Hello Room 19 Families, 

I hope you had a nice Halloween and are enjoying today's extra hour. It was nice to see so many of you on Friday, even for just a minute. 😍

Parent Teacher Conferences will be held on zoom the week before Thanksgiving break, from November 16-20. Please sign up for one conference per child: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0F45AFAD2AA0F85-parent. I will send a separate zoom invitation closer to the start of conferences. Report cards will be available for you to download in the Parent Portal around that time. 

This Thursday, November 5 is picture day at Roscomare. Our class is scheduled at 9:45 a.m. Our class zoom schedule will be modified to accommodate the pictures. This morning's Rosco Reader had more information and the link to the order form. A note from Dr. Collier about picture day: "Please be on time. We know that some families may not be able to make the above times and date. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we cannot provide a make-up date at this time." 

Thankfully, the district has allowed teachers to postpone the Edulastic math assessment to December. Thank you to everyone who tried out the practice test. 😀

Have a great night,
​Christina Polay

Hello Room 19 Families,

It's almost Halloween! I hope to see you all Friday for the Halloween Boo Thru. So that everyone can attend, we will not have class after lunch. Students are welcome to wear their costumes on zoom Friday morning.

The Storybook Pumpkins are due Wednesday, but I let your children know that it is okay if they aren't able to decorate a pumpkin. If you haven't started, just have them draw a picture instead, but everyone should complete the writing assignment. The packet was sent with the last materials page, but it is also posted in tomorrow's folder in Schoology or you can click here.

I assigned a practice test in Edulastic today. About half of the kids did it, and I got a few emails about hiccups with the iPads. Thank you for your patience once again. The district is rolling out math assessments district-wide in Edulastic that will be administered sometime in the next two weeks. I appreciate your feedback so that I can try to iron out the kinks before our children are assigned the test. It would behoove you to have your child log on to complete the practice test this week if you weren't able to today. The more familiar they are with the tools, the better, as when test-time comes, you will not be able to assist them.

Today we reviewed the High Frequency Word list sent in the last materials packet. The kids should be practicing the words listed in Units 1 and 2 this week. I told them to make flashcards to practice. If needed, please show your child how to do this so he/she can take on this task independently. The quicker they can read the words, the better. I like to call them "snap words" because they should know them in a snap.

We also reviewed another sheet sent in the materials packet, the Fluency Practice sheet. We only read the first passage, "The Ant Hill." We set the timer for one minute, and read out loud (on mute). The goal is to accurately read as many words as you can in one minute. We talked about why this is a good thing to practice periodically; This wouldn't be how we would want to read usually, but it is good to practice once or twice each week. I usually have them practice with each passage two times each sitting. After reading it once, they can try to beat their score. You can listen to them and mark incorrect words, or they can just practice alone with a timer. 

Lastly, we looked at pictures of pumpkin boat races in class and I mentioned pumpkin STEM boats that I used to make with my class (see image below).  A few students were very interested in trying to make these little boats out of pumpkins, so I promised I would post this information - but it is TOTALLY optional. Click here to read about making a propeller (you won't need the entire file, just the section on propellers). To make the propeller, you just need a rubber band, cardboard or other thick paper, either pencils or chopsticks, and duct tape. We used duct tape to put it together and to waterproof the cardboard. You will also need a small pumpkin, but the smallest ones don't work as well. I usually get the pie pumpkins. If anyone tries these, please send pictures. They are messy, but a lot of fun!

Have a great week,
Christina Polay