A to Zirilli: Reading Takes You Places

The weeks are just flying by. The classrooms are bursting with activities, learning, and making discoveries.

We had another busy and productive week. February, although a short month, is full of many wonderful events.

On Wednesday, the entire school, celebrated World Read Aloud Day.

The 4th graders were able to read to the Kindergarteners, virtually. We listened to various authors through live meets. The children also read various books to their groups to kick off Black History Month.

It was awesome to hear the various authors sharing their stories and even telling us about themselves and why they became authors.

That afternoon, we also kicked off Black History Month. The children read to each other. Many of them enjoyed reading aloud, while others sat and listened to the wonderful stories.

What a great day we had. The children were very focused and engaged. Thank you to Ms. Gambardella, our Reading Specialist, for setting us up with Kindergarten and the wonderful authors.

Our trait for this month is Friendship. The first graders put together a wonderful slide show, which we viewed and took it a step further. After listening to Friendship Soup, 4Z created their own. Our discussions in Morning Meetings have been revolving around this trait.

They enjoyed coming up with the ingredients and putting them into our bowl.

We have also begun giving out SOS Star Bucks to the students. These are given out when we catch the students displaying "Star" qualities in the classroom, the hallway and other classes. The children get excited when they earn them and we will be holding friendly competitions involving these bucks. The children feel proud for receiving them and look forward to earning rewards.

The posters are displayed in all areas of the school. The tickets are collected and placed in the Star Box to be held for raffles.

Upcoming Events:

The children chose authors to research. They filled in a Padlet on Thursday. It displays all the authors that the children will present to the class.

The children are also working on the Bottle Book Projects at home and hope to see them coming in soon.

Also, on Tuesday 2/8, it will be our 100th day of school. We hope to see many of the children taking part in this fun day. I will be holding stations in ELA class all having to do with 100. We encourage the children to dress as if they were 100 years old, or create a tshirt or poster with 100 items on them. A very close relative of mine, will also be making an appearance. Stay tuned.....