We've had a great week! The students are settling into our regular classroom routine nicely. We are almost done with our beginning of year testing and are enjoying finally getting into the year's curriculum!

Announcements/Reminders/Requests:

• Classroom Move

  • We will be moving our classroom to one of the mobile classrooms by Monday, Sept. 8. There are many reasons for this, but ultimately, it was necessary for one class in the school to move out. I volunteered to be that room because we are lucky enough to have such an amazing classroom (15 responsible kids!) that we have the capacity to handle it. I spoke to the kids about it this morning and I appreciated them sharing their feelings and being receptive to the move. We'll spend our community time next week helping to move some items and getting used to the change.

  • What this means for you: drop off and pick up will be at the mobile with the green doors by the garden. Nothing else will really change!

• Ms Oliver's Amazon Wish List is now live! I will periodically update the list and let you know when I do. Absolutely no obligation to purchase anything on it, but thank you in advance if you're feeling generous!

• Photos. Please email me and let me know if you do NOT want your child's face in any of the photos I put on this website. I post photos so you can see some of the cool stuff we're doing, but I want to make sure to respect everyone's privacy.

• Outdoor Ed

  • Student registrations for Outdoor Ed at Stone Canyon are now live and can be found here. Registrations will close 2 weeks prior to your trip. 

  • Please note that payment is collected through MySchoolBucks, not through the Stone Canyon registration site! 

  • Look here for a Parent Planning Guide that contains information about the daily schedule, Stone Canyon staff, packing lists, conversations to have with your child pre-trip, etc.

• ALP Family Input Survey. If you haven't filled this out yet, please do! Survey link here.

What We've Been Working On...

Math

We've been doing some fun word problem solving this week so I can get an idea of how your student thinks mathematically. We've also learned how to make and fold Hexaflexagons--ask your student to see theirs! We took our iReady test this week as well, and we're hoping to get started on our new curriculum in small groups next week.

ELA

We've warmed up our reading and writing brains these past couple weeks. We started Writer's Workshop by decorating our Writer's Notebooks and learning how to start living like writers. We did some five senses writing outside in nature, and we've been practicing building our fluency and stamina with our writing.

We have also read a few short stories and started learning norms around discussions, finding vocabulary, and responding to texts.

Science

We started our Physical Science unit by reviewing matter and learning about mass: what it is, how we measure it, and why! We did two fun labs on measuring mass of items wiht a triple beam balance and an inquiry about whether Double Stuf Oreos truly have "double" the mass of regular Oreos. Ask your student about the results!

Mental Health

We're reviewing our Sources of Strength Wheel from our Sources of Strength curriculum, identifying which activities and people help us build resilience and help us stay mentally healthy. We also met our new Discovery Mental Health counselor, Ms K, and did a fun art activity on identifying the way we, as GT learners, learn and operate.

Important Dates: 

Sept 01 - No School/ Labor Day

Sept 02 - Cold Stone Night