Moving on....

We just finished reading non-fiction books in our guided-reading groups pertaining to animals. One group for example, read about animal life-cycles while another read how animals work in different capacities. Students got to read many interesting facts and write about them in their daily diary.

Next month, we'll be going back to fiction. Each guided-reading group will work with a book dealing with......CHOCOLATE!! Wouldn't you agree that February is the perfect month to read and delve into chocolate? Jealous? If you aren't now, I'm sure you will be come the end of the month when I will have a fantastic event planned for the culmination of our reading!

Stay tuned!

Early Dismissal

Dear Parents/Guardians,


Please be reminded that there will be an early dismissal for students, January 28th.


Elementary Early Dismissal (All Monroe Schools)

Grade 1 – 4 - 9:00 am to 1:35 pm
AM Kindergarten - 9:00 to 11:17 pm
PM Kindergarten - 11:23 to 1:35 pm

No lunch is served on early dismissal days.

CMT Prep/Review

We are quickly approaching March and that means Connecticut Mastery Testing!

Starting this week, students have been switching among the grade 3 teachers and reviewing problems and question, in both math and reading, that may be found on the various tests. We have been doing this for the past few years and have found that students have benefited from this review of strategies and problem solving before the actual testing.

Completed work will be sent home. Review it with your child and ask him/her what it is that they did and how they got their answers. It is our hope that the review will show students what to expect on the actual tests so they are less overwhelmed during the testing period.

More information regarding testing dates will be coming out soon.

Smart Board

You all know how a guy loves his electronic toys!!! I LOVE my Smart Board. I'm sure your child has already told you how cool this thing is. This morning during math, the students had an assignment where they had to sort shapes. One student wasn't sure whether or not a shape had a right angle. I pulled up the online gallery, found a protractor, slid the protractor over the shape and turned it to measure the angle and everyone quickly saw that the shape did not have any right angles.

In the afternoon during dismissal, I pull up interactive educational games that the students can do up at the board. Students practice math and language skills while having fun.

I must also thank the PTO for their Mini Grant that I have won. I will be receiving a wireless tablet that works in conjunction with the board. It will allow me to walk around the room and use the board without having to be at it. I can also place the tablet on a student's desk so that he/she can demonstrate something while it is shown to the whole class on the Smart Board.

Gotta love technology!!