WEEKLY UPDATE

Families, please read the update for each subject below.  Let me know if you have any questions.

General heads up:
Homework: Some students have expressed concern and demonstrated some difficulty with our homework routines.  We discussed in circle time on Friday.  Most students stated they thought our routine was acceptable and even appreciated.  As a class, we decided kids need a homework folder and I will provide them with one if they need it.  Please know we post the homework daily on the this blog. I expect students to work no more than 45 minutes at home, unless they want to of course. Our assignments are intended to support our class projects.  Sometimes the due dates are the next day or later in the week or month.  This is to allow kids to manage their time wisely.  We think our routines are similar to middle school and hope learners will be prepared when they enter the next level of academics.  You can also check the homework daily in the planners.

Family Conferences:  Next week, I will post days and times families can schedule a conference with me if they want.  I will do this monthly so we can meet as needed to support success, answer questions, or just say hi!

Graded work:  I will send graded work home in the Friday Folders.  Please return this work so students can add to their portfolios.

Reading: I have listened to every reader read a few pages aloud.  On Monday, each reader will complete a short story and respond to comprehension tasks in writing.  I will have a stronger idea of each student as a reader after looking at this work.  We turned in our 6 best reading responses today and we will use these as models of great reading work throughout the year.  Next week, we will also read nonfiction material in our social studies books about resources, climate, and land forms to support our island map ideas.

Writing:  Many students have completed their I AM sketch and descriptive autobiographical poem.  Next week, the completed poems will be due on Thursday.  Students who have already completed this work, will have time to create an iMovie of their work on their iPad.  We will also introduce writing a Gazetteer for our island maps next week.  The rest of our writing in September will focus on creative writing to prepare for our Travel Show on Oct 3.

Math: We completed our place value unit this week. I will be grading the tests over the weekend and sharing this work in the next Friday Folder.  Next week, we will start our unit on Adding and Subtracting Whole Numbers and Decimals.  Some of this work will be integrated and enhanced with numbers reflecting our field experiences.

Social Studies:  This week we focused on land forms and creating our island maps.  Their maps are very creative and colorful.  Maps are due next Wednesday.  On Tuesday, we will add our map scales together as a class.  Then we will focus on our gazetteers for the rest of the week.  Our work learning about landforms has provided many opportunities to discuss real examples of how nature and humans interact and shaped each others behavior.  Some of our social studies next week will be integrated with writing and our community field experiences.

Science: In science this week, we focused on experimental design.  Our first class experiment is centered on leaf length of trees in Stewart Park.  After we complete our conclusions on Tuesday, we will visit Thursday with a Forester about our results.  After completing this experiment, we will plan our next one in groups.  You can see the development of our science work by clicking the link 2015-2016 CPBL to the right.