Happy Monday!
I hope everyone had a nice weekend prepping for Halloween! My kiddos at home are so excited, I am sure your families are sharing in the excitement!
This is going to be an exciting week here at SJA. The students are so very excited about Halloween. I love it! I love that they are putting their enthusiasm into great words that have turned into fantastic sentences and really fun conversations. I am happy to hear about their costumes and how they are celebrating this fun day!
To get ready for Halloween, our activities and lessons are planned around this theme! We will be practicing our procedural writing when we learn how to carve a pumpkin and we will be using our descriptive writing skills when we write all about our costumes!
Students will be invited to wear their costumes on Halloween. We have some fun things planned for the day while they are here to celebrate! Check out our class Twitter for some pictures of the exciting times!
We will not have Word Wall Words this week!! Instead, we will be focusing on our Halloween Vocabulary. Check it out!
We have really been enjoying writing in our journals. The students have really been focusing on writing complete sentences using our Writers Eye! Here are the things we are looking for with our Writer’s Eyes!
Students can use this chart on the wall when they are writing to double check that they have included these 4 things! (Capitals at the beginning, lowercase letters throughout the sentence, spaces between our words and punctuation at the end).
As the students become more comfortable with their writing and their skills improve, we will be adding different criteria to the list. The students did an excellent job!
As I review the student's written work, I will be commenting on what they have done using a strategy called, "Tickled Pink and Green for Growth". You make have heard of this already, all this means is that I will write in PINK something that they did really well, something I am proud of them for doing! Then, I will add in GREEN their next steps. Since these goals are so different for each student, this is a great communication tools! 
This is an example of what it may look like!
A few reminders!
* If your child does not have indoor shoes to leave here, they need to bring them to and from their home school. As the weather gets colder and wetter, everyone needs a clean, dry and warm pair of shoes to wear here. Please let me know if we can be of any help in getting your child a pair of shoes to leave here st SJA. We would be happy to help!
* We are in the last week of #WEscarehunger! Please send in any canned goods to help those in need!
* Students have many opportunities to eat snacks in our class, however, there is a lot going on in your child's day!! Please let me know if you have any concerns about how much your child is able to eat during the day.
* I will continue to send home the Word Wall Words every Monday. How/When/How Much you practice those words is up to you! I will take the WWW book out of the mail bags once I see that they have practiced, or on Friday. Please let me know if I take it out and you would still like to practice. The words are usually posted on this blog and on our Twitter account, so feel free to check there as well!
* The students are doing really well with their Snuggle Book Reading! Again, I will switch the books once I see that you have signed the page telling me how they have done. You are welcome to keep each book for as long as it takes to read it with your child.
* Please remember that our Library Day is Wednesday. Please return all books on or by Wednesday of each week. Thanks!
*There will be a P.J. Day on November 9th. Please bring in a donation for United Way!
