Flexible Seating

I am trying out a new type of seating in the classroom. We are trying "flexible seating" which means I have a variety of different seating options available for the students to choose from. Research shows that this type of seating is great for creativity, "...using up excess energy, increased motivation and engagement, creating a better oxygen flow to the brain and improved core strength and overall posture."

We have the traditional tables and chairs...

wobble stools...

bean bag chairs and a pea pod (looks like a blow up canoe sort of)...

I have a table that I lowered to the ground where the students can sit on a cushion or a small rug to work on...

yoga balls...

and I have a crate full of small rugs that the students can use to lay or sit on if they want to work on the floor somewhere...

September 16, 2016 Newsletter

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Newsletter

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Forms to fill out for school

If you are interested you can check out the "forms" post which has a few forms, class schedule, parent packet etc. You will be receiving a hard copy of these on the first day of school but if you wanted to check them out in advance feel free. The only things that may change are our specials times (gym, art, library & music) the listed days and times are from last years schedule- we have not yet received our specials days/times for this year but everything else should be the same.

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Forms">Forms


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Welcome Class of 2029!!

Welcome Aiden, Audrey, Emma, Eva, Jack, Jacob, Jake, Jeremy, Joakim, Joey, Katie, Kellan, Lavanya, Liam, Liliana, Lucian, Olive, Paige, Piper, Rafael, Santiago, Vega, Vincent, William & Zachary!!! I am so excited to start school in just a couple weeks!! In your mailing that you should have received by now from the school it listed your half hour time slot to come visit the classroom on Tuesday, September 6th. It also included whether your child is scheduled to come to school on Wednesday, September 7th or Thursday, September 8th. (The town is starting kindergarten a little differently this year. Half of the class will come on Wednesday for a full day of school 8:10-2:30 then those kids will NOT come on Thursday and start back for good on Friday. The other half of the class will come to school on Thursday 8:10-2:30 and NOT Wednesday and come again on Friday.) If you have any questions please feel free to email me at clloyd@arlington.k12.ma.us


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I spy an Inchworm!

Look who we found just inching along on someone's head!😳🐛

So of course we had to stop everything and closely observe it. He was so tiny I had to project him up onto the screen for everyone to get a good look at him.

iPads!

We started using our iPads today! What an exciting day it was! We learned the rules for using the iPads (see if your child can tell you what they are) we also learned how to turn the iPads on and off, how to swipe up and exit out of an app to save the battery, how to project or "mirror" our iPad up onto the projector screen for the whole class to see what we made on our iPad. We also learned all about the app "Drawing Pad" which we will use several times a week now to do our "write along".

During write along the students have to recall the morning message from the previous day that I wrote on the whiteboard (typically will have something to do with what Jack and Annie are up to in our Magic Tree House book). On Thursday, it was "Jack and Annie see a castle." The students then repeat the message out loud several times with me as we count on our fingers how many words are in the message- that way we know how many lines to draw. Then we go ahead and start drawing our lines- one line for each word in our message. This can be tricky for some- especially some longer words some students draw a line for each syllable instead of one line for the whole word. "_____ ____ _______ ____ __ __________." After we draw our lines we always go back and point and read while saying our message (sentence) aloud and pointing to each line saying the word that will go on that line. This way we can catch any mistakes we may have made like not drawing a line long enough for the word, drawing too many or too few lines. Then we point and read it again to a partner to double check. Now finally we are ready to write some letters! Some students are writing beginning, middle and ending sounds in words and some are still writing just beginning sounds with the help of our sound map. All are just fine! If a student is independently writing beginning sounds the teachers will scaffold and help that student to try and hear one or two ending sounds in their message. Eventually, the student will get more comfortable with this and try to write an ending sound on their own!


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