Good to be back!

It was so nice to be back in the classroom today after being out for training two days in a row. Both classes had a very productive day and worked hard. I completed the final assessment of our Fast Track Phonics today with the writing piece. Students had to independently write 6 words after I read the word aloud and "broke it down" (hit, shop, zap, fox, lid, and jug). I will take a look at those assessments and try to send them home in the Friday Folders tomorrow so you can take a look at how your child did. We are really working on mastering all the sounds and now that we have completed all 30 lessons, I am going back to review the tricky sounds like /ch/, /sh/, /th/, and /ng/. These are the sounds that are giving the kids the most trouble since they are a bit more challenging. I will also send home a copy of our letter/sound pictures tomorrow so that you can help your child practice at home. Mastery of all of the sounds is the first very important step in learning to read. Most of the kiddos are doing a great job remembering the sounds, but there are some gaps, so we will continue to practice until everyone has them down!

Progress reports will be going home tomorrow, so you can get an idea of how your child is doing. Children receive either developing, proficient, or above grade level in the areas of Reading, Writing, and Math. This is not as detailed as the report cards that will go home next time. If you have any questions about progress reports, please don't hesitate to ask!

I was extremely happy to find out that my request for some additional funds to complete the Literacy Bags project was approved by the PSO. That means I can order some more plain canvas bags to create another class set of Literacy Bags. I placed an order for some books this afternoon through amazon.com to add a name bag, a camping bag, a pets bag, and a Hawaii bag as well as a few more books to complete bags that I already have in progress. I originally found the bags for decorating at Micahel's, but they no longer carry them. I found some similar ones online at Oriental Trading, so I ordered them, but they won't be delivered until December 1st. My goal is to get all other aspects of the Literacy Bags ready so that we can have another decorating session and get those bags in rotation by our Winter Break at the latest. Once the books arrive, I will have all of the books I need and then I just need to make sure each bag has an activity to go along with the books and the theme.

The turkeys that have been coming back are wonderful! Our hallway is looking fantastic and I love the creativity and effort that is going into this project. We have also collected quite a bit of toilet paper, so we are definitely doing our part for the Hygiene Drive.

Thanks for everything that you do to support our classroom and Durham Elementary!