First Week of School

Welcome to the first week of school! I'm very excited to get to know all of the students and give them opportunities to get to know me and each other. 

In the first few weeks of school, our primary focus will be to build a strong, caring classroom community. You can read more about my teaching philosophy here.

I normally structure the Weekly Update by breaking it down into the following categories:

• Highlights from Last Week
• Special
• Reading
• Writing
• Math
• Science or Social Studies
• Homework

I usually list my goals for each subject and describe the major activities and lessons we'll be engaging in.

Since this is our first week, things will be a little different. We'll be working on some team building activities and classroom explorations to get acquainted with how the year will run. 

Special: 
The launch of the school year is filled with many fun activities. Here are some:

• Getting to Know You --We'll be sharing all about ourselves, from our favorite summer memories to our favorite hobbies through writing, art, and social activities.
• Procedures Overview and Practice --We'll practice walking quietly in the hallways, quieting down quickly, coming to the rug, using classroom materials respectfully, and so on.
• Aspirations --Students will write about what they want to accomplish socially and academically this year.
• Group Skills Training --Explicit practice in the art of working with other people. We'll focus on listening, compromising, and non-verbal communication. These skills are essential for the partner work and team projects we do throughout the year.
• Recess Fun --To aid in team-building, we'll be playing class games such as Zombie tag, Capture the Flag, and Captain's Coming. We'll focus on how to be fair, inclusive, safe, and good sports.
• Technology Intro  --Students will be using a lot of technology this year. We'll discuss how to safely and respectfully use technology and set up some important accounts, such as Google Classroom.

Reading:
Reading is very important in our classroom. I want students to find books at their level that they love.

• Classroom Library Exploration --We'll learn about how the classroom library is organized. We'll develop a system together for checking out books and sharing recommendations. Students can choose a book to dive into.
• Teacher Read Aloud --We'll choose a book together as a class that I'll read aloud and model all the strategies that good readers use.
• Informal assessments --While students independently read, I will float around the room and ask individual students to read aloud for me so I can learn more about each of them as readers.
• Find a "Just Right" Book --We'll learn how to find books that are just right for us and how to recognize that a book is too hard.

Writing:
I love to teach writing. I know it can be challenging for many students, but I'll break it down into easy strategies.

• Storytelling to Start --Our first piece of writing is just a sample so that I can see where students are at. We'll practice a strategy called, "Storytelling," where students tell a partner about an experience to help get the order of events straight before writing.
• Generating Ideas --We'll learn some strategies for conquering the blank page. Students will learn how to think of people, places, and turning points and list them in a special place that they can always return to.
• Decorate the Writing Journal --A customized journal is a great inspiration! I'll provide students some materials and ideas for decorating their journals. They will need to finish at home. 

Math:
I hope all students will love math just as much as I do.

• Multiplication Review --To make sure students start fifth grade off right, we'll review our basic multiplication facts through 12x12. We'll play Multiplication Bingo and take some timed 50 facts tests.
• Explore Math Resources --Students will explore some of our math materials such as calculators, dice, cards, base-10 blocks, and more. We'll practice taking them out and putting them away neatly.
• Place Value --We will explore how our place value system is set up and compare numbers in various place values.

Science/Social Studies:
This week we hold off on Science and Social Studies to focus on launching reading, writing, and math. 

Homework:
Please check the Homework page for more details. Students will need to do the following at home this week:

1. Encourage parents to purchase supplies from the 5K Class Supply List.
2. Once you're signed up for Google Classroom (we'll do that in class), take the quiz that I have posted called, "How much do you know about Ms. Kimball?"
3. (Optional) decorate and personalize your journals.
4. Practice memorizing your basic multiplication facts up to 10x10.

Thanks for Reading!
So that's the plan for the first (short) week of school. Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or feedback. I look forward to an awesome school year!