Week of October 25th

It always amazes me that a full five day week of school seems to go by quicker than a truncated four day week. I have yet to figure that one out.

We made great headway on our realistic fiction stories in writing this week. We focused on making sure that we were including setting in our introductions, allowing the reader to understand when and where the story is taking place. Then, we wrote multiple conclusions and chose the one that we felt best addressed and wrapped up the challenges that were presented earlier in our stories. We move to revision and editing and publishing our pieces as the last steps to the writing process. Reading continued with a focus on characters and visualization. We did a 'cute' visualization activity that centers around Halloween and is now hanging in our hallway. As an aside, when you come in for conferences in a couple of weeks, please make sure to check out the great work hanging outside Room 213.

We introduced division this week and taught the kids the traditional algorithm for long division. We then introduced a concept of creating bar models in order to better solve word problems. This is a very tricky concept and takes a little time and much practice to truly get the hang of it. We will be wrapping up the unit next week with a test on Friday, and then I will be working with my entire class over the next several math units. Currently, we do not plan on mixing the kids up again until after the first of the year.

Our first science lesson of the week was learning about, and then constructing, dams. Very engaged lesson with a lot of different approaches from my five groups (if you haven't yet, check out the pictures on this site). Then, we tested the affect slope would have on our soil. It was up for grabs in our room, in a good way, as soil was washed away in great quantity and huge canyons were formed in our tables. We then 'bulldozed' the soil to its original state and planted both rye and mustard seed on half of our soil. Once the vegetation starts to germinate, we will test how the grasses help, or hinder, the process of erosion. After that, the kids will begin to plan for, and design, their final stream table experiment.

We moved from 'Empathy' to 'Calming Down' in our Second Step program. This change in focus correlated beautifully with our final Mindfulness lesson of the fall. We will have one review session in the Spring prior to heading off to Highcrest.

I look very forward to a FUN Halloween celebration in Room 213 on Thursday. I respectfully ask that your child adheres to the Central rules for costumes: no masks, no weapons, and nothing bloody or scary. We have these rules because although my kids can handle those types of costumes, we do have kids as young as five years old in the building and we want all of our students to enjoy the day. We all appreciate your consideration. Have a great weekend, STAY WARM AND DRY!