Week 1

So, its definitely been a week of learning for us all. :)

I was happy when we actually got 4 subjects taught on Friday. That's a good sign for the week ahead. Next week, I hope to start academic rotations, and really get the routine solidified. In order to do that, we need to remind the children to follow directions, focus on the activity being taught, and be open to learning new things.



Class Rules:
1. I will listen to the Teacher/Speaker.
2. I will focus on my work and will look at the speaker or the teacher.
3. I will talk only when appropiate, and with respect at all times.
4. I will keep my hands and feet to myself.  I will be gentle with my friends.




One thing I have learned is that behaviorally, we have some work to do. I will be making a few changes... I am going back to the color system until the majority of the kids learn which behaviors are appropriate and acceptable. I hope to take the color system away by October, but only time will tell. Here is how the color system works.

1. GREEN- All kids start out each day on green. Green means they have had a good day. It is acceptable if a student never leaves green. All of us have good days, but we never begin the day on purple.

2. PURPLE- Purple will only be given when your child demonstrates compassion, caring, above and beyond the norm in behavior expectations. For example the other day, when the kids were talking at the tables and the volume was getting out of control one boy left the table with his book and sat at the front of the room so that he wasn't part of his table's rowdiness. That would have moved him to PURPLE.

3. YELLOW- Yellow means that I have given multiple warnings about behavior to the child. Warnings may be in regards to hallway behavior, talking without permission during lessons or table work, interruptions while I am conversing with any adult staff member who comes to the door for school business.

4. RED- Red is the final step before I include the school administrators in conversations about a student's behaviors. If a child is on yellow for any of the above offenses, and continues those offenses, he/she will be asked to move their clip to red. If a student laughs at or is caught making fun of one of our class mates, he or she will be asked to move their clip to red. Kicking, hitting, pushing or rough play is automatically a red offense.

HOMEWORK-Homework will begin on Monday. I will not collect it until the following Monday. This will be our first week for spelling homework and spelling tests. The test will be on Friday and everyone has the same words and everyone has the opportunity to earn extra credit by learning the bonus words that are taken from math and social studies or science.  The Spelling City web site will be updated with the correct spelling list, labeled as WEEK 1: August 20-24. Homework consists of 1 Reading A-Z book, worksheets and a quiz that are related to the A-Z book, spelling activities for each evening on the Spelling TIC-TAC-TOE and some math sheets from the math text.




 

SPECIALS- Our schedule for specials is at 1:10 every day. Mondays we meet Mrs. Marsico for Music. On Tuesdays we get Art instruction from Mrs. Spann. Dr. Gholston is the violin teacher and we get to spend the afternoon with her on Wednesdays. For P.E. on Thursdays and Fridays, the children need to wear sneakers or gym shoes (no boots or dress shoes please.)


This week we will be learning about Georgia Geography, and begin talking about the historic people that influenced change in our state before it joined the Union. In Math we will begin addition and subtraction, and discuss Measurement. We will finish the unit in Social Studies before beginning Science. We are going to be learning how to read with Stamina and how to read with understanding during our reading lessons.