Happy Weekend!
What?!?!? It feels like it was just Monday!! They do say that time flies when you’re having fun…and Life in Room 123 is no exception 😀
I came home to this scene on Friday…I just had to share!

How many deer do you see?!
P.S. I have a regular Buck that hangs out in the yard…I’ve named him Hela …short for Hellebuyck 😉 #GoJetsGo
What. A. Week! (Let’s recap!)
– We told you our plans to contact Esta Spalding AND things couldn’t have been more exciting for us! I loved getting your responses about our news via See Saw! It was so great to hear that the kids came home and wanted to talk about how Esta actually wrote back to us (and promptly I might add!). It was also pretty cool to share what we wrote to Esta (through See Saw) before I sent away our letters. Can you believe that she’s going to send us a sneak peek of her newest…not yet published book?!!! She has made a believer out of us! Next up…writing to Jon Scieszka since we have finished Frank Einstein and the Anti Matter Motor?!?! Maybe!!!
-Now that you know we are done reading our latest read aloud you should know that we’ve already started another! It’s called The Unicorn in the Barn. At first there were a few skeptics, but it has started out in a pretty interesting way!
-This leads into this week’s Ask me question! The question reads “Ask me about read alouds in 123.” The goal is for the students to talk to their families about what we are reading (or have read) and why we read together. What learning happens during read aloud time? We had a chat about this and some great answers came up, such as:
-to talk about different types of books, to be introduced to new authors and series, to expand our vocabulary, to practice comprehension skills such as making inferences and checking for understanding, to make connections to other books and experiences and to hear how fluency, accuracy and expression is modelled. I love, love, love this time with the kids. I feel like we learn so much from each other during this time of day. Have a conversation and have the students write down some of the things you’ve talked about together about the read alouds of 123!
-Math! This week we made connections between place value and addition and subtraction. Below are some photos to show what we’ve done at school and suggestions for you to do at home for those students who could benefit from extra practice 🙂 *Tip: Pay close attention to the + or – (that is one area the students are working on for sure. Makes a big difference if you are adding when you are supposed to be subtracting!)
Let’s review some math language for addition and subtraction!
Try doing some examples at home 🙂
What’s Happening Next Week?!
-No School on Monday! (Day 5)
-Tuesday we have our extra choir time for the Circle of Life performance in February. Day 6 is our most musical day! It is also Outdoor Education day, so please dress for the weather!
-We have 2 days with Murray next week. Our time with him is coming to an end 🙁 We will continue reading through our research and will put what we’ve learned into our own words. So far we are learning lots!!!
-Book orders are due on December 1!
-Genius Hour will happen again on Day 2 (Thursday). Everyone has an idea submitted. Some kids who had similar ideas have decided to join forces. Some kids have already changed their ideas. This is totally okay! Our interests may shift, the research that we were hoping for may not be out there, we may decide that the initial idea doesn’t work for the timeline we have…there are many reasons why our ideas could change. That’s part of the process. Has anyone come home and talked about Genius Hour at home yet?!
-We will try to post more math learning via See Saw. I really enjoyed having the kids find a skill they wanted to share with parents and have me film as they explained their learning, played a game they invented or worked through problems. This “choose your own math” time is a hit!
The Number Talks we’ve been doing are also a great way for the students to share their strategies, learn from each other and practice mental math.

Ask what the kids notice. Try to listen vs tell. We are more interested in the strategies used than the answer at this point
In the above example (which we did last week). We talked about how 39+16 seems challenging, but if we think of it as 40+15 instead, we feel more confident in answering the question “in our heads” vs working it out on paper! 39+16=40+15 and the actual sum is 55!
28+39=27+40
59+13=60+12
23+49=22+50
We can think of this as making “Landmark” or “Friendly” Numbers!
Before I go…Hudson has a message she wants to share with you!
Have a great weekend!
Until Next Time,
Danielle