Spring is almost here.  I hope we begin to feel it soon.  It been a week of testing, talking about friendship and kindness, broccoli growing, party planning, animal researching and dealing with zero’s in math.

Week One of Testing Done

Most of the students have completed the English Language Arts portion of the Smarter Balanced Assessment. I hope you’ll give your son or daughter an extra special hug for his or her effort this week.   Things were as smooth as taking a new standardized test can be.  Though a few of the children said they thought it was fun, most found them exhausting, and a few felt pretty discouraged.  There were several teary moments when children felt totally overwhelmed by the magnitude of what they were being asked to do.  It was a lot.  I am very proud of their efforts and their willingness to push on through confusion and difficulty.  Mr. Boardman said that he felt things had gone smoothly at the board meeting on Thursday.  That was certainly true technology-wise thanks to Mrs. Wyman.  She spent countless hours to make sure all the computers were ready for us to use.  She knew all of the tools available to the kids and was able to support us all through the entire process.  She is the mom of the third grader.  She thought about this through his eyes and tried to do everything she could to make this experience as good as it could be.  She did for our children what she hopes will happen for her son.  Thank her if you have the chance.

S.E.L. – Trying to Find Ways to Be Better Friends

Spring is often a time of strained friendships.  Kids are longing for movement and change.  They are also wishing for options and new relationships.  Small classes make that hard.  There are only some many ways to pair up or form small groups with 13 children.  We need to deal with issues of unkindness in our classroom.  After reading several books by Trudy Ludwig, we’ve been trying to think of actions each of us could take to become better friends.  We are trying to make changes in what we do.  We are not making suggestions for others or passing blame.  It is a challenge but we are beginning to try.  Mrs. Ludwig suggests these ideas:

 It’s okay to be mad.  It’s not okay to be mean.  Don’t respond to bullying by bullying back.  Be a hero bystander: reach out to kids who are being bullied.  Don’t put others down to build yourself up.  Be accepting of others’ differences.  Hang out with friends who make you feel good about yourself.  Don’t just say “Sorry!”  Show you’re sorry.  Take responsibility for your hurtful behavior by making amends.  Know the difference between tattling and reporting.  Report bullying to a grown-up you trust.

We talked about all of her suggestions but we realize that there are still some unkind things going on.  We have some classmates that are left out.  We have some classmates that feel teased and picked on.  We have some classmates who are feeling put down.  We know we don’t want that and we are working to find ways to change our behaviors so we can lessen those feelings – hopefully eliminate them.

Bits and Pieces – 

• Report cards should be coming your way today.  Let me know if you don’t receive it and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  I am happy to meet with you.
• Our broccoli plants are a month old.  We are hoping they’ll be ready for the green house in two more weeks.
• Most of the children have mastered using the standard algorithm with a few questions here and there about place value.  They are feeling pretty good about it.  Next we move on to fractions.
• We finished The Quirks and the Quirkalicious Birthday on Monday.  We finally planned our quirky celebration and are looking forward to that on Monday.
• We began a mask making project.  We are making paper mache masks of the animal we are researching.