Back on Schedule

 Spring Break is just what I needed to refresh, refocus and get ready for the last few weeks of school.  I can't believe that we are in the final stretch of the  school year.  The weather was fantastic and I was able to get outside and enjoy my happy place.  Lots of little projects were completed at home and even got some reading in.  The week was fantastic and as always, vacation time goes too fast. Now it's the Sunday before heading in and I have to get back into a routine. 

The following pictures are from the week before we headed out for our Spring Break.  The children took their ELA Ricas state tests in the beginning of the week.  I am so proud of their efforts and how hard they worked on it.

Writing:

 Our writing benchmark was completed and the children are working on Opinion pieces for their final writing.  They will be choosing topics to write about based on their feelings toward them.  They will also be given prompts to write about based on their opinions.  

As always we use the RACE strategy when it comes to writing a response to a prompt.  I cannot wait to see what some of them choose to give their point of view on and how they defend their reasons.

State Testing (Ricas)

The children took the ELA sessions of Ricas on the Tuesday and Wednesday.  On Monday, I read a book to them to help them ease their anxiety or stress about testing.  Once we listened to the book, we wrote our thoughts about the test (or testing in general).

On testing day, I made sure the room was prepared for them and that everything was in order.  I even gave them little treats to make them feel at ease and ready to go.

The children gave it their all and showed what they learned.  They used scrap paper, took their time, used the tools on the computer and checked their work before submitting it.  I am so proud of their efforts and know that they will continue to thrive.  Math Ricas is coming up at the beginning of May- more to follow.

Station Rotations:

The children continue to do well with stations.  They are reading from the Wonders website, they continue with IXL and Lexia assessments.  They are writing and discovering everyday.  Math is also tied into their stations.  We are working on Division and Science is all about Vision and Light.  Our room is in constant motion with transitioning to the stations or presenting to the class.  There are very seldom moments when we are not in constant learning mode.  The children enjoy group work, and discovering new concepts with their classmates.  

Star Time:

The students and I enjoy the one on one time we have when I conference with them at the end of the month.  The students work independently until it is their time with me.   I get to talk to them about data we have collected for the month.  We discuss their new goals or previous ones and see where they would like to go with them.  Some create new ones, while others want to keep the goals and improve on them.  We check our star bucks totals and talk about how they are feeling at this point.

Upcoming Events and Reminders:

Thank you to all the families that donated for the raffle baskets for our Spring Fling.  The PTO was able to make 16 baskets to raffle off from the entire school.

Many end of the year events are being planned in the next few weeks, please make sure you check class dojo, and emails.

Have a great day and enjoy the last few hours of Spring break!