Growth Mindset

Dear Starfish Families,

The beginning of the school year is a time focused on building a strong classroom community.  We work on making all children feel secure, nurtured and supported by their environment and each other. To support our solid foundation of a classroom community,  I’m excited to share the Growth Mindset work the Starfish are beginning to dive into. As we continue to learn and play together, we will also be building critical skills for a lifetime of curiosity and growth. I will be teaching some important ways of thinking about ourselves and the world that has grown out of the incredible work of Carol Dweck.

Carol Dweck is a researcher, currently at Stanford University, who has pioneered a great deal of work around the idea of growth mindset. A growth mindset is the belief that we can learn anything with support, hard work, and thoughtful strategic instruction. Children with a growth mindset outperform children who do not think of themselves and their learning this way.

The way we support this work in our classroom is by intentionally teaching ways of thinking about ourselves and our learning. This year, we will be teaching your children the concepts of:

OPTIMISM: The belief that no matter the obstacle, we have the power and possibility to overcome it.

RESILIENCE: The ability to bounce back from setbacks and frustrations and learn from them when they happen.

PERSISTENCE: The habit of trying something more than once, or sticking with something through the hard parts.

FLEXIBILITY: The knowledge that there are multiple ways to solve any problem, and the skills to strategically solve it.

EMPATHY: The ability to understand feelings and other people’s points of view. A fundamental aspect of a healthy child and a healthy community.

As we learn more about these big ideas, we will think about ways to use self-talk, self stories, goal setting, and reflection to reinforce and support these positive habits of mind. Stay tuned for that work as it unfolds.

As in all things, you are our greatest partners, and so we invite you on this journey with us! We’ll be introducing these concepts slowly over the course of the next few weeks and let you know when we do so. Here are some ways you can support and connect with your child over these big ideas:

• Share your own stories. Talk with your child about times you showed empathy or were flexible.
• Listen in on your own self talk and refine it. Be mindful of saying things like “I can’t” as in “I can’t put together this IKEA furniture!” instead try, “This feels hard, but I am going to take a break and try it a different way to see if that helps!”
• Read with your child and talk about the ways characters are acting in regards to these habits of mind.
• Read more about this! At the end of this letter you will find a list of links to articles and titles. Most are short and (hopefully) Interesting, and can give you some of the background about the work we’re doing.

I look forward to talking with you more as the year unfolds. As always, feel free to contact us with questions, comments, and concerns. It is with great pleasure that we begin this journey together.

Warmly,

Megan Murphy

For More Information:

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/09/23/carol-dweck-revisits-the-growth-mindset.html

http://www.upworthy.com/researchers-studied-kindergarteners-behavior-and-followed-up-19-years-later-here-are-the-findings

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/why-parents-need-to-let-their-children-fail/272603/

http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

October Birthday

We couldn't close out the month of October without showcasing our favorite October Starfish!  We love your bright smile in our classroom each day! 

Upcoming Important Dates and Reminders

November 2   Early Release parent/teacher conferences. Dismissal at 12:50

November 8   No school for students -teacher in-service day

November 11  No school Veteran's Day


**Please make sure your child comes to school with a jacket for outside recess.  It's helpful if your child's jacket is labeled. Thank you!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

We had a great morning on Friday celebrating Halloween during our Fall Festival. More pictures will be posted this week. I hope you enjoy Trick or Treating tonight!

Specific Skills to Practice on IXL- October 24, 2016

Hello Starfish Families,

We will begin using IXL on our classroom iPads this week during Math Workshop.  This will become an option for your child to work at their own pace at the Math with Technology center during math time.  I'm excited to offer IXL for your child to access at home.  This will be optional homework for your child. **There is an IXL blog post with information how to access the IXL website

To help you and your child navigate through the website, I will offer specific skills that your child can try that will align with the learning in the classroom. 

I will offer specific skills under the Kindergarten and 1st Grade Tabs.  I do find the skills under the kindergarten tab are more appropriate for our students working independently.  As your child finds the skills under the kindergarten tab to become easier, I recommend trying the first grade tab.  

Helpful Tip: IXL does offer the questions to be read to your child.  If you child simply clicks on the speaker, the program will read the directions.


Specific Skills to Try on IXL
Week of October 24, 2016


Under Kindergarten Math Tab:

J.3 Adding two numbers-Sums to 10

J.4 Make a number using addition-Sums to 10

C.17 Count to fill a ten frame

C.18 Tally marks-up to 10

C.19 Number Lines- up to 10

C.21 Count forward- up to 10

C.22 Count forward and backward- up to 10

Under First Grade Math Tab:

A.3 Counting review-up to 20

A.12 Number Lines

D.1 Addition Facts-sums to 10

D.2  Make a number using addition-Sums to 10

D.5 Addition Word Problems-Sums to 10

U.9 Days of the Week

T.3 Put numbers in order



Please send me an email if you have any questions/concerns.  I recommend trying to log into IXL at home sometime this week to make sure your child's username and password works at home.  

Thank you,
Megan

IXL

Dear Parents,

I am pleased to tell you that we will be using a website called IXL in our classroom this year. IXL is a comprehensive learning program offering unlimited math practice problems in thousands of skills—all of which are aligned to New Hampshire Standards. One of the best things about IXL is that your child can access it from home, so you have a chance to see your child's progress! 

To get your child started on your home computer, please follow these easy steps:

1. Go to https://www.IXL.com/signin/stratham
2. Enter your child's username and password in the upper right corner and click the button to sign in. 
   
   
   
   Your child's username:
   first letter of first name and last name@stratham 
   example: mmurphy@stratham
   Your child's password: sms
3. Click on math and navigate to your child's grade level.
4. Select a specific skill to practice from the list of skills. You can also place your mouse over any skill to see a sample question and click on the link to begin.

In addition to making practice exciting, IXL is designed to help your child learn at his or her own pace. The program is adaptive and will adjust based on your child's demonstrated understanding of the material. All of your child's results will be saved, so you can monitor his or her progress anytime by clicking on the Analyticstab at the top of the page. For on-the-go practice, you can download IXL's free tablet apps for iPad, Android, or Kindle and sign in with your child's username and password.

I will send a specific list of skills for your child to work on that will align with what we are learning in the classroom.  I will post these skills in a blog post bi-weekly.  Logging onto IXL is optional homework for your child.  However, I do highly encourage your child to spend some time at home on IXL.  Over the years, I have seen a direct correlation between confidence with math skills and stronger number sense with practicing IXL at home/school.  I will go over more about IXL at your child's fall conference.

Thank you,

Megan Murphy

Trip to Coppal House Farm

We had a great morning at Coppal House Farm! We hope you enjoy some of the pictures from our adventures in the corn maze and barn.  

 Excited for our morning bus ride to the Farm.  It was even better because we had Mrs. Forgy as our bus driver! Lucky and happy kids!

We met Farmer John at the entrance of the corn maze.  He gave us some helpful tips as we entered the toad and mushroom corn maze designs. 

The first group headed in.  We decided to take some group pictures while we waited to head in the maze!

 Each Starfish took their turn to open the mailbox with clues.  The clues led us left, right, and straight.

 We tried our best but sometimes we got lost!

 We had help from our friends to read each clue from the mailbox. 

Group one made it out first.  They had a great time exploring the maze!

After the maze, we traveled over to the barn.  We learned about the corn maze designs from previous years! 

 We met Twiggy and Ice, two Belgian Draft Horses on the farm.  We were able to pet our new friend Ice.  He weighs over 2,000 pounds.

Thank you Mrs. Cooper, Mrs. Williams, Mrs. Tobon, Mrs. VanDeWater, Mr. O'Brien, Mrs. Gorman, and Mrs. Forgy for joining us on our trip to Coppal House Farm!

Coppal House Farm Field Trip

Coppal House Farm

Mark your calendars if you'd like to join us at the Coppal House Farm Corn Maze in Lee on Tuesday, October 18th.  Plan on meeting us there at 9:10 if you like to come.  The price is $5.00 for adults and $5.00 for students.  Permission slips will go home next week.  Please pack your child a drink and snack that day.   Also, dress in layers that day, wear boots if needed, and please check the weather to dress appropriately.  We are just waiting to hear back from the bus company to confirm the date. 

Sink or Float- Christopher Columbus Innovation Day

On Thursday afternoon the Starfish became boat designers.  We had our first science talk sharing ideas about how we might design our boats to float.  We talked about size and shape of our boats, materials we would plan to use, and weight of our boats.  


I wish I could share picture of innovation day but the kids had me busy at the hot glue station and cutting strips of duct tape to their order, making  sure their boat materials were safely and securely in place.  It was fun to listen to their conversations, watch the collaboration amongst peers, and the trial and error that occurred during the boat construction.

On Friday afternoon, our boats set sail...