continue to drop. Gloves and hats are also welcome! With the weather change comes less daylight and sometimes sleepier kiddos. Although your child may be use to a later bed time during the summer, that may need to move up a little in order to ensure they are still getting plenty of rest. Remember: 10-12 hours of sleep is recommended for children this age, which may mean going to bed at 7:30. Kindergarten is tough work! 😴🙂

📚 This week in reading we learned about different kinds of jobs! Many of the kids already have ideas of what they want to be! This is great as you can help them understand how hard work and trying our best in everything we do is the way to get there! We also discussed the fact that anyone can become anything they put their mind to. There is no such thing as a girl's job or a boy's job! We want to encourage our kiddos to reach for the stars and boost their confidence by expressing our belief in their skills. 🌟

🔢 In math we worked on comparing numbers using the new vocabulary words: equal, same, different, less than, and greater than. You can create fun activities at home to compare the number of toys, leaves, crackers, and so on!

✏ Our writing time focused on how to create books! Yes, that's right, we really are becoming authors! We learned that once a page is full, if we still have more to share about that same topic we can get a new sheet of paper and continue writing! Once that page is full we can add it to our last one by using a stapler. Way to go Lion Factory Writers!

🌳 Science brought us into landforms and how trees might grow differently in each area. The children identified landforms close to us and far away! Next week will be an exciting time in science as we prepare to plant our very own tulip tree in the schoolyard! We will have some class discussions about what trees need to survive and how we can help our tree grow big, strong, and healthy. The tree planting will take place on Thursday morning.

A few things to take note of that are coming up...
🔥 Fire prevention week is October 7th-13th. This year Lincoln will have the local firefighters visit for a K-4 assembly in the multipurpose room on Thursday, October 4th. This assembly is open to all student guardians and will take place at 9:00 a.m. This year's slogan is "Look. Learn. Be aware. Fire can happen anywhere." This slogan includes three main steps: 1. Look for places fire could start. 2. Listen for the sound of the smoke alarm. 3. Learn two ways out of every room and ensure that all doors and windows are clear and easily opened by all members of the family. I encourage you all to practice at home this weekend or through next week!

😎 Remember there will be no school on Friday due to an in-service.

📗 Scholastic books will arrive Monday and be sent home with your student! New order forms are coming home today in the kid's Lincoln Lion Friday folders. You may place orders from these new flyers anytime before the morning of October 19th. These can be done through  paper or online with the code RCYJT. I moved the due date up a little to ensure the books will arrive before the end of the month and any holiday/seasonal books purchased will be able to be read in time! Thank you!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and please reach out with any questions, comments, or concerns! 😊

It was great to see you! 🦁

Ask Your Child About...

1. The four seasons and what it may look like on a tree.

2. What they learned about caring for pets: responsibility and extra love.

3. How writing is like a rubber band and the Little Engine That Could.

4. To identify the word 'the' in various writings (this was our focus word this week)!
5. Their adopted tree!

A huge thank you for making it out for Back to School Night last night! The kids were all excited to show you around the room and the school! This is always a great opportunity for the kids to take ownership in their environment and be proud of what they do each day. Thank you again! 😊

This week we also celebrated Constitution Day with a read aloud titled We the Kids by David Catrow. This book highlights the preamble to the constitution in a more friendly manner with wonderful illustrations to match! After the read aloud we all signed a Classroom Constitution which now proudly hangs in our room. 🗽

You may have also been told of a special guest in our room this Tuesday as well as last Tuesday. A University of Iowa student, Mr. Farino, is currently studying Engineering but is considering changing majors to Education. He has been visiting various classrooms to get a feel for what teaching is all about and what different grade levels have to offer. Mr. Farino spent one full day with us and one half day. During this time he mostly observed, helped redirect students, and had small conversational interactions with the students. Mr. Farino said he enjoyed being in our classroom and is excited to see more! 🍎

Mr. Farino reading a story before school begins.

Friday marked the end of our first math topic of counting from 0-5 in written, verbal, and visual formats. We also went over some vocabulary words to help explain what we are talking about while discussing math: number, none, count, part, whole, and order. These are words that will continue to show up throughout their time in and out of school. A great time to ask your child about their math understanding is while cooking/baking or at the grocery store! Please keep working with your child to help them recognize these numbers in the world around them and write them with confidence. 🙂

I apologize if your child came home at any point during the week asking for a new pet! 😅 Our reading study this week focused on pets. We read lots of stories about different animals and all of the work that goes into caring for them. We talked about how we can show care and respect for not only our family and friends, but animals as well! These stories also worked hand-in-hand with our focus word: the. We discussed how the sound to make 'the' comes from our tongue pushing between the front of our teeth. We practiced different words that also make the 'th' sound. Feel free to ask your child what words make these sounds and to identify the word 'the' in text for you! 📖

Scholastic Books have been ordered and they will arrive within a week! I will send out the next order forms after that. There is an order form for each month and each time it will be due on the second to last Friday so that the books will arrive on the last Friday of the month. Each of your orders also allow for our class to earn points which allows me to pick out books for our classroom library free of charge! Thank you for helping our library grow! 🤗

Some of our friends creating their Seasons Book

This week in science we learned about the four seasons and what a tree might experience during these changing times. You should see a seasons book coming home with your child that shows how a tree changes for each one! We also went on an adventure to adopt our very own tree! The students drew our tree as scientifically accurate as they could in their journals and wrote 'summer' next to it. We will draw our tree during each of the four seasons so that we can see how it changes over time! We also collected some items from around our tree to help us study it. I encourage you to adopt a tree with your family at a local park or in your neighborhood. Let your child pick the tree and come back to it frequently to see what you can see! Are there things living in or around it? Is it young or old? How many people does it take to wrap around it? What shape is the tree and it's leaves? What does it smell like? Do some sketches and even etchings of the bark and leaves. Enjoy this simple activity outside with your family all year long! 🌳

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and are able to get out and enjoy this changing whether! It was great to see you all last night and the kid's absolutely loved being your teacher! Be sure to get plenty of rest - for the little ones and yourselves - you've earned it! 😊

We like to... 🙂

Ask Your Child About...

1. The different shapes of trees.

2. What they learned about friendship this week.

3. The steps to writing a word.

4. To identify the words 'we', 'like', and 'to' in various writings (they were our focus words this week)!

We had a strong full week of school! The kiddos are a bit tired, so be sure to get some extra sleep in this weekend in preparation for Monday. 😴😊 You will see Friday folders coming home today with school pictures and some information regarding coming to school sick. Please remember to send these folders back to school on Monday! We will have library check out on Tuesday again, so feel free to send those books back so your child may pick out new ones to bring home. Next Friday will be the last day to submit an online order or send an flyer order form with your preferred form of payment to school for this month's Scholastic. 📚

In math this week we focused on grouping 4 and 5 objects, as well as being able to identify 0. Everyone has been doing very well with these activities! Feel free to practice writing the numbers 0-5 at home and making sure we are starting from the top and not going backwards. 😊 Make it interactive by using sand, paint in a zip-lock baggy or shaving cream! 🎨 A helpful song is "I Can Write My Numbers" by Harry Kindergarten! 🎶

This week in reading we focused on the words 'we', 'like', and 'to'. You may be seeing a piece of paper with a sentence strip with these words on it and/or a book with these words in it coming home! If your student doesn't have these with them, don't worry! Some of our friends did not finish and wanted to keep them at school until they were done. Keep this book as an example of their AWESOME writing skills and to proudly show that you have an AUTHOR in your house! Yes, a real author! 😎

This leads us into writing. We have been working on how to stretch words to get them down on paper. We have three steps for getting words onto paper: 1. Say the word 2. Make the first sound. 3. Write down the letter of the sound. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you have made it through the entire word. *Remember: at this point it is not about having our kids spell everything exactly right, but simply getting them to try.* We want happy, confident, willing to try learners! 😊

One friendly reminder that if after school transportation plans change please send me an email and/or call the office as we can better ensure I will know where to send the students at the end of the day! Often the kids know, but sometimes they forget, so it helps if I am able to keep a record of it as stated from a guardian as well. 🚗🚌 Thank you!

Enjoy this beautiful weather and have a wonderful weekend! 🔆

Second Week Down

Ask Your Child About...

1. The different parts of trees (roots, trunk, branches, leaves).

2. What observe means: we are observing trees in science, but we are learning that there are many things are person may observe!

3. What writer's say when they think they are done. 

4. What they learned about families this week.

5. To identify to word 'I' in various writings (it was our focus word this week)!

This week went quick! We are starting to get use to our daily routines and will only become stronger in them with time. Thank you for your helpful reminders to your children about lunches, Lincoln Lion folders, and transportation each day; it truly helps! Thank you for helping with our All About Me posters! Your pictures from home are sure to make the classroom more homey and comforting to the children. 😊

Friday Folders only have a few items in them this week. The CDs are yours to keep, so please use them as you see fit! The tree book is an activity we completed during science to help us learn the parts of trees. Due to the rain this week we were unable to get out and complete one of my favorite activities: leaf gazing! If you have time, I encourage you and your family to find a lovely large tree to lay under and look up into. We talk about how the leaves blow in the wind and look like they are dancing. 🍃The children always seem to enjoy this visual especially if you are able to do so under different trees and light. We also discussed how as scientists we can use our senses (touch, smell, sight, and hearing in this case) to observe the trees. Get out and enjoy a tree walk on this hopefully good weather weekend! 🌳🔆

In math we focused on identifying, grouping, and writing the numbers 1-4. You should have seen a math sheet come home each day as we complete a lesson. We do a whole group lesson at the rug with examples and practice, then we split to our tables to complete the sheet that you see from your student each day. Some days we also pair up for math games that relate to the topic of the day. 🔢

This week in reading we focused on the word 'I'. We practiced writing and identifying it. I chose various read aloud books that repeated the word multiple times so the students could be exposed to the word more frequently, and encouraged them to use it in their writing. Our topic for the week was family with the strategy of retelling. We discussed how all families are similar and different and did our best to retell each story after we had read them. I encourage your family to read stories about family this week and have some discussions about what it means to be a family (what it looks like, sounds like and feels like). 📗

We have begun our writing curriculum and are off to a great start! The students have decided to call themselves the Lion Factory Writers! 🦁 Writing is always a new experience for students no matter the age. Many have misconceptions on what is considered writing and what is not. Right now we want to encourage our learners to try, try, try! I keep telling the kiddos it does not matter if it is exactly right or not, what matters is if we try. We aren't looking for perfect drawing or spelling, we are simply looking for details and effort. Help encourage your student to try their best and help boost their confidence! We are all writers! 📝

For those of you that are interested, Scholastic Book orders will be due the 21st. They typically take a week to arrive, so that allows for them to arrive before the next month's flyer comes in. If you are interested in ordering, you can do this by filling out the flyer and attaching a check payable to Scholastic Book Club, filling out the flyer and sending cash, or going online to pay (you can search for our class by my name or our class code: RCYJT).  I have already received some orders, so thank you and please be patient as I wait for any others that may decide before the 21st!

Again, if you ever have questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to contact me by phone through the school anytime during the week or through email at grady.allison@iowacityschools.org

Thank you and I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! 😊🔆

First Week ✅

Ask Your Child About...

1) Their "All About Me" poster. The directions are clipped to the poster in their Friday folder. Please return this to me by the end of the next week. We will be sharing them and hanging them in our classroom for Back to School Night. Thank you for helping us with this- it will be so wonderful to see your photographs!

2) Working with a partner during math time to play "Collect 10"/"Racing Bears"/"Number Line Frogger" game. They did very well! These math activities reinforced counting, adding, and one-to-one correspondence. It also required cooperation! 🙂

3) Writing numbers at various number stations set up around the room (numbers cards and white boards, number templates, and so on). You should have seen some number writing sheets coming home throughout the week.

4) The number rhymes we are learning to help with number writing! We are practicing good habits such as starting numbers and letters from the top, and using curves and sticks to form our numbers and letters.

5) Our expectations and how they connect to honesty, caring, respect, and responsibility - Lincoln Lions ROAR! 🦁

6) The fire and tornado drills today! The children were EXCELLENT! 👌

7) Playing the game "Fill the Hexagons" during math time. The children used a tub of pattern blocks and a dice with various shapes on it (trapezoid, rhombus, triangle, and hexagon). The children rolled the dice, took the appropriate shape from the tub, and figured out how the shapes could fit together to create hexagons. The goal was to fill all six hexagons. They loved the game and are getting really good at the shape terminology!

Wow!

It has been a wonderful week at school! We continue to talk about what different times of the day (i.e. group time, work time, clean up time, lining up, etc.) should look like, feel like, and sound like.  The children are getting more and more accustomed to the many new routines and are developing the sense of community that is so important to having a happy school and classroom. 💕

Ask your child about GoNoodle!

As I read big books and other stories with the children, I am continuing to introduce/ demonstrate strategies good readers use naturally as they read every day. These are great strategies for you to try at home as well! Some of these strategies include: 1) Previewing a book and doing a "picture walk" prior to reading a story. This allows the reader to get a feel for the story, make predictions, and anticipate some of the vocabulary within the story. 2) Reading fluently, so our reading sounds like "talking". 3) Thinking as we read. This involves stopping to ask questions, clarify, make predictions, and connect to other books or our lives. Good readers see reading as an interactive experience and I will be continually reinforcing this! 4) Retelling and summarizing what we have read. There are many ways to do this, and I will be sharing different ways throughout the year (flannel pieces for retelling, dramatizing a story, filling out a story map, answering questions about plot relationships, characters, events, and so on).

This week was the start of our library visits. Your child should have shared two books with you and will continue to bring two books home each week as long as they bring the old ones back! 📚 We will have book check-out on TUESDAYS.  Thank you for helping your child return their library books each and every week before or on Tuesday. Mrs. Locher will help your child choose a book based on interest, which would be great for a read aloud or shared reading time at home.

Each week we have a special time with Mrs. Johnson's 4th grade class. This time is called Buddies. 🤝During this time our older friends will help us read books and help with various activities. Here is a picture from our time with them today!

Thank you for returning your Friday Folders! 🦁 Continue to check each Friday for important information and send back any requests on Monday. I collect these folders every Monday from your child and fill them through the week as I get information, then place them in their back pack to be sent home on Fridays. Please do your best to help your child remember to check for their Friday folder and keep it in good shape all year long!

I am so enjoying getting to know your children. 😊 What a WONDERFUL group of learners!  Thanks so much for all you are doing to help get your child off to a great start! Stay cool and enjoy your weekend!  By the way, your children are EXHAUSTED!  😴 You may find the need to move bedtime to an earlier time while the children are getting accustomed to the new routine and schedule.  We are very busy at school! Thank you for your help with this! 🙂

*I will post to this blog each week on Friday afternoons to let you know what we have been up to throughout the week. I will also try to include a couple of picture from the week just for fun! If you prefer a paper newsletter to be sent home each week please let me know and I will be sure to get that sent home in your child's Friday folder.

Please let me know if you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns! You can always contact me through the school phone or my email! grady.allison@iowacityschools.org 🦁

Thank You 🍎

Wow! The year is over and I have not quite registered it yet. Thank you all for a fantastic first year of teaching! I will remember it always! Below is a painting of a tree I created that will slowly gain the fingerprints of all of the students I teach. I have loved my first class of 18 and look forward to all of those to follow!

Yesterday I finished packing up our classroom and separating out what can be used again for Kindergarten or what will be stored for now. I have loved teaching 6th grade and am excited for yet another challenge next year as I switch to Kindergarten. We will be at the New Hoover, so if you wish to stop by we will be a bit further away, but would love to see you all! 🙂

Our final day went great and I couldn't be more proud of these kiddos! I hope you all have a fantastic summer filled with lots of family and friends. Don't forget to challenge your brains over the summer to avoid any regression! I wish you all the best of luck in 7th grade!

Last Full Week!

Man time has flown by! I cannot believe Monday is our last Monday and full week of school! I apologize for not posting any updates in a while; it has been a crazy month as we are finishing up all curriculum, district testing, professional meetings, and packing up the school to get ready for the move to New Hoover for the year. I also want to thank everyone for the kind gestures of appreciation throughout the week; this year has been wonderful! 💙

In the past week we have had our final junior high visits, the Bike Rodeo, Track and Field Day, and the Herbert Hoover Museum. We have wrapped up our final science kit as well as our last math topic. We have one last chapter in social studies: Being a Good Citizen, health: puberty, and writing: literary essay. Each of these topics will be wrapped up within the next week! The remainder of our time will be filled with some outside of the curriculum learning, such as writing and understanding proverbs, stepping up to seventh grade math, and some meditation practices to help us keep calm, focused, and anxiety free as we work through these last few days. 🌺

Wednesday the 23rd is the Orchestra tour day, with their performance at Lincoln at 1:00. 🎶 That day will also be a PBIS celebration day for filling the paw ticket tank once again! For this celebration, the students are encouraged to wear a super hero shirt of their choice (please no capes or masks!). Thursday the 24th we will have an assembly at 8:30 for summer reading, and Friday the 25th will be change your name day with a donation of $1 for our final Haiti fundraising effort. 🌍

The next week consists of no school on Monday for Memorial Day, followed by two last days of school. Tuesday the 29th starts off with the Talent Show at 8:00 and Outdoor Day after lunch at 12:15. 🌳 The final day of school is an hour early out and consists of lots of fun 6th grade things! We start our celebration in the gym at 9:00 for awards, followed by the ceremony and reception at about 10:00, after which we will head to City Park for some good food and fun games. There is a permission slip coming home today for City Park, which is due back no later than the 25th. Family is more than welcome to join during this last day of school! Several of the kids have been asking about clothing, so I would like to address that as well: if you would like your child to dress up a bit for the ceremony they will have time to change before heading to the park. 🎓

Lastly, I would like to share a few over the summer learning opportunities that have popped up. The first being a district suggested math workbook that can be ordered through places such as Amazon. There is a workbook for each grade level which you can find by searching Common Core Standards Practice Workbook Grade __. The ISBN for grade 6 is: 9780329756896. There is also a summer reading program offered through the public library. Here is the link where you can read more about this program: https://www.smore.com/hx57z-summer-reading-2018. Lastly, NCJH has sent a flyer inviting students to visit the library June 21st and July 19th from 1-3 for book checkout, makerspace (hands on engineering, robotics, electronics, critical thinking, problem solving activities), and goodies. I'm sure the other junior high schools have something similar offered, but I have not been made aware of them at this point in time. 🔆📚

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns during this final full week of school!