I hope everyone is enjoying their last week of track out and that we all gave thanks for everything special in our lives!  On Monday Track 2 students will return to Banks and we will have three weeks until our next break.  Wow, seems like we just left and now we are off again!  With this being said, all teachers are working hard to prepare 3 weeks full of core instruction.

Even though this is our last week before track out, we still are very busy here in room 317 and in the school!  Students have been working very hard to complete their classwork and participating in lots of fun activities in and out of the classroom. 

Some reminders for this week:
11/6 - 2 hr. delay & Kids Vote
11/7 - class spelling bee for students who turned in permission forms
11/8 - Track 2 & 4 JDRF Walk (please bring envelopes on this day)
11/9 -  Track out!!

It's already the 3rd week of 2nd quarter and we are blowing like the fall wind through our curriculum!  Students are getting used to more rigorous lessons and challenging skills that the Common Core expects of them.  We are more willing to try new things and not afraid to be wrong.  The students are starting to really embrace the kind of higher level thinking, reasoning, and strategies that are required of them.  So though it may be a bumpy road, the students are strapping on their gear for the ride of their lives!

I have started to schedule 2nd quarter conferences with those who have requested one via the Report Card envelope.  If you would like to schedule a conference as well please contact me via email at [email protected].

Thank you also for the quick turn around recently with the fall festival basket items.  We were lacking many donations at first, but everyone has pulled together and shown great generousity.  I can't wait to see how it all comes together.  A big thank you goes out to Mrs. Roberson for assembling the basket for next Friday's Fall Festival!!  I love our Team Sonntag/Johnson parents and I feel very fortunate to have such willing and generous families this year.

Important Dates:
10/22 - Class Vote for Student Council Rep (candidates to give brief speech in classroom)
10/26 - Fall Festival 5:30-8:30
11/6 - 2 hour delay
11/7 - Class Spelling Bee
11/8 -    PTA Meeting 1pm
            Fitness Night 6:30-8:30pm
            JDRF Walk on Campus
11/9 - TRACK OUT!!!    
11/15 - Barnes & Noble Book Fair, 6pm
11/28 - School Wide Spelling Bee

Yesterday started a new quarter for Tracks 1, 2, and 3!  We are all now in quarter 2 for the 2012-2013 school year.  This is a very exciting time, because it gives everyone a fresh start to do their best all over again.  In quarter 2, we will continue to build upon the foundational skills from quarter 1 and learn new things too.  As the year goes on, the academic content will continue to become more rigorous.  So please know that students will need the extra practice at home and school in order to master these skills.  If you ever have concerns about your child's progress please let me know and we can schedule a conference based on Q1 report card information.  If you have checked the conference box on their report card and returned it to me, I will be contacting you soon to set up a conference.

Quarter 1 is quicly coming to an end!  The last day for Q1 is Friday, September 28th.  On Friday Quarter 1 report cards will go home with your student's current performance level: 1, 2, 3, or 4 in Reading, Writing, Math, Science, & Social Studies.  Students will also recieve a work habits and conduct grade: level 1, 2, or 3.  These conduct and work habit grades come directly from the back of their Friday Folder, so there should be no surprises in this area.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 25th is picture retake day.
Friday, September 28th is end of Q1, report cards, & early release.

It's a very busy time for us Track 2 folks!  We had interims & progress reports go home on Friday, August 10th, Open house is this Thursday, August 16th (6-7pm), and track out/early release on Friday, August 17th!  Phew, that's a lot in a week!

Over track out I hope that students are getting some rest, relaxing, but continuing to exercise those brains!  I really encourage students to read, work on practice pages or anything else you can find for them to keep their minds working.  We have come a long way in 6 weeks and I can't wait to share all the excitement with you at Open House.

Parents, if you have any questions about your child's progress based on their interim, please feel free to contact me to set up a conference.  I will try to get a schedule out for one of my work days to meet with anyone who has questions, concerns, etc...

Hope to see you all at Open House

It's mid week and I thought it is a perfect time for a good boost of great news!  This week our students are really channeling their inner Olympian and Going for the Gold.  We have completed our practicing, modeling, and building stamina for Read to Self, Read with Someone, Listening to Reading, and Working with Words.  All of this is part of our Daily Cafe' literacy structure.  This has been the first week of the students being able to do more than one "round" at a time with students doing multiple activities!  I am so proud of what they have been able to accomplish over the past 4 weeks and I wish I had medals for them all!

As more and more work comes home in their Friday Folders, please go through your child's papers and notes.  A lot of important information has been going home and it's a good idea to review the contents with your child.  If a paper has a check mark or a letter "P", that means it was practiced or completed as a group (no grade needed).  Otherwise the paper will have a circled number which represents the grade on this short form of assessment. 

We will be discussing grading and the new curriculum in more depth during Open House on Thursday, August 16th, from 6-7pm (tracks 2 & 4).  Hope to see you there!

Important Dates:
Picture Day - Tuesday, August 7th
Open House - Thursday, August 16th
Track Out - Friday, August 17th

Overall, I think our class has learned something special this week!  We need to slow down & remember what our expectations are.  I think we are still very much in  "learing & training" mode right now, but I am confident that soon we will run like a well oiled machine! 

As this machine continues to move forward, students will be receiving more steady homework next week.  Each night they will have reading for 20 minutes, one math page, and work on spelling activities.  The spelling activities are still being learned though, so if students need help at the end of the day I will offer a short period of time to explain it to them.  That way they can work on part of it here and finish it at home.  This will hopefully help build more confidence in their homework abiliities!

Next week we are moving on to more reading skills and will be focusing on non-fiction text features.  We will use non-fiction texts to continue to explore our CAFE skills of: check for understanding, cross check, back up & re-read, ask questions, choose good fit books, and tune into interesting words.  Ask your students if they use these each time they read?  Let's help hold them accountable for what they do each night!

Please don't forget to send in your money for our National Geographic for Kids subscription.  The magazines should be coming in soon and we would like to make the first payment soon.  Each child costs about $4.69, thanks so much!

Last, but not least, I apologize for the technical difficulties we are having with our class website.  Some things are taking longer than expected to clear out from last year, while others just won't post at all.  So keep checking it out and we will do our best to get it completely up & running and up to date!  Thank you so much for your patience!