MEAP Week #1 - Check!

Happy Friday Families!!

Wow!  Your children, my students, they really rocked it out this week!  Most got plenty of sleep and were ready to go the minute they walked through our classroom doors!  The positive energy and attitudes were quite catchy and we ended the MEAP's this week feeling triumphant!  Bring on week #2!!!

Not only were we "MEAP-ing" this week, we also kept busy in other areas of the curriculum, as well.  Here are a couple of areas we worked on this week:

Writing
The kids were re-introduced to the paragraph during writer's workshop.  We discussed the three parts of a paragraph (topic sentence, three details, closing sentence) and we worked on putting a paragraph together using a "hamburger paragraph" graphic organizer.  It is literally the outline of a hamburger with a bun, three items in the middle, and a bottom bun.  This organizer really helps the kids to see the five different sections they need in their paragraph.  We filled in a hamburger together with the topic, "Why people should visit Michigan".  The kids then worked on their own hamburger with the topic, "My favorite holiday".  Today we worked on moving our paragraph from the hamburger to lined paper.  This is something that we will be practicing and building on all year.

Math
This week we had our first unit test and have moved on to Unit 2.  We learned a new game called "Rolling to 100" and reviewed fact families and fact triangles.  Many kids were stumped when the equal sign and addition/subtraction sign switched spots (ex: instead of 7+3=10, they saw 10=7+3), it got especially confusing when it was in subtraction form.  When the kids have to fill in the problem and are not paying attention, they input the numbers in the wrong way.  This is something we practice all year, but I told them they need to pay attention to all those little details!

Social Studies
We watched a power point slide show that another teacher in the district put together.  It was all about Michigan landmarks.  This kids and I had a blast looking at the wonderful pictures, reading all the information about each area, and answering trivia questions about what we read!

In other news...
Today I had a group discussion about behaviors I have seen outside the school building at dismissal that I have become concerned about.  For example yesterday, I saw a child climb up a tree on the front yard of the school and hang from a branch by his legs.  Also I saw three boys tackling/wrestling each other on the front lawn of the school.  Both of these unsafe behaviors are not allowed on school property during school hours and are not allowed on school property before or after school hours.  Our main priority in bringing this subject up to parents is purely for the safety and well-being of your children.  If you could help reinforce this message at home too, we all would really appreciate it.  I thank everyone in advance for contributing to the safety of our kids and of our school grounds.  We couldn't do it without your help.

Have a fabulous weekend!  Andy, Oein, and I are heading up to LegoFest on Sunday.  I hope you all are doing something fun, as well!