October 13-16: Goal Setting Conferences

October 24: Halloween Fun Night

November 11: Veterans Day (No School)

November 23-27: Thanksgiving Break (No School)

Click here for the yearlong school calendar

For the next six weeks, our reading workshop time will involve students being in literature circles! Our class will be divided into five groups, and each group will be reading a different novel. The five novels for this round of literature circles are Walk Two Moons, Because of Winn-Dixie, Shiloh, The Hero Two Doors Down, and Frindle. I have broken each book into seven sections, so there will be seven meetings for each group. Before each group meeting, students will read independently and take on different roles in preparing for the group discussion. Students will rotate through taking one of the following roles: discussion director, creative connector, setting surveyor, word wizard, and illuminating illustrator. In each meeting, students will share their thoughts about the section they read through the lens of their role. Be sure to ask your child what literature circle group he or she is in!

Last week, students learned what causes day and night. This week we will explore daylight patterns through the year, review key vocabulary from this investigation, and take the I-check assessment for investigation 3. The results of this assessment will be in next week's Thursday envelope.

If you would like to extend student learning at home, consider trying this home school connection activity.

Great Postcard Race Update: Thank you to Blake, Jana, Keira, Safet, and Zach for bringing postcards in last week. We now have Mississippi and South Dakota. We just have one state left to finish the race -- Kansas! 

For the next six weeks, our reading workshop time will involve students being in literature circles! Our class will be divided into five groups, and each group will be reading a different novel. The five novels for this round of literature circles are Walk Two Moons, Shiloh, Rules, Holes, There's an Owl in the Shower, and Frindle. I have broken each book into seven sections, so there will be seven meetings for each group. Before each group meeting, students will read independently and take on different roles in preparing for the group discussion. Students will rotate through taking one of the following roles: discussion director, creative connector, setting surveyor, word wizard, and illuminating illustrator. In each meeting, students will share their thoughts about the section they read through the lens of their role. Be sure to ask your child what literature circle group he or she is in!

In writing workshop this week, we will be wrapping up our "travel pitch" essay, an opinion writing piece in which students convince readers to visit their state. I will show the students a rubric from which their writing will be evaluated. This formal process of having their writing graded will prepare them for middle school!

This week, students will also take a district writing assessment. These assessments are given twice a year, once in the Fall and once in the Spring. 

We have PE weekly on Tuesday mornings from 8:20 - 9:05 am with Ms. Wickemeyer's class.  On Tuesdays, please make sure your child is wearing shoes in which they can run. I also recommend a hat and an extra water bottle for hot days. 

We will have Music every other week beginning August 17 on Monday mornings from 9:00-9:50 am.  On those same weeks, we will also visit our school library on Mondays from 9:55-10:15 am. We have Art on the alternate weeks (the weeks that we don't have Music) on Monday mornings from 9:30 - 10:20 a.m. beginning the week of August 24. 

This year, we will be managing some assignments and hand outs (such as study guides) on Google Classroom. Students will learn how to access Google Classroom this week. Please take some time to have your child login also from a home device and then please bookmark that page so that you will be to access it quickly when needed!

If you are looking for books for your family's library, please consider ordering from Scholastic Books. You can have books shipped directly to your home or to school. Every order earns points for our class, and points help us grow our classroom library. When using the Scholastic website, our class activation code is GKMNT. Place an order of $25 or more and you can pick a FREE $5 book (use code READS at checkout). Here is an online flyer.