It is spring, isn't it?!

My favorite flowering tree

I love the signs of spring all around with tulips, daffodils, blooming magnolia trees, and wildlife back out -and- about BUT! Is this spring? Twice this week my magnolia blossoms have been dusted in snow! This is definitely an unusual spring both in nature and in society as we continue to social distance and engage in remote learning.

That being said, I do love seeing so many of the kids each day when we 'come to school' remotely! It's been a nice way to have some continuity in seeing their friends each day and in sharing and listening to one another. We have had read-alouds, phonics lessons, math lessons, science video and book links, and a chance to share student work that they have completed through our google classroom.

Some of our read-alouds

It's been fun discussing the story pattern in the Laura Numeroff books (If You Give A Pig A Pancake), comparing birthday stories and character traits in Little Bear and Henry's Happy Birthday, and giving our opinion on the wolf's version in The True Story Of The Three Little Pigs. We even read a chapter in a chapter book called The Seven Treasure Hunts. There were great comprehension answers to the questions we asked afterwards, and it was an inspiration for a fun activity of making treasure maps to hide our own treasures for a family member to find!

Continent practice

Luckily I found this map puzzle down in the basement, because now we can locate places that our stories bring us and we can practice our map skills and continent song too!

We practiced some spelling this week with words that have the /th/ sound, saw a related video on digraphs, and played 'Don't Erase The Bee' on the whiteboard easel (found in the attic!). We also worked on words ending in ___ck, and words with suffixes (s, or es).

Don't Erase The Bee

When coming to our virtual classroom it is best if the kids only unmute themselves when it is their turn to speak- Google Meet picks up an incredible amount of background noise! They should also be on 'Spotlight view' so that whoever is speaking or whatever is presented, is full screen. That layout is found as an option in the 3 vertical dots at the right hand bottom of the screen. I tried whole class answering and it is a sound fiasco- in future they can use the chat to all answer a question at once!

Thank you for all your help with the kids on google classroom assignments. I save everything that has been sent in an email in my remote learning folder and I comment on anything that is turned in on google classroom. 
Next week we have found a way to simplify writing on links with papers and an easier way to turn in assignments at the end of each day (all would turn in with one button). I will be sending an email about this with an enclosed video that Mrs. Correia made for the first grade team explaining the steps. I think this will streamline the whole google classroom process. 

We can still meet as a class on Google Meet!

Reminder! Monday is Patriot's Day- no school! Going forward, Tuesday- Friday we will continue to meet online at 10:30. Mondays will be a chance to meet with specialists at 9:00, and therefore will be extra help, small group, and question time for our own meets on Mondays if desired. I have worked with kids individually on fact families, phonics and reading, so if you wish to receive that support please pop in on the Mondays or email me.

Sunny daffodils!

Congratulations on all those who check into Epic and Freckle! I assign many books and videos in Epic so be sure to check assignments. Some of the assignments are links to books and sites we used in the Meetings. Epic says we have finished 800 books and 400 videos- wow!! 

Let's hope the sun and warm weather return this weekend, and meanwhile enjoy the long weekend everyone!
Mrs. Dagley