Spirit Month Continues!
This week, we enjoyed the holiday spirit for five more days of crazy outfits and festivities! We celebrated Twin Day, Channel Your Flannel, Reindeer Day, and Hat Day. Our students and staff brought out all the stops and made this week fully of whimsy and joy. Next week, we invite everyone to continue participating in Spirit Month with the following days:
- Monday, Dec 13: Candy Cane Lane (dress up in red and white!)
- Tuesday, Dec 14: Santa's Helpers (dress up like anyone who works at the North Pole - Santa, Mrs. Claus, elves, reindeer, snowmen, etc)
- Wednesday, Dec 15: Festive Feet (wear your favorite holiday socks or slippers)
- Thursday, Dec 16: Jeans + Holiday Sweater
- Friday, Dec 17: Keep it Classy (dress up in your classy Christmas outfits)
Thank you to all who have participated so far, and we hope to see the holiday spirit continue into our last full week of the semester!
Lindsey Smith
Ms. Smith didn't just dress like a reindeer - she pranced her way all throughout the building!
No, it's just Ms. Webb!
Ms. Webb began her Christmas deliveries early this year. Luckily, the weather stayed warm for her journey!
Mrs. Ralphs
These three lovely ladies figured out that they were dressed just alike for Channel Your Flannel Day!
Jayden + Ms. McCarthy
These two Patrick Henry people didn't even see their similarities until they were standing right next to each other!
Reading Instruction Always Continues
Even with all of the fun and silliness of Spirit Month, our focus on reading instruction never ends! Our students are taking their Star Reading Assessment this week to show how much they have grown, and it is so important for our reading instruction to continue. Our classroom teachers and our Reading Specialist continue to push all of our students to grow in their reading skills. Guided reading is a purposeful and highly structured reading approach that allows students to work on their reading level but also find rigorous and challenging work in each of their groups or stations. We will continue our instructional approach in the spring semester, and we encourage all of our parents to ask how their child's day in guided reading went on a daily basis!
Ms. Evans
Our Reading Specialist knows how to keep a group extremely focused while they still have fun.
Collaboration
Guided Reading relies heavily on a collaborative learning setting so that students in the same group can work together and challenge one another to grow.
Reading A-Z
Students at every grade level have access to ReadingA-Z, an amazing app on the iPad that allows students to read books that are assigned to their specific level. Ms. Jackson's students thrive in this app, where they are learning and reading at their own pace with the support of Ms. Jackson behind the scenes.
ReadingA-Z
Teachers can assign a book and students are held accountable for their independent reading through comprehension questions at the end of the book, chapter, or section.
Independent Reading
Many of our youngest students are able to read independently with assistive apps like ReadingA-Z, that can even read the book aloud to the student as they follow along. Students can also read at their own pace and set the page turning when they're ready.
The Guided Reading Table
Ms. Willard is shown here at the all-important guided reading table, where students are not allowed to interrupt while she is meeting with a group. Students throughout the rest of the class are in centers with different tasks that are all literacy-based.
Making it Fun
Robbie is pictured here completing his pattern work at one of the literacy centers of guided reading. Robbie was so excited about his efforts that he wanted to keep showing that he knew the right answer!
Forming Sight Words
One easy way to practice literacy skills with young students is asking them to identify a sight word and recreate it themselves. Pictured here, Rai and Jayla had to cut out letters and find the correct letters to spell out their sight word "for."
2nd Grade Achievements
All of our teachers focus heavily on recognizing positive behavior in their classrooms. Most teachers have a classroom management system that lets a child know how they are doing throughout the day, and many students have frequent check-ins with other staff members to see their progress. This week, Ms. Jami's 2nd graders were caught doing all kinds of incredible things in reading and math, and there were also some amazing behavior moments of pride and joy. Shout out to her students for working so hard in their classroom!
Andrew
Andrew was so focused on completing his homework that he started right away - even during dismissal!
Why wait?
Ms. Jami's 2nd grade students mastered their math skills so well that she realized it was time for a challenge. She gave them 3rd grade standards to bump up the difficulty level!
Rising to the Challenge
Ms. Jami's students worked hard and worked together to identify fractions. Our students are excited about their academic growth and we are proud of them for taking on the challenge!
