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.

Back to School

I had a wonderful time at the Potluck last night and I appreciate those who were able to make it to Back to School Night.  Let me know if you have any questions about anything covered.  Next week, I will be setting dates for optional family conferences for the month of September.  Any family is welcome to come in and chat about the school year or their child's progress.  For now, I want to make sure families are aware we have a walking field trip to the Ellis Library rare books section on Friday.  Our class will leave about 12:30.  Due to the heat, we will be taking our time and taking water breaks along the way.

Now its time to publicly announce the winners of our All Star Poster contest:
Maggie's design was chosen by the class to be our large All Star poster.

Ethan's design was also a class favorite.

I included a few more to demonstrate students efforts and fantastic designs.

MOVING RIGHT ALONG

Families, below you will see our focus for this week as we enter more structured learning routines and academics for each subject.

Reading: We finished describing genres and began organizing our reading notebooks.  Students are all reading chapter books and practicing recording reading thoughts in their notebooks.  We also spent time in the computer lab taking the STAR reading assessment.  This assessment is a snapshot of a reader's comprehension skills.  I will include their score in the Friday Folder.  Next week, we will also take the DRA reading assessment which adds to my understanding of each reader.  For this assessment, I will listen to each reader and they will respond in writing to a short story.  This information helps me decidde how to support each reader's growth.  

Writing: Writers are still focused on developing their I AM poem.  Our work has focused on descriptive words and phrases.  We are drafting later this week.  We will also look at some poetry stucture before we handwrite their poems.  When ipads are rolled out, one of our first tasks will be to use iMovie to make a movie of this autobiographical poem. 

Math: As mathmagicians, we are focusing on pace value, especially in decimals.  We will read, write, and compare decimals to the thousandths place.  This unit provides a deeper understanding of the quantity of decimals and games are often used to give kids practice with comparing decimals.  

Social Studies:  Each day we our discussing landforms around the world and often using numbers in math to describe them.  Students are also working on their world maps for at least 30 minutes a day.  This Friday, we will begin to focus on our island close up maps also.

Science: During science time, we are using our observations to collect, organize, and analyze data.  Our first model experiment will be about trees and their leaves and will use data collected at Stewart Park.  This experiment will be performed in groups and as a class to model experimental design components such as variables constants, hypothesis, data tables, graphs, and conclusions.  

WEEK 1 RECAP

This was truly a very nice start to the school year.  We have a positive community with eager and cooperative learners.  I am very pleased with the progress we have made this week.  We eased in to each core subject with creative and enjoyable activities.

Reading: We have already read 3 books, including our first chapter book read aloud, The Phantom Tollbooth.  Students have their own book tubs and each student has picked out a few books.  Our discussions have focused on responding to books, identifying book genres, and understanding the 5th grade Book Share expectations.

Writing: Students have started their writing journals with a Personality List which also serves as a topic list.  We are incorporating these ideas into a I AM poem, art, and technology project.  

Math: Mathmagicians have enjoyed 3 games which students can use throughout the year during extra math time.  We are building multiple towers to start our investigation into place value and math language.  These towers are also designed to decorate our room a bit too!

Science:  Our beginning science activities focused on making observations and descriptions.  After looking at examples of famous scientist journals, we practiced science descriptions ourselves.  We were so good at it, we decided to practice in the field today at Stewart Park.  I will post some examples of descriptions and pictures shortly.

Social Studies:  Today we introduced the famous Where in the World Project.  This project focuses on geography and integrates art, writing, and reading heavily.  Students will be creating their own island focused on a theme.  As we travel around our community in September, geographers will be inspired to include important aspects of community into their island.  Please read the Where in the World packet in the Friday Folder this weekend.

Friday Folder:  The folder this week has a lot of information for your weekend reading!  Please let me know if you have any questions.  This blog post is copied as the newsletter this week.  Please let me know either by email or writing a note in the Friday Folder if you would like me to continue to put a paper copy in the Friday Folder.  Otherwise, I will rely on blog posts and emails and meeting in person to share ideas and questions about our classwork.  Concerning the weekly behavior chart:  I will fill this out each week (/ means satisfactory, -- needs improvement).  Each student and I will alternate each week making comments about their progress and school experience.  I do these digitally so I can easily keep a record of each week’s progress.  

I am looking forward to a wonderful year!  Enjoy your weekend.

2nd DAY STORIES

On Day 2 we had our first art class.  Students also met Maizie, our corn snake.  We shared I AM writing ideas which we are using for a poetry project.  The class played another math game they can use during math free time.  We also read Animalia by Graem Base.  This book providing fun alliteration ideas and helped students get artistic ideas for starting our Word Wall.  I also introduced the traditional 5th grade Book Share routine during reading.  Families will learn more about this on Back to School Night.  The rest of the day was full of routines, nametags, sticks, and indoor recess practice.  Overall, another fine day.

 

 

 

1st DAY FEATURES

 Today was an enjoyable day as we organized our class, learned about each other, and started routines.  We had PE today, enjoyed a read aloud, and a math game too.  I am looking forward to tomorrow.  Below you will see pictures of our first read aloud and a little shared writing from our creative kids.  Enjoy.

We read Whose Butt by Stan Tekiela.  This is a nonfiction book about animals.

Some of us even knew this one!

Pearl had may extra facts about the pronghorn, the fastest land mammal in America!

You try: Whose behinds are these?

It's a classroom of Grant All-Stars! 

All-Stars are hard working learners on a lifelong journey of learning.  Their habitat is in Classroom C surrounded by gardens.  You can hear them speak English, French, Spanish and more.  Some of their activities include gymnastics, baseball, dance, travelling, soccer, basketball, football, biking, pogosticking, art and music.  

END OF YEAR EXCITEMENT

All-Star Generals, what a great year to celebrate!  After our busy last two weeks and a short trip up North, I finally can sit down and share a few pics of our last days together.  Also, please check out the final wrap up of our Stream Organism and Litter Community Project complete with our donation amount raised and pictures. I will email families and community partners a link of the movie.

Enjoy these end of the year pics, thanks to all, and have a wonderful summer!

GRADUATION PICS:

READING TO BUDDIES AND FIELD DAY PICS:

 

 

 

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