September 25, 2020

 

Happy Friday Parents!  

We made it through yet another virtual week.  Most of the children are becoming independent on the It's Learning platform and it is wonderful watching them make choices and submit work all on their own.  Often times it may seem easier to do things for your child but it really is a great feeling to see them able to care for their work without assistance.  It is worth taking extra time now to show them how to do things then to continually have to assist them.  

Please assist your child in finding the EPIC reading website if they have not already worked in it.  If you click on groups on the home screen you will then select the Savannah Chatham Group.  After the group is selected, Amira should be listed on the right side of the screen under Elementary Websites.   It is crucial that all of the children are practicing Amira 2-3 times per week.   By doing so, we are able to listen and gauge the development of your child's reading skills so that we are able to tailor lessons to the areas that need growth.  

                                                                                                                  

Each week your child is assigned a developmentally appropriate book to read on the EPIC platform. Please encourage your child to use this assignment as their reading for one of their reading opportunities each week.  When your child reads their book and takes the quiz we are able to check their comprehension and we can see when they are ready to move on to more advanced reading material.

Weekly Overview for September 28-October 2

Monday: 

*Journal:  This weekend I…                                      Self select a work from each area: Small Group Lessons-Language                              *Language *1st year-Living/NonLiving-Classification  8:45        *Cultural *2nd year-Contractions  9:15                                   *Read 20 minutes                 *3rd year-Interjections  9:45

Tuesday:

*Journal: Weather can be dangerous.                       Self select a work from each area: Which is most dangerous? Why?                            *Math/Geometry No Small Group Lessons Today                             *Cultural  Third grade students will be                                   *Read 20 minutes   Completing Math MAP testing

Wednesday:

*Journal: The weather I enjoy the most is ______________.  Why? Asynchronous Learning-Children will use this day to catch up on work or to complete ongoing or special projects. Personal Timelines (Complete and get ready to present) Informational Writing Project (Organizing informational writing) color-coding Amira Reading Program--EPIC reading and quiz

Thursday:

*Journal: I would love it if _______came down instead of rain.  Why?                                                                           Self select a work from each area:                                Large Group Lesson-Cultural                                     *Math/Geometry Another amazing science experiment!                        *Language                                                                               *Read 20 minutes

Friday:

*Journal:  Free Writing                                            Self select a work from each area: Small Group Lessons-Writing                                   *Math/Geometry *Traits Writing Lesson-Word Choice/Fluency           *Language Children will learn about choosing great                   *Cultural Words and developing fluency in writing.   *Read 20 minutes 1st grade: 8:45 2nd grade: 9:15 3rd grade: 9:45

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Jess, Ms. Kirsten, and Ms. Jelena

September 18

 Hello Parents,    

We hope that everyone in the fox and bear community is feeling happy and healthy. 

We all have some tough decisions coming our way and it is our hope that we can all feel informed and comfortable with the choices that we choose to make! Be on the lookout for information on Return to Learn plans and explanations.  

We have MAP testing coming up for our third grade students for the next two weeks.   The first and second grade students will not be MAP testing until they are back in the school building.   This coming Tuesday, September 22, the third grade students will be participating in the Language Arts portion of the MAP test immediately following morning meeting.   The test will be given in small zoom meetings with the guidance of Ms. Kirsten, Ms. Jess, and Ms. Carolina.  We will have specific details emailed to third grade parents by this coming Monday.  There will be no small group lessons on Tuesday, September  22.  Before Tuesday, please make sure that your child has completed a practice portion of the MAP test to make certain that their computer is set up to be compatible with the MAP platform.

Your child should begin practicing reading with the AMIRA reading app.  This can be accessed easily by following the directions below:

1.  log into the It's Learning platform as usual

2. click on groups

3. choose the Savannah Chatham County Group

4. click on Amira and start reading (children are recommended to work with Amira 2-3 times weekly)

Your child can also access EPIC reading in this same group using the code:  lyg9941

Weekly Overview for September 21-25

Monday: 

*Journal:  This weekend I…                                      Self select a work from each area: Small Group Lessons-Language                              *Language *1st year-100 board  8:45                                         *Cultural *2nd year-Rounding Numbers  9:15                         *Read 20 minutes                 *3rd year-Rounding Numbers 9:45

Tuesday:

*Journal:   What would you do if                              Self select a work from each area: you could change the world?                                  *Math/Geometry No Small Group Lessons Today                             *Cultural  Third grade students will be                                   *Read 20 minutes   MAP testing

Wednesday:

Please be certain that you log on to It's Learning every Wednesday so that you will be marked

present for the day. We will leave you a video to view on Wednesday morning.

*Journal: If I were a scientist, I would study _____ why? Asynchronous Learning-Children will use this day to catch up on work or to complete ongoing or special projects. Personal Timelines (Complete and get ready to present) Informational Writing Project (Organizing informational writing) color-coding

Thursday:

*Journal: Make up a story using the following words:                                            scared, angry, Sunday, bugs                                    Self select a work from each area:                                      Large Group Lesson-Cultural                                     *Math/Geometry One of the most amazing lessons                              *Language ever experienced.                                                      *Read 20 minutes

Friday:

*Journal:  Free Writing                                               Self select a work from each area: Small Group Lessons-Writing                                   *Math/Geometry *Traits Writing Lesson-Word Choice/Fluency           *Language Children will learn about choosing great                   *Cultural Words and developing fluency in writing.                 *Read 20 minutes

September 11, 2020

 Happy Friday Parents,

We appreciate your diligence and patience as we continue to learn and grow using the It's Learning platform.  Your feedback helps us to guide our journey and we are discovering that through these times it truly takes a village to keep our children thriving.  

While we are happy to answer questions and address concerns at any time, we would also like to remind you that there are resources that we have put together containing answers to frequently asked questions so that you can be "in the know" easily.   If after reading the blog each week, and watching Ms. Jess' wonderful It's Learning platform directions video (link below), you still have questions we will be happy to answer additional questions.  If the information you are seeking is in one of these two places we will direct you to check there first.    

It's Learning Run Through W/ Ms. Jess

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EEyEF9Ii5HN9LVHLD0wn9O6VjQSRMJpp/view?usp=sharing

The schedule below will reflect the new small group times and the lessons that the children will be receiving throughout the week.   Please note that Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays the children have grade level group lessons scheduled as follows:  1st grade 8:45-9:15. 2nd grade 9:15-9:45, 3rd grade 9:45-10:15.   Please assist your child in attending these meetings promptly at their given times.

Weekly

Overview for

September 14-18

Monday: 

*Journal:  This weekend I…                                      Self select a work from each area: Small Group Lessons-Language                              *Language *1st year-Time hour/half-hour w/ follow up  8:45        *Cultural *2nd year-Time by the minute w/follow up  9:15        *Read 20 minutes                 *3rd year-Elapsed Time w/ follow up 9:45

Tuesday:

*Journal:  Should Pluto be a planet?                          Self select a work from each area: Small Group Lessons-Language                              *Math/Geometry *1st year-ABC order w/ follow up  8:45                     *Cultural *2nd year-Verb Tenses  w/ follow up  9:15                *Read 20 minutes         *3rd year-Prefixes w/ follow up 9:45

Wednesday:

Asynchronous Learning-Children will use this day to catch up on work or to complete ongoing or special projects. Personal Timelines (due on September 18) Informational Writing Project (3-5 questions about topic due on Friday) Astronomy presentations (choose one project to develop fully)

Thursday:

*Journal: What would alien life look like?                    Self select a work from each area: (draw and describe with words)                                  *Language Large Group Lesson-Cultural                                     *Math/Geometry Astronomy and/or Time Line Presentations:               *Read 20 minutes The children have been completing amazing                             Astronomy work.   Today will be the last day  for astronomy presentations.

Friday:

*Journal:  Free Writing                                               Self select a work from each area: Small Group Lessons-Writing                                   *Math/Geometry *Traits Writing Lesson-Organization                           *Language Children will learn to use a informational                    *Cultural writing rubric to organize their ideas.                         *Read 20 minutes

We hope that you all have a fun, and relaxing weekend! 

Sincerely,

Ms. Jess, Ms. Kirsten, and Ms. Jelena

September 4, 2020

Dear Parents,

We have just completed our first full two weeks of virtual learning!  As we move forward we are looking carefully at parent concerns and we will be making a few changes that we hope will address these matters while still staying as true as possible to our Montessori principles.  

This week some class members have started to be pulled for meetings for either the EIP or GEP program. This has definitely added some strain to our schedules. We understand that attending multiple meetings a day can be stressful for both parents and students alike. Please know that all Fox and Bear meetings are recorded and that they can be viewed at your leisure if scheduling gets to be too much.  However, all children must attend the Morning meeting at 8:30 so that we know that everyone is present and ready to start the school day.  

Starting this week, Charles Ellis will be joining many other sccpss schools with asynchronous Wednesdays. The children will use Wednesday for project work and catching up on assignments.Teachers will continue to be available to help students on Wednesdays as needed or requested. 

Each Friday we send out a blog newsletter that we hope that everyone is receiving and reading. We will be inserting the student lesson schedule into this blog to better inform parents and caregivers of daily expectations. The lessons that will be listed are the "must do" works that would be on your child's classroom work plan as if they were in the building.  Please also make certain that students check their daily announcements each morning when they log into It's Learning.

Weekly Overview for September 7-11

Monday: 

No School

Tuesday:

Journal:  This weekend I…                                        Self select a work from each area: Small Group Lessons-Language                              *Math/Geometry *1st year-Nouns w/ follow up  8:45                           *Cultural *2nd year-adverbs w/ follow up  9:15                         *3rd year-prepositions w/ follow up 9:45                    *Read 20 minutes

Wednesday:

Asynchronous Learning-Children will use this day to catch up on work or to complete ongoing or special projects. Personal Timelimes (due on September 18) Topic Selection for Informational Writing Project (Topic choice only due on Friday) Astronomy presentations (choose one project to develop fully)

Thursday:

Journal: If I could travel back in time, I would.. Self select a work from each area:   Large Group Lesson-Cultural                                      *Math/Geometry Astronomy Presentations:                                           *Language/Reading/Handwriting The children have been completing amazing                             Astronomy work.   Today your child can have the       *Read 20 minutes chance to share their work with other students!

Friday:

Journal:  Free Writing                                               Self select a work from each area: Small Group Lessons-Language                              *Math/Geometry Traits Writing Lesson-Ideas                                      *Language Children will decide what that want their                  *Cultural Work audience to gain from reading their informational writing                                                 *Read 20 minutes piece.

As always, keep up informed of any questions or concerns that you may have.  We are taking this adventure together and we are here to assist on this journey!  Please remember that we are available everyday from 7:30 to 8:30 at our office hour link posted on the Its' Learning platform.  Fee free to come and have coffee with us.  

Have a great extended weekend!

Ms, Jess, Ms, Kirsten and Ms. Jelena