Friday 9/7/18

Here are a few highlights from the past week:

  • You can click here for photos from the first 2 weeks of school.
  • It was a short week due to Labor Day !
  • We spent more time reacquainting ourselves with each other, the class, and the school. Sometimes it may seem like we do "nothing" the first few weeks of school and 5th and 6th graders feel like they already know all the rules and expectations, but EVERYONE needs opportunities to relearn and practice, plus it is such important work to build the foundation and positive climate for the rest of the year! We spent time this week on: more class and school routines and procedures (with lots of time for practice), class jobs, more of my expectations, morning meetings, sharing, listening, acceptable use of technology, games, cooperative group work, etc...
  • We spent a good amount of time this week discussing our brains and learning about how working with a growth mindset (especially during challenging tasks) can help us become even better learners! For those of you unfamiliar with the idea of growth mindset, you can find out more here:
  • All students are enjoying their independent reading books. They get time to read in class each day after lunch. Starting next week, they will should be reading at home too. More to come on this.
  • We began work in our writing journals, focusing on brainstorming for a project and free writing to build writing stamina.
  • To begin math, we have spent time playing "math games" in small groups. These are games we may play throughout the year to practice computation or problem solving skills. Some games we tried: Farkle, Set, Racko, Aces Lose, Skunk, Pass the Pigs, Shut the Box, and Double Half or Stay.
  • Students completed a first small project called an autobiodoodle, which shows a little of their personality through words and images. We did some class sharing of them as well as sharing things we liked about other's work. We also reflected on our work (the first of many reflections) and wrote a first draft of a paragraph explaining our work.
  • It was hot on Wednesday, so we did our Outdoor Learning in the morning. We spent the first part picking and washing veggies for the Grandparent's Day lunch. For the second part, we went to the new outdoor classroom. I began an OL Read Aloud- Wishtree, by Katherine Applegate, which is told from the perspective of an old oak tree named Red. We also spread out, found our own spots, and silently spent about 10 minutes at "Sit Spot" making observations.
  • We began our first in class read aloud book: The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate Dicamillo. It follows the adventures of a mouse named Despereaux, who goes on a quest to rescue a beautiful human princess from the rats.
  • Over the next several weeks, we will be doing a few different benchmark tests.
        • This will be our second year administering the MAP Growth tests, one in reading and one in math. However, this year students will only take them in the fall and in the winter. You can take a look at the two page NWEA- Map Growth parent information flyer below! Students took the Reading today and will take the Math on Monday.
        • Before the end of September, we will also be doing our OSSU wide, On Demand Writing Prompt assessment. All students do one writing piece to help assess their writing early in the year.
        • Lastly, I will be meeting with students one on one over the next few weeks to give our F&P reading assessment. Students read a short story (part of it is read aloud) then answer some questions about the reading.


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

  • We lead All School Morning Meeting- Wednesday 9/12/18 750-815am
  • All School Hike- Thursday 9/13/17 Roughly 10am-1230pm
  • Woodbury Open House- Wednesday 10/3/18 5:30-6:30pm
  • We will be doing more work on growth mindset and taking on challenging tasks- specifically in math! We will be using lessons from YouCubed- which comes from Jo Boaler, a professor of math education at Stanford University. https://www.youcubed.org/week-inspirational-math/
  • We will work through more procedures and class climate work- talking about rules, listening, sharing, expectations for work, etc...
  • We will be generating more ideas for writing in writing journals.
  • We will continue with independent reading and students will begin doing some work with reading response. I will also begin introducing some reading comprehension strategies using our read aloud book.
  • I am planning to do a small independent learning project before we begin our first Social Studies unit in 2 weeks.
  • We will probably not do Outdoor Learning on Wednesday because we are going on the All School Hike on Thursday.
  • Heather Carpenter (K/1 teacher) and I are hoping to begin our Little/Big Buddy program sometime in the next few weeks, once she gets to know her students a little more and they get more settled into the school! In the meantime, we will partner the 5/6ers with K/1ers as Hiking Buddies for the All School Hike.
  • We will begin with Assignment books and Home folders next week.


Parent-Guide.pdf