Patriot Day
Greetings!
Just the Basics:
Please have your child check their ProgressBook regularly, as this is where they can be reminded of missing assignments and determine their current grade in each subject.
Social Studies: Following our quiz on continents and oceans, we will begin learning about types of maps and geographic tools.
ELA:
We are reading and writing about Wonder! This week, the kiddos will practice answering RATE questions, responding to writing prompts, and diving a little deeper into one of the cornerstones of the novel: the precepts.
We do a Daily Language Review (DLR) most days of the week. These quick activities provide efficient and grade-level appropriate review of grammar and writing conventions. When appropriate (if the skills practiced have already been taught and reviewed several times), I will be taking these for grades.
Independent Work, assigned every week, includes a variety of activities. Some change weekly, but 2 that are constants are Read 15 and Write 15.
Read 15: Students are required to read for 15 minutes each day, which may be completed during our Independent Work time. If it is not, they will do it for homework.
Write 15: Students will free write in their composition notebooks for 15 minutes for the assigned amount of times that week (last week and this upcoming week, they are writing 2 times). Currently, this is the only assignment that I will not accept late. I collect composition notebooks Friday morning, so the writing must be done before then.
Patriot Day
Happy Patriot’s Day! So many peoples’ memories of this day is filled with sadness. Hundreds of thousands of people have truly tragic stories. Loss of husbands, wives, best friends, daughters, sons, aunts, uncles, coworkers, acquaintances...it's my daily hope that we never forget those who gave something of themselves that day. As the saying goes, "All gave some; some gave all." I love this country, I love its people, and I love that I get to belong here. We are so fortunate, and I hope we never lose sight of that.
In that vein, I love the idea of turning the overwhelming despair of the day into a celebration of the people who do things to make our lives better! While I do feel strongly that it is my responsibility to address the significance of this day, these aren't my kids and I'm not looking to upset anyone. And so, I tend on the "less is more" side of explanation. It will be touched on as a point of history and an acknowledgement of what these kiddos may have heard or seen about the day in their conversations or brief television mentionings at home. But I will never speak of that day as anything other than a day when people loved each other more, came to a fellow human's rescue, and comforted each other in a way that we don't see on a daily basis. And though the level of help given that day was extra-ordinary, it IS the core of who we are, and I refuse to believe otherwise. Mr. Rogers (one of my childhood favorites!) once said, “When bad things happen, look for the helpers. There are always helpers.” I love that quote because it reminds us that while bad things can and do happen, there are always more people who come running to help than we would ever expect. The good always overcomes the bad. That’s a wonderful thing to keep in our children’s minds as they grow up!