Week #2- Benchmarks, Notebooks and Intelligence: Oh My!

Hello! It has been a fantastic first week of school. This new group of students is delightful and I am so happy to be their teacher and get to know them throughout the year. I'm including some photos of some fun things we've done to kick off the school year. Honestly, these students are wonderful!

Next week will be more set-up for our class throughout the year. This will include benchmark testing in reading and writing (so I know where students are starting from), setting up our Google Classroom, Reader/Writer's Notebook and learning about Multiple Intelligences (meaning everyone is smart, just in different ways).

Thank you for the letters from parents introducing me to your child. If you haven't sent one yet, please do. I really appreciate getting to know more about individual students. It helps me get to know them faster and to be aware of their specific needs to help me be the best teacher possible for them. I love what I do and I really appreciate your support!

I sent an email about Scholastic Book Orders. You can order online or send in cash or a check. Details here: http://theb7robinsnest.blogspot.com/p/scholastic-book-orders.html I'll place the order at the end of August and it should arrive within a week. This is a great way to build a home library and your order gives me points to get books for our classroom library and books to give away during monthly drawings.

Reading: I'll be introducing our reading program on Monday. Students will come home with details, I'll publish it all on the blog and send an email...and you can learn more at Back-to-School Night! Just know that students should be reading at home at least 30 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week. I'm working on steamlining our program, so watch for the email.

Have a wonderful weekend (students--get some sleep!) and I'll look forward to seeing everyone Monday! Remember Back-to-School Night is Tuesday from 6-8pm. You can come and meet me and learn about the specifics of the class. Hope you see you then!

Code Phrase: I LOVE Language Arts! Tell me this code on Monday (which shows me you read the blog) and you will receive a Robins Reward ticket for our monthly drawing.

Week #2

Monday, August 20th-Friday, August 24th

Monday, August 20th

iRead Program Introduction

Set up Flipgrid

Set up Reader/Writer Notebooks

Join my Google Classroom 

Tuesday, August 21st

Reading Literature Benchmark

Reading Information Benchmark

Wednesday, August 22nd

Writing Benchmark

Thursday, August 23rd

Finish Benchmarks as needed
Free Reading/Pass off books
Book Accountability Assignment

Friday, August 24th

*Spirit Assembly Schedule (end-of-day)

Multiple Intelligence Activity: How Are You Smart??

Book Tasting! Students worked with a partner and figured out which genre the books were. This foundational skill will help them all year in our iRead program where they will read a wide variety of book genres. 

Today we did an Escape Room activity! Now, obviously I can't lock them out of the classroom...but I can lock them out of an electronic classroom where they must use their teamwork skills and sheer wits (and reading ability) to work their way out. This was a blast! Congrats to the teams who successfully broke the code and escaped!