Halloween Party 2013!

Greetings from Room 10
          During this past week, the children have been enjoying Literacy Stations while Ms. Cassuci and I taught guided reading.  As I previously mentioned, our focus has been fluency, and they have enjoyed the readers' theatre program.  In writing, most of the students finalized typing their special place piece.  A few stragglers will have to finish up later this week.  So far the historical fiction unit has been enthusiastically embraced.  Our focus this week will be character traits.
          This is a reminder that the final round of Parent-Teacher conferences will be held on Tuesday afternoon, and therefore, the children will be dismissed at 11:45am.  I have thoroughly enjoyed having an opportunity to chat with parents of room 10, and I have learned a lot about your children.
          On Thursday afternoon at 2:15pm, we will be celebrating Halloween with delicious and delectable treats provided by you!  We wanted to thank you in advance for your kindness.  Each of you are invited to attend our holiday party, especially in light of the fact that this may be the last in-class Halloween party your child will experience.  The party is scheduled to end at 3:00pm so that the school buses can arrive and park timely.
          Several young ladies of 5B planned a fundraiser for Breast Cancer which was held at the Harvest Dance on Friday evening.  After having made many bracelets, the girls sold them during the event.  Many thanks to Mrs. Ferrari for helping the girls plan this worthwhile endeavor.
          The crayfish unit is winding down.  Last week's vocabulary test proved to be quite successful.  Starting this week, you should see your child bring home their blue binder as they begin to study for the crayfish unit test.  I am planning for the test to be held on Wednesday, November 6th.  By having it earlier in the week, studying should not interfere with the Lip Sync extravaganza on November 7th.
          Please remind your child that Thursday, October 31st is the due date for the first Betor's Bulls-Eye project.  Many of the projects have been brought in and shared with the class.  Wow!  I have been very impressed.
          Take care and hopefully we will see you on Thursday.                                  Lester B. and Class
         

Week 2 of Parent Conferences

Greetings from Room 10,

This week I met with each of your children in small groups.  In our guided reading groups, which consist of four leveled readers, we are focusing on reading fluency.  Readers’ theatre is our focus.  It’s both challenging and fun.

In writing, I taught the children about three different types of leads:  descriptive, action and dialogue.  Subsequently, they revised their leads and shared them with their classmates and Mrs. Bonacquist.  On Friday they typed their “Special Place” essays in the computer lab.  Next Friday, my hope is that their pieces will be published.  I plan to begin the historical fiction unit this week.  We are all excited about beginning a new writing piece.

On Thursday, I will be giving the children a crayfish vocabulary quiz.  They will also learn to take notes based on a crayfish power point I have created.  I will give them an outline, and they will be expected to take notes.  This is certainly good practice for the Middle School

Wednesday is a half-day.  The children will be released from school at 11:45 for parent-teacher conferences.  I have already sent home reminders about your scheduled conference day/time.  I am looking forward to meeting with you to discuss your child’s progress.  I very much enjoyed the conferences I had with nine families last week.

I am excited to be working with several young ladies from our class to sell bracelets Friday evening at the Harvest Dance.  Proceeds from their sales will go benefit breast cancer.  The bracelets, which the girls are making, will be sold for $1 or $2 each.  They are also planning to sell them at the school store in the very near future.

Enjoy the rest of this beautiful day!                                               Lester Betor

It's Parent-Teacher Conference Time!!!

Greetings from Room 10, 

            I am pleased to report that I noticed some improvement in student transitions last week.  Overall, they did a much better job.  They still tend to be a tad chatty.  However, with occasional reminders, they were able to move from one subject to another without me having to raise my voice to get their attention.

            As you all probably remember, this Thursday is a half-day for the children.  I will be conducting the first round of parent-teacher conferences throughout the afternoon.  I will send home conference reminders tomorrow afternoon.  I look forward with meeting with you all.  As you know, we will not have a report card to reference.  Instead, I will provide you with a copy of the initial AimsWeb reports for both reading and math. 

            Beginning this week, we will be hosting a College of St. Rose graduate student.   Ms. Cassuci is a literacy intern who will be working with your children during our literacy blocks.  She will be working in small groups initially, and will eventually conduct full-class lessons.  She is one of many literacy interns in our building this semester.

            In writing, the children will be working on their special place piece this week.  Our focus will be revising their “leads/hooks.”  I will introduce three styles or types of leads and my goal will be for the children to use one of these styles to begin their special place essay.  Next week we will begin our long-awaited historical fiction unit.  I have been doing a lot of research on this genre, and I look forward to working with the children to write amazing historical fiction pieces.

            Last week we began Literacy Stations and this week I will begin to work with the children in guided reading groups.  Our focus for this week will be reading fluency using readers’ theatre scripts.

            Have a nice week, and I will see a third of you on Thursday!

                                                                        Lester Betor and class

Enemy Pie

Dear Parents of Room 10,

            Transitioning during instruction and specials has been challenging for the children this week.  Moving from one subject to another without talking hasn’t been easy for them.  However, we will continue to practice and I will continue to have high expectations for behavior.  Please take the opportunity to chat with your child about appropriate classroom behavior.

            In writing our focus has moved to “Specials!”  The children have drafted their first essay based on a special person in their lives.  They will also be writing about a special place and special object.  These exercises are a good way to start as they give the children an opportunity to write about people, places and things they know a lot about.

            This week I began to determine the children’s reading levels using Fountas & Pinnell, the district-approved reading assessment.  As I have mentioned previously, each assessment takes between 20-30 minutes.  I have to say that, while I was working one-on-one with some students, the remainder of the class did a beautiful job working independently.

            In the crayfish unit this week, the children will be conducting experiments related to stimuli.  Some of the kids have enjoyed taking them out of their aquarium to play with them.  Others still haven’t quite warmed up to them.  Either way, the experiments continue.  This past week we played our first crayfish vocabulary game.  It’s a cross between Jeopardy and Family Feud.  They did well.  You should encourage the children to study their crayfish vocabulary throughout the week.  A quiz will be coming in a week or so.

            We met with our “Fluency Friends” on Thursday to work on reading fluency.  This is our focus for the school year.  The children have enjoyed working on reading fluency in our classroom with Readers’ Theatre and in Mrs. Bacher’s room with her 2^nd graders.

            I am including a few pictures of the children as they listened to Mrs. Bonacquist read the story, Enemy Pie.  It’s always nice having Mrs. Bonacquist stop-by and read to the kids.  They are very attentive and engaged.

             This coming week in celebration of Farm to You Fest, the children will be enjoying a vegetable taste testing, compliments of Zoe’s mom.  Be sure to ask them what they enjoyed the most!

                                                                            Kind Regards, Lester B. and Class