Mrs. LaMonaco's Blog

Hello kiddos! Hope you are still learning and working hard in this heat. You are in your last month of second grade- can you believe it!

I hope to come in and visit next week with the baby… I’ll talk to Mrs. Ciminello.

Samantha is now two months old and growing fast. She smiles a lot and squeals when she gets excited.  We like to make silly faces at her.  We also read at least one book a day together.  I hope you are doing the same at home. Don’t let a little baby beat you!

Here is Samantha in her swing.  She is wearing a Disney outfit my sister got her from Disney World.  Below is a picture of her relaxing in her pack-n-play

Here is a picture of her and me at two months old.

I had to show this picture to Mrs. Layton.  She hates when babies wear headbands, so I had to bug her!

Finally we got a picture of her smiling- these are hard to get!  She laughs and smiles until you bring out the camera, but as soon as you’re ready to snap a picture, she stops.  What a stinker!

Remember, Tuesday, May 4th is our first day of swimming as part of our P.E. class.  We will leave school promplty at 9:05 a.m. 

1.  Wear your swimsuit under your school clothes.

2.  Bring a towel.

3.  Bring underwear to change into after we swim.

4.  Bring a swim cap or plan to borrow one from Minerva.

5.  Flip flops or crocs are great to wear!  Bring sneakers for recess.

6.  Girls, bring a hair tie if you have long hair.

Hello class!  I wanted to let you know I’m thinking of you all and miss your smiles and laughter!  Mrs. Ciminello keeps me posted on how things are going- both good and bad… lets try not to jump off any more slides or throw toothpicks! : )

I’m doing good and so is Samantha.  She does a lot of eating, sleeping, and pooping.  It’s a hard life for a baby!

Here’s a picture taken on Easter.  My sister had the idea to put her in the basket! She slept right through all our laughter!

Keep working hard! Good luck at open house!

I’ve let the children know that if they weren’t able to finish their homework over the course of the week, then they’re responsible for making it up in school- just like usual.  The only difference is that I will not be in charge of adding the responses to the blog.  It was becoming a lot of work for me to type up everyone’s responses.  I said that a consequence for not getting their work done would have to be that their thoughts aren’t up on the blog for others to comment on.  They would just be in their reading notebooks here at school instead.

Of course anyone who is not able to do the homework because of computer related issues and brings in the response on paper will be exempt from this rule.  I understand that it’s beyond their control, so I don’t mind typing up the one or two that I get each week to post  for that reason.

If you have any questions about this, please let me know!  Thanks!

Hello!  I just want to let the students know how much I am enjoying their blogs!  It’s so nice to hear what everyone is reading at home and what they’re thinking.  This week I did enjoy reading each blog, but I”m afraid that I didn’t have a chance to leave comments.  I spent most of the week and weekend on report cards!  Thank you for keeping up with the homework.  You are all doing an amazing job!

Matt put in the request for me to explain how to add a picture to your blog post!

When you are writing your post, there is a space between the heading of the blog and the space to write.  Here you can make words bold, center your work, etc.  Above that it says, “Add media:” If you hover over that first little picture that looks like a picture and frame, it should say, “Add an image.”  Click on this to get you started.

It will bring up some options to pick from-either pictures from your computer, library, or URL.  If you are trying to get a picture from a website, like a book cover, go to URL.

You’ll then have to go find a picture on the web that you want to post.  I suggest opening up a separate tab from your browser so that you can click back and forth from your blog site to the web image.  When searching for an image, I tend to use Google-Image search and type in them name of the book.  When you find a picture you like, click on it and it will bring you to the page that has the book.  Click on “See Full Size Image” Then highlight and copy the address of that page located at the very top of the page.

Go back to your blog site and paste in the address in the Image URL space.  If it was a good address, it will put a green check mark next to the address.

Then click on Insert Image and you will find it in your blog space.  Click on the image to adjust the size to your liking- and there you  have it!  Good luck!

In school today, we read a book called Westward to Oregon.   The family in the book was part of a wagon train and on one of the stops, the father leaves to hunt and never returns.  There is a failed attempt to search for him by the other men in the party.  Finally, the group must go on so they don’t risk getting stuck in the mountains with snow.  Momma has to decide to stay and hope that father returns, but risk falling behind the wagon train with only her two young children by her side.  Or, she can leave with the train and ensure that her children are protected, but risk leaving the father behind if he ends up being okay.  Luckily, in the end, we find that papa crawls back soon after suffering from a rattlesnake bite.  Lizzie, the young daughter, takes the reins to catch the family up to the wagon train, so everything works out.

Before the kids knew the ending, they had to blog about the mother’s decision to stay behind and tell whether or not they agreed.  Read their responses and as part of your homework, leave a comment for them!  (They loved the idea of you getting homework! Sorry!) 

Here is an example that we worked on together as a class…

(Quick Summary)In class, we read this book and the tooth fairy explains how tough she is and how you should get your tooth ready for her. (Recording Thinking) When she gives a girl an A+ for doing everything right, I was wondering if she’ll get more money. (Digging Deeper) I think she should because why else would someone go through all the trouble of cleaning it off and putting it in the right spot? Kids who make their teeth hard to find should get less money for tricking her!

I’ve created a page that give directions on posting and commenting. It’s basically the same sheet that was sent home earlier in the year, now it’ll just be on-line for your convenience.

Also from the newsletter… Some ideas for conversation starters while reading. These can also be the same things students can post about books.

Have conversations with your child as you read! Here are some possible sentence starters to get you going…

• Wow, I didn’t know…
• That reminds me of…
• I can imagine/feel/hear/smell _______ in my mind!
• What do you think will happen next? Why?
• What would you have done in this situation?
• Why do you think they did that?
• My favorite/least favorite part was…
• What are you thinking right now?
• I wonder…
  

*Don’t forget to put the book title as the heading for each post!

During read aloud, we are talking about visualizing and creating mental images as you read.  I want children to understand that as they read, they can make a movie in their mind, have their connections come alive, and imagine they feel, hear, taste, smell, as well as see objects or events being described in the text.

As we continue to share our vivid mental images, we are discussing how this helps a reader understand the parts of a story (or know they don’t understand).  Readers need to realize when their comprehension is breaking down so they can do something about it-reread, slow down, ask someone, use their schema, consult another resource, etc.  When they can visualize what’s being described, they are more likely to store it in their memory.  This is especially handy when reading or learning about non-fiction material.

When you read with your child, take turns sharing images you see or try sort of “acting out” what’s happened (even if it’s just showing something with your hands).  It could be as simple as the expression on a character’s face.  Have fun with it!