Middle Grades: Sept 10 - 14

We had a busy week! 

Our new morning circle routine is to leave the playground between 8:50 and 9:00 and walk to the garden and spend just a few minutes. As the weather begins to cool down - if it ever does - we will be spending more time either at the garden or in the outdoor classroom.  Outdoor shoes - preferably rainboots, that can be washed when we have returned to the building - are a must, since we may be working in the area where the animals have been, or in muddy areas.

On Thursday we will have our Day of Remembrance presentation at 2:00.  Please keep going over the lines of the poem with your children so that everyone is prepared.  We will be practicing in the classroom, but follow up at home is important, so that no one gets stage fright!

Today we start the math block.  My goal is to help the students enjoy the art of counting, and to help them discover more than one way to solve math problems.  They will be memorizing the multiplication tables up to 12.  A table a day keeps the math ogre away.  An at home project might be to make a set of flash cards each day and add the new ones to the mix so that they are seeing and recognizing multiplication facts out of order.  We will be walking, jumping rope, writing, and reciting a lot of numbers this week.  Yay for math!!

The younger students are beginning to make great progress in reading.  Daily reading at home is a good back-up to what they are learning at school.  It can become a treasure moment for everyone to have a designated time to read each evening.  It they are books that your child can read, read it the first time together out loud, then ask your cild to read it to you.  This process can help them become so much more confident when they are asked to read in the classroom.

It's hard to believe that our first break is right around the corner.  Have a great week!