Mrs.

Donzes Newsletter
Volume 7

March 1, 2014
Important Dates
Mar 3: Wear your words day (on clothing)/ Turn February calendars in Mar 5-6: Conferences Mar 7: No school March 8: Change clocks March 14: Carnival 5-8 pm/ Stuffed Animal day/ and Popcorn day March 21: Hat Day March 28: Pajama Day April 4-11: No School-Spring Break April 14: late start: 10:40 am
Hi Parents,

Classroom News

I am so excited that its MARCH! That means spring will be here soonat least lets hope so. Weve had plenty of indoor recesses and we are all ready to go outside and play in the school yard. Until that happens, we will continue hanging out together in our classroom. Your kids will continue to write opinion stories. They have to state their opinion, include 3 reasons why they believe that, with explanations if they can, and then restate their opinion. I have stories to show you at conferences this week, and I think youll be impressed. We will continue this writing in March and then after spring break they will write non-fiction information booklets again. Secondly, your children will be making predictions about the weather in March. Will there be more LION weather days in March or LAMB days? We will be calculating and graphing them daily. There will be special projects to make that will be fun and creative for the kids too. Also, our word study words for the next few weeks will focus on CONTRACTIONS and ed word endings. The kids come across these in their books and dont have enough exposure to them, and/or cant figure out their sounds, so we are going to really study these words. Finally, we are getting excited to learn all we can about ROCKS!!! This will be our science theme for the month!

Special Schedule:
Monday: P.E. and Art Tuesday: Music Wednesday: Computer Lab Thursday: Library Friday: P.E.

I am looking forward to conferencing with you this week. Please note that I have a full schedule both nights and only have 15 minutes per child. Thank you in advance for helping me stay true to the allotted times. The progress reports will go home on Monday, March 3. See you Wed. or Thursday.

Mrs. Kim Donze Email address: kdonze@rockfordschools.org Blog: kimdonzeclassroom.blogspot.com Office Phone #: 616-863-6362, Classroom phone #: 616-863-6363 ext. 4721

Word Wall Words: March 3-7

stop, tell, much, give, first Skill work: -ell family, Bossy r

March 10-14
keep, must, work, try, once Skill work: vowel i with -y

March 17-21 March 24-28

does, new, start, bring, write Skill work: -ar sound in start ten, run, has, sit, hot Skill work: review short vowels

Reading: Your children are doing a great job reading. I am so proud of them. We are still working on reading with more fluency which takes practice and re-reading. One exciting activity that promotes this is READERS THEATERS. These are little reading pieces that are similar to a skit, except the kids dont act them out. Instead they are paired up and practice reading the pieces to promote expression and fluency. We are preparing to read them to our fellow students this Thursday. The kids are looking forward to it. Then next week they will get new scripts and practice with a different partner for our next presentation. Once we present them the first time, the students will have a better understanding of what is expected of them. Also, I re-packed the kids TAKE HOME BOOKS this week in clean, germ-free baggies. I also included a yellow Comprehension bookmark that will give you suggestions for what to talk about after your child reads his/her book. As the stories get longer, sometimes the kids have a harder time remembering what has happened in their story. But, its so important that they can retell all the information. Its just as important when they read information books. They need to remember all the important things the author is trying to teach them and explain it to you and me. Social Studies: We will continue reading and learning about people who have made important American contributions such as: past presidents, civil rights leaders and more.

In Our Classroom:

Belmonts Best

Other Information Here

Math: Our next units of study will be Geometry and then Fractions. This will be a fun change and in past years the kids have enjoyed these lessons. We will continue doing math activities that promote quick math skills both addition and subtraction. The addition facts will begin to get a little harder going up to 10 +10 with sums up to 20. They will still be timed for 2 minutes. The yearend goal is for the kids to get 30 problems completed in 2 minutes with great accuracy. (95% and better)

Have a Great week!! Thank you for all the donations of Kleenex and Lysol wipes for our room. We use them all the time!