Wow! I can't believe that it's already October! Although September seemed to fly by, I'm amazed at all we've accomplished in just one short month! Now that we have our routines in place and students have built stamina in all areas, I'm excited to see what the month of October will bring! I know it will be filled with lots of fun, learning, and student growth! :)

What's coming up at NDLC?

-Tuesday is a special day! Kristin Mceneany, a second grade parent, will be doing Storytime Yoga with the second graders! She will meet with us monthly, leading us in yoga and sharing a story that goes along with our current learning or with the current time of year. This month's yoga will have a fall theme. How fun! Please send a beach towel to be used as a yoga mat. We will keep the towels at school for the remainder of the year so we have them handy when Mrs. Mceneany comes each month. 

-All permission slips and money for our trip to Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary are due on October 14th. Our trip is on Tuesday, October 18th. If your child plans to eat a cold lunch from Chartwells, we will need to know by October 11th. 

-Our next family event, Grandfriends and Goodies, will be held on October 18th from 6:00-7:00. Students will have the opportunity to share their school with their grandparents (or other special grandfriends), play bingo and board games, do a little art project, and dance in the gym. Dinner will not be served that night, but there will be a light snack for students and their grandfriends to enjoy. Please RSVP using the following link (on RSVP per family): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScyV_Ksq5kugruQU6RPIt5lWo1WLSO3tz0nwfWB-_Fl4VL3WA/viewform

-Just a reminder that there is no school for students on Thursday and Friday, October 27th and 28th.

Curricular Update:

-We had some excitement on Friday morning! Our butterflies started to emerge from their chrysalises! We had so much fun watching them crawl out and dry their wings. Because the butterflies are not ready to fly for a few hours after emerging, we were able to take one out to hold and observe up close. We will learn more about the body parts of the Painted Lady Butterflies this coming week.  

-Throughout the coming week, we'll be solving different types of story problems by asking what information we know and what information we are looking for. We have also been working on mastering our addition facts. We are doing this work by using bead racks to structure the numbers. By using the racks and only focusing on a few facts at a time, kids are getting really quick at the facts. The goal for kids is to look at the groups to develop a strategy for solving each fact, rather than just memorizing or counting up by ones.

-We continue to work on small moment stories in writing. We are drawing on the work of several mentor authors to help us write in meaningful ways. We are currently working on strong story leads, endings, and revision techniques.

-Partnership talk and tackling tricky words have been the highlight of our work in reading this past week. This week, we will continue to work on these things, along with looking at author's craft and the lessons we can learn in our books. Thank you for your help with reading each night! Please don't forget to write the name of the book your child read in his/her agenda.

-New high frequency words are being sent home in agendas on Monday. Students will be assessed on these words on Friday, October 14th. Please have your child continue to practice the words at home.

Have a great week!

Lisa