Friday 5/11/18

Here are a few highlights from the past 2 weeks:

In literacy, all student did reading in their independent books. We also read lots of nonfiction articles in science (more below).
We began our final writing unit on Personal Essays. We are reading some now, looking at important themes and evidence to support those themes. Also in writing, we worked with Brett on spring poems: haiku, tanka, and cinquain (posted on SeeSaw)
In Word Study, we focusing on vocabulary- specifically we are looking at prefixes, suffixes, and roots.
We continued our new read aloud book The Wild Robot. It's a fantasy book about a robot who ends up on a remote island and has to survive in the wilderness.
We continued our science unit on Sun and Earth Patterns. The first week we focused on stars: brightness, classification, size, distance etc... The second week we focused on Earth's rotation and revolution. We spent more time working with and drawing models, reading articles, watching videos, and gathering facts that supported an argument or question we were trying to answer. Students also wrote fact based arguments, being sure to only add evidence they were able to find in the articles, videos, or models.
Also in science, we watched an episode of the documentary, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. This show explores different topics in astronomy and cosmology and is hosted by astrophysicist, Neil DeGrasse Tyson. We watched one about stars. I'm hoping to show one or two more before the end of the year. The episodes are on Netflix, if you want to watch too!
All students had time the past 2 weeks to work on their Passion Projects. They are well into their learning. We have roughly 3 weeks until the Celebration of Learning. That means students will be spending the next 2 weeks on the projects, then the 3rd week we will focus on what their presentation will look like (posters, videos, recipes, etc...)
We were able to do Outdoor Learning both weeks. The first week we took the K/1 Little Buddies down to the wetland and helped them draw and write about things they saw and heard. After that, we worked in the gardens, cleaning them up for planting. The second week, we spent the first half working on spring poems with Brett, and we spent the second half on a spring adventure in the woods where we saw and identified lots of spring wildflowers.
In Math, we continued small group rotation work. Our units right now:
On Wednesday, our class led the All School Morning Meeting. Pairs of 5/6ers took a small group of kids K-4 and led them in a greeting, share, and activity. Then played a game as a whole school!
Green Sheets came home both weeks! This week on See Saw, students added their spring poems!
Students have created a personal habit or academic goal that they'd like to work on during this last trimester. All students are working on these.
Everyone took the NWEA- MAP Math assessment last week, which means we are all done with that assessment. We will have SBAC in 2 weeks.
All students are officially using yoga balls instead of chairs. So far, no problems following our agreements!

Some upcoming dates, important notes, and things to look forward to in the coming weeks:

Monday 5/14/18 (1230-1): All School Read Aloud- Poetry Reading
Monday 5/21/18- Thursday 5/24/18: SBAC testing in the mornings.
In Reading Workshop, students will continue independent reading. We will begin looking at point of view using our read aloud The Wild Robot.
We will continue with math rotations in small groups.
I am hoping to get outside for Outdoor Learning, possibly doing some math with tree height.
We will do more work for Passion Projects.
We will continue our last science unit on Sun and Earth Patterns, spending time looking at seasons and shadows.
Students will work on their goals and will monitor their progress using their accountability charts.
We will have Four Winds on Thursday morning!
We will continue our Word Study Vocabulary work.
All students will begin drafting a personal essay.