Hello Everyone!
First, I’d like to share a few things we’ve learned from International Dot Day that took place on September 15-ish!
The Dot is an amazing story written by Peter Reynolds. Click on the link below to check the story out!
The message in the book is “to make your mark and see where it takes you”. We talked about what that could mean and as a group have decided that it is about taking risks, trying something new, enjoying the journey and not worrying about whether something is ‘perfect’. It’s about leaving our mark in the world somehow. Sometimes we just need to decide to just do something…and go with it and see where it takes us!
We also came across the Dot Day Song and really fell in love with the melody and the lyrics!
Over 10 000 000 people celebrated Dot Day yesterday…in 169 countries! Isn’t that amazing?!?
Part of our celebration included…
-learning the song and creating some music and representations with Ms V
-making marks with chalk to see what we could create
-starting with one mark on a piece of paper and seeing where that would take us. No erasing…just moving forward! Then we wrote about either our picture or how the story of The Dot has inspired us to reflect and grow
-we each created a dot, cut it into 4 pieces, kept one piece and then took 3 other pieces from our classmates to recreate a new dot. This is a way to represent that we are all here to support, inspire and encourage each other to take risks, try new things and see where it takes us!
-then we got to making our mark with some plasticine! These projects went home! I hope you had a chance to talk to your children about why the chose to create what they did!
The theme of The Dot will continue throughout the year because of the important message it represents…for all of us!
*Ask Me…The first Ask Me question of the year came home in the Home Reading Folder yesterday! It reads: Ask Me about International Dot Day! Please have a conversation about Dot Day and then the students can write/draw or do a combination of both about what they’ve shared! Parents-if you have any comments or questions please write them on that page and I will read them when the folders are returned on Tuesday (Reminder: No School On Monday!!). It is very important that students participate in the Ask Me question and that Home Reading folders are brought to school each day.
*What’s Next?
-Book order will be put in on Tuesday. Please send in any September orders on Tuesday!
-Our Words Their Way groups will start on Tuesday. Students have been put into groups with Rooms 122 & 126. Students will work on sorting words and doing activities such as alphabetical order, sentence writing, word definitions, etc. Words Their Way happens on Days 1,3,5 from 10:00-10:30 🙂
-We will be going outside for pays. ed. on Wednesday (Day 6). Please dress for the weather! We will be going outside on most Day 2s and Day 6s!
-In math we are continuing our review of math terminology and examples of patterns and estimation. This week we will focus on reviewing place value and traditional algorithm for addition and subtraction. We will also do another number puzzle…This time as a group to offer another opportunity to review the expectations of how students can show their thinking as they solve questions for the puzzle. I hope you’ve had a chance to check out the “At Home” version of the Number Puzzle book!
-We are loving the adventures of the Fitzgerald-Trout children from our current read aloud! 
We will see how much we can learn about this interesting family this week!
Have a great weekend and upcoming week! Don’t forget that Meet the Teacher is happening on Monday, September 25! Notes regarding dinner will be sent home on Tuesday…along with a special note about an upcoming…what for it…are you ready?!?..FIELD TRIP!!!! Yay!
Until next time,
Danielle