It's Been A While...

Whoa, buddy! I am so sorry I have neglected to update since last Thursday. We have been busier than ever in here and I have just not had the time lately to post. Anyways, let me get some reminders out while I'm on

• Fall Conferences start this Monday. If you have not yet signed up please follow the directions from this link to do so: http://www.volunteerspot.com/login/entry/112345645434654085
• Spelling Words will go out on Monday this week. We did not have spelling words this week due to Fall Break :)!
• We finished our unit on Subtraction this week. Test scores will be going home next week. I may also be sending home some homework next week...be on the lookout...nothing horrible I promise!

Gosh, I think that is it! One highlight I want to share from last week is our fun new way to read by ourselves. I have noticed lately that the students are straying away from reading by themselves during station time. Clearly, this makes me very sad because this is such an important thing to help students become better readers. So....on Friday we read by candlelight!!! With a certain spooky holiday coming up I thought it would be fun to try and, boy, did the students love it! We turned off all of the lights, got our book baskets and battery powered candles, and read for 15 minutes straight. I have to say it was pretty magical. I tried to take some pictures, but you can imagine how they turned out with all the lights being out. Take a look (you really can't see anything except for the little speckles of light...ha).

Also, really quickly, I want to share with you what I have been doing over this Fall Break. Yesterday, I decided that it was finally time to organize our classroom library. I was thinking it would take an hour or so, no big deal, right?! Ha, no! It was an all day project but I am so excited about the results. In our classroom the students will now have two seperate libraries to choose from-the Lexile Library and the Genre Library. Let me tell you a little about each one...

Lexile Library-
The Lexile Library is basically a leveled reader library. Below you can see the books are leveled from A-Z. After meeting with me in small group, students will be sent to the Lexile Library to pick a "just right" book. It is so very important that students read on their level or a tad higher, otherwise it is unlikely they are actually getting anything from the book.

Genre Library-
As a teacher I believe it is very important to have students reading on their level, but I also KNOW it is just as important to give students the opportunity to read books of their choice. There will be time for CHOICE using the Genre Library. In this part of the library books are simply sorted by fiction and nonfiction. During STAR time students may choose books from this library to read.

That is all for now. See you bright and early on Monday!!!