Welcome Back!

Dear Team 105 members and family,

Thanks for visiting our classroom website! I am getting very excited for the beginning of school. Very soon I will be back in the classroom getting ready for your return. I would love to get to know you and your family a little better before the start of school. There is a survey for both you, the student, and your parent, please fill out both. You can access them from the side link to the right of this post.

Our classroom website will be a place for us to share ideas and collaborate throughout the year. This will be a great tool to keep up with current events and homework in the classroom. You may want to bookmark this sight so that you can return to it throughout the year.

As I said in my summer letter, all you will need for the first day of school is a healthy snack and a smile. There is no need to bring any personal supplies this year. Everything that I expect you to use including pencil box, binder, and notebooks will be provided for you when you get to the classroom.

We have several classmates that are new to Westford and I can't wait for us to all get to know each other. I know that I met most of you in June but I will be in room 105 from 9:00 - 9:45 during the open house on Thursday August 23rd if you are planning on coming. Please stop by to say hi!                                                                         

Sincerely,

Ms. Moores

Camp Details

Getting Ready for Camp

What to wear: (Label Everything)

• ·      Dress for the weather, dress in layers, the mornings are typically cool and afternoons warm
• ·      Put sunscreen and bug spray on BEFORE leaving your house. (No bug spray is allowed at camp and it gets buggy in the woods.)
• ·      A hat if you want
• ·      Sneakers (You need these to go in the woods and play sports, wear them every day)
• ·      Sweatshirt (It can get cold in the woods)

What to bring: (Label everything)

• ·      Your lunch if you are bringing (Snack is provided to all students everyday, Lunch is provided to all students on Friday)
• ·      Water bottle
• ·      Your bathing suit every day (If you have swimming first block you should come wearing your swimsuit,  a one piece suit is not required, but is recommended as students will wear them on the zip line.)
• ·      Towel (everyday)
• ·      Sandals/Flip Flops for water activities (Wear sneakers and change at camp)
• ·      Your schedule (I will give it to you Monday morning and you will keep it for the rest of the week.)
• ·      Plastic bag for your wet bathing suit and towel
• ·      Sunscreen (No sprays please)
• ·      A large bag to put your back pack in if it is raining (All belongings are kept outside and will get wet if it rain)
•     A raincoat or poncho in case it rains. Keep one in your bag every day just in case.
•      An extra sweatshirt in case one gets wet.

Things to remember:

• ·     You will travel to school the way you normally do and switch to a camp bus at Crisafulli. After you get off the camp bus find Ms. Moores to check in and get your badge. At the end of the day turn your badge back in to Ms. Moores. (This is how we do attendance so it is important to check in at )
• ·     Show respect to all teachers, peers, and parent volunteers at ALL TIMES. You all signed a behavior contract, please keep that in mind as you move from station to station.
• ·     Use water for drinking only; it is against camp rules to squirt water bottles at each other.
• ·     You will travel to activities with your group. You must stay with your group and adult leader at all times.
• ·     Get to know students from other schools who are traveling with you.
• ·      Raincoat (Everyday!)

January in Room 105

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

I hope you and your children are all enjoying your extra long weekend. January has been an adventure already, between holidays and snow days our school days have been a bit scattered. Even still we have been very busy in room 105!

In Reading the students have been enjoying Literature Circles. The students are independently reading a novel and coming together in a group to discuss it. The discussions have been amazing to listen to as the students delve deeply into a text.

In writing students have been exploring informational writing. They have used their Social Studies content, Explorers, to research and create a group presentation and will now use that same research to write an informational paper on their explorer.
Students have also been exploring persuasive writing. They have read several articles on engaging topics, such as "Should Dogs Work?" "How much physical activity should students have?" and "The length of the school year." Students read several opinions on the topic and then use that information to form their own opinion. Eventually students will choose a topic to focus on and write an opinion piece.

In Science students have recently finished the unit on Earth Systems and have brought home their benchmark scores. We will be starting a new unit on Matter very soon.

In Social Studies students are nearing the end of our unit on European exploration of the new world. They will be having a benchmark on this topic some time over the next couple weeks. A full study guide will go home with them shortly outlining the topics covered.

The winter months can be long and it is a while before we meet again to discuss your child's progress. If you have any concerns please reach out jmoores@westfordk12.us I am always happy to discuss your child's progress and give a classroom update.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so thankful for a wonderful class this year! It was nice to get to see so many parents during conferences and share the amazing things the students are doing. This class is a lot of fun and they bring energy and enthusiasm to each school day!

Thank you for the new donations to our classroom library from the book fair and thank you to parent volunteers for a successful Turkey Trot. (The weather couldn't even dampen our fun)

November has gone by quickly, but we have enjoyed many learning experiences as well as fun activities. We have much to be grateful for :)

 

Summer Days...

Hi Folks,

Hopefully today will be the worst of the heat and the classrooms will begin cooling down over the next several weeks. On Monday this week the students were introduced to our Spelling program. They received their login information in a parent letter (which I hope they shared with you) and practiced logging in to use the spelling games. Your child also received a "Spelling Menu". This menu should be used to help them choose ways to practice their spelling at home. Please have them cross off the activities that they complete. On Friday they need to return the board, but do not need to send in the actual work. They will take a spelling quiz on Friday to assess their progress. You can access these scores by logging into their account. I will not be sending home a graded test. If you have any questions about the requirements please let me know.

Stay cool and enjoy our final days of summer!
Ms. Moores

DOT Day!!

Happy DOT day!

We had so much fun celebrating dot day in Room 105! 

The Dot by Peter Reynolds tells the story of a young girl learning to believe in herself and changing her mindset to realize her true potential. We participated in several activities based on this theme. Some of the activities the students used to make their mark were a sticker survey around the room, designing a 3D Dot with an iPad, and creating a sticker which they then gave away in a sticker swap. If you would like to see some of our 3D dots take a look at the technology tab. 

Thank you!

Thank you for a successful parent night last night!

I enjoyed the chance to meet many of you and match parent to child. I hope that you were able to get a sense of the classroom in our short time together. I forgot to mention last night how much I am loving this class already. It is amazing to me that in such a short few weeks of school we are already functioning as though we have been together an entire year. I am very excited for what this year is going to hold for us.

If you were not able to attend last night keep an eye out for the handouts I gave out last night. I have put them in your child's mailbox to go home this afternoon. Please let me know if you have any questions about my program. I look forward to working with you this year!