Our focus this week continued to be getting to know one another, the routines, and expectations for the school year. We spent time thinking about what we value as a community and determined which ones we will live by this year. Students also honed their ability to transition from one classroom to the other with all of their materials. They will certainly be very organized students by the end of the year! It is wonderful practice for Middle School.
On Friday, we stressed the importance of teamwork within our community and practiced this with an activity in the gym during morning meeting. The pictures below show circles of students attempting to pass everyone though a hula-hoop without breaking the circle. The shouts of encouragement and sights of students helping one another were wonderful!
Planners
Students got new planners this week to help them keep track of their homework every week. Homework will be assigned on Mondays and the due date will be listed next to each assignment. Most are due on Friday, giving students all week to plan and complete assignments. Please take time on Mondays to review the assignments with your child and help them plan their week. This will help them to build responsibility and hopefully learn to not leave everything for the last minute! If your child is ever missing an assignment that is listed in the planner, please email us and we will be happy to send home another the next day.
Reading in the Edges
This week students learned that that it is expected that they read for at least 20 minutes every day for homework. We talked about how they will not have a reading log this year because we don't believe that having to fill out a reading log each night increases the love of reading.....which is my ultimate goal for all students. We also talked about how many students have hectic schedules after school which sometimes prevents students from finding a full, uninterrupted 20 minutes in which to read.
To solve this problem, we discussed how students can read in the edges of their day. They may only have 10 minutes to read before football practice or dance and then ten minutes before bed....that adds up to 20! Any way in which students can get in their reading minutes is acceptable! All of those minutes add up.
This week students will continue to track where and when they read in their edges of their day. This is the last week for this assignment. Pictures of students reading in the edges of their day are also due on Friday. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Book Orders
Book orders are due on Thursday of this week. Our class code is H3M9C if you are ordering online. You can also send in the order form with a check made out to Scholastic.
Stories Around the Campfire
This week the students were able to tell stories around the campfire! We talked about campfires being a place where many stories are shared. The kids had the chance to build their own campfire and tell stories of memories that were important to them. The other campers had the opportunity to listen in and learn a little more about the members of our community! This week they will use these story ideas to write a personal narrative.
Math Workshop
This week we started to learn the different parts of Math Workshop. There are 3 parts that we will follow in math this year. They are Work with a Teacher, Partner Work, and Independent Practice. The students had a chance to practice partner work and independent practice this week. On Friday, the kids got to play a game called Baby Snake where they had a chance to work with a partner and discuss their thinking. There were lots of great conversations happening! Friday afternoon some kids got the chance to work with a partner again in a game outside called Hop, Skip, Jump.
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| Great conversation happening! |
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| Hopping, Skipping, Jumping to an answer (or walking like a penguin)! |
Just a reminder that tomorrow, Monday, September 10th is a NO SCHOOL day for students. We look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Tuesday!
Jaime and Jen
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