News From the Teacher...

Hello Families!
I hope that many of you are checking in to see updates on what's happening in our classroom.  We have also started having "student bloggers".  Any student who wants to will have a chance to add to our class blog.


Our Promethean Board is installed and in use.  (Promethean, I learned, is the brand name of our interactive white board.  I was wrong to call it a SMARTboard -- another brand name.)  I am learning all about it while using it with the class.  You can imagine what an experience that is!  So far we are using "Promethean Paul" (our cute name for it) during Morning Meeting.  We  do calendar, base 10 counting, and money every day.  I have also found ways to use the board with interactive math games, and during a mini-lesson for Writing Workshop.  Our children are very lucky to be growing up in an age of technology!


In math we are working on addition within 20.  It is very important to be fluent in these facts, as it will help us in other math concepts.  We are practicing strategies besides just counting up to get the sum.  One strategy we have used is thinking of doubles or "close to doubles".  For example: 5+7 can be thought of as 5+5+2.  10 plus 2 can be calculated much faster than starting with 7 and counting up 5.  Students are exposed to a variety of strategies.  The hope is that each student will find what works best for them.


In Social Studies, we are working on mapping and community.  To go along with the idea of community, we are discussing being a good citizen.  Information will be coming home soon about our classroom community service project.


I will be out on Tuesday, October 19.  I am attending a workshop on teaching about Maine Native Americans.  This will be the second workshop I have attended on this topic.  In the spring we will have a unit on Maine and Maine Native Americans.


You may have noticed there is no homework this week.  That's my fault -- I've spent so much time learning about the Promethean board, I forgot to gather and copy materials for homework!  Feel free to torture your child with extra work at home anyway :)  Tell them I said it was OK ;)