NAAPID in Room 306

You are cordially invited to visit Haisley School on Monday, February 8^th for NAAPID.  National African American Parent Involvement Day. 

You are also cordially invited to visit us ANY DAY YOU’D LIKE!  J 

There are special things to do on this day, but my favorite part is just seeing what we do on a Monday.  

Here’s what our schedule looks like:

Morning Message (this is projected on the board)

9:25 Music

9:50 PE

Math

11:25 Lunch (our kids eat first, recess second)

QT – this is a moment of quiet time.  Kids use this time to work on anything from the morning they need to finish or a quiet activity around the room.  It’s only ten minutes, but it’s one of their favorite parts of our day.

Reading Block

We do a million cool things during our reading block time.  We have a mini lesson (usually in front of the easel, on the carpet) that is about something we are working on during the week.  These mini lessons are done constantly.  We record our thoughts and talk about specific strategies or learning objectives.

Some of the things we work on:  root words, making connections, reading groups, reading, writing about our reading in our reader’s notebooks, thank you cards (we have a section in our writer’s notebook where we write these, and then we make a card), and anything else we are working on for the week.  We often have projects that have to do with social studies or science too.

1:35 Recess (early because of our assembly)

2:05 Spanish

2:30 Assembly Rhythm on a Stick in the MPR

3:00ish Literary discussion about the book we are reading out loud.  This is one of my favorite times of the day.  We read, we talk, we write, and we enjoy the book we are reading as a group.  I LOVE seeing your kids faces when I’m reading them a book.  They LOVE to hear a book being read t them too.  We have amazing discussions! 

3:45 Get the classroom ready

3:59 Bell rings

Tea with Ms. Scarnecchia from 4-5.  Come and chat with the principal! 

Haisley Heritage Festival

 Mrs. Stoops takes a moment to get a beautiful henna design.  Gorgeous!

Thanks to everyone who came out for the Haisley Heritage Festival on Thursday, January 28^th!  It’s always an amazing evening filled with amazing food, fun crafts, gorgeous outfits, and smiling kids and adults.  I love seeing how proud everyone is (and should be!) of their respective cultures.  I learn something every year and try food that is beyond spectacular.  Bravo!  This is a Haisley tradition that I love so very much! 

More amazing

Multiplication Games!

Practice!  Practice!  Practice!  It’s the ONLY way to get better!  We take a multiplication test EVERY WEDNESDAY.  It’s imperative that your child is practicing their facts!  Knowing these facts will make life SO much easier!  These games are fun ways to practice facts!  Kids were BOUNCING UP & DOWN with EXCITEMENT while playing!  True story!  Everyone can play!  Have fun!

What’s My Number?

Materials:

Playing cards

3 players

Directions:

•  Shuffle the cards and lay face down.

•  Player 1 and Player 2 pick a card and without looking place the card on their forehead (number facing out).

•  Player 3 multiplies the two numbers together and calls out the PRODUCT.

•  Player 1 and Player 2 should use the PRODUCT and the card their opponent is holding to determine the card on their own forehead. 

•  The first player to correctly identify their own card wins that round. 

Write the Equations

Materials

Playing cards

Scrap Paper

2 players

Directions:

•  Shuffle playing cards and lay them face down in a stack.

•  Player 1 draws five cards from the top of the stack.

•  In one minute, player 1 writes and solves as many multiplication equations as possible, using only the five numbers drawn.

•  Repeat the steps with player 2. 

•  Whoever wrote the most equations wins the round.

•  Play until all of the cards are used.

Flora and Ulysses

This is s wonderful story.  Flora witnesses (from her bedroom window) the neighbor accidentally running over a squirrel with a vacuum cleaner in her back yard.  It’s a delightful story.  Please ask your kids to tell you about it!  They are working on a few things this week that has to do with the story and talking about it with you will be helpful.  The first thing we are working on are THOUGHT BUBBLES.  Using pictures from the story, kids are writing things that the characters could be THINKING.  They need to think about the story and what they truly may be thinking (not random thoughts that have nothing to do with the story), writing things that are original and not written in the story.  Before we started thinking about the thought bubbles we were doing for Flora and Ulysses, we practiced on illustrations from two wordless picture books.  

This.  Was.   So.  Fun.  We didn’t look at the entire book, in either case, instead I chose random pictures and asked them to think about what the character was THINKING.  They were amazing.  You should totally try this at home! 

We are also writing about the book in our Reader’s Notebooks.  Our labels are a wonderful way for kids to show they know and understand what they are reading and the connections they are making.  Each label has one, two or three dots on it.  This tells the kids which labels are a bit more complex.  Although we aren’t currently writing about a book we are reading in reading groups, I will be working with kids during reading groups on their responses.  We talk a LOT about what constitutes great writing (details, interesting sentences, evidence, etc.) and the difference it makes when someone is reading your work.  These labels aren’t written to share with others, but kids will have a chance to share what they’ve written – allowing others to hear their thoughts and get ideas of their own. 

Here are our labels:

• Write about a problem that the main character faced.  How did he or she solve it?

•• Write about a time when a character did or said something unexpected or surprising.  How was that event important to the story?

••• Compare the main character of this story to the main character of a different version of the story or a similar story.