Out From Under

I know all the faithful readers have been wondering what happened to their regular Room 302 blog updates. It seems I've found myself behind in every area. Coming home today with your child will be a huge pile of papers that I finally got around to grading last night. Sorry about that. I guess I got caught up in other things and the paperwork started piling up. Luckily, I'm climbing out from under that pile and am ready to finish the week and eager to start a new one on Monday.

I've been keeping pretty close track on everything we've been doing these first 6 weeks. I was looking back the other day and I realized..."Wow! We've been busy!" Here's just a short rundown of what we've accomplished...we have:

• read and discussed 24 poems together
• written five different kinds of poems
• completed a class podcast
• created 2 class picture books
• read and discussed 12 fabulous picture books
• completed the first 5 chapters of our American History text and (almost) a project
• completed nearly 2 units of our math curriculum
• written four Slice of Life Stories
• solved four Problems of the Week
• launched a collaborative, all-village writing project
• started an international online book club
• successfully launched our Reading Workshop, complete with Guided Reading
• started our spelling program (a.k.a. "Buddy Study" or "Word Study")

I'm sure I've left something out...but that seems pretty impressive to me. No wonder I'm behind in paperwork! Be sure to take a moment this long weekend to thank your child for their hard work this year so far. I know you're proud of them. I am, too.