Monday PE | Tuesday Out and About to Hyla Woods--bring a water bottle! And, dress to be successful for a full day outside! | Wednesday ART | Thursday First visit to the ELC to read to our little buddies! | Friday -All School Meeting -Merlins present! -Dress like your friend spirit day! |
Reading: Read the newsletter Monday night, look over goals together on Tuesday night and read a book of your choice the other nights. Make sure to record the book in your agenda.
Math: Check agenda or website, but there is daily math homework
Writing: Spelling starts up this week. In addition, type up any unfinished poetry--Emotion and Metaphor poem, in particular, if it isn't done. Record what you do in your agenda.
Important Dates
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I love literature circle time! The quiet of every kid engaged in the book they’re reading, the collaboration that comes with discussing the book and hearing the different thoughts and perspectives on what’s been read! As a class we’ve started The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind-a true story of a boy who engineered an important tool for his village in Malawi. As for poetry, this week we delved into the power of simile and metaphor—wait till you hear how beautiful their words sound with this added poetic device.
Ask, what is a simile?
Talk about the latest development in their literature circle book.
Extend the learning by writing poetry as a family.
Conferences
Thank you for taking the time to listen to your child's goals for the year during conferences last week. Merlins, I know that it can be hard to talk about your goals, and am really proud of the way you shared your hopes with your family. Let's keep learning and working towards your goals! This week, students will come home with the goal sheet we created together.
Ask - If you make a step towards your goal, how can we recognize your hard work?
Talk about - when you'll check in as a family to see how your Kestrel is doing.
Contact me if you have any questions or would like to follow up more about something we discussed.
Project
Our first data collection at Fernhill was a huge success! And, we were treated to glorious weather to boot! I enjoyed seeing students show independence, as their first time as researchers in the field—this year. This week it’s into to examining different models to manage a forest.
Ask, what surprised you about the Fernhill trip?
Talk about why being a citizen-scientist matters.
Extend the learning by visiting other natural areas to apply what we're learning in class.
6th Grade Math
Because of our days off and out and abouts, 6th graders are persevering through the block 2 test. Be on the look out for the test packet to come home to be signed. As a reminder kids do test corrections and then retake the problems they got wrong on a different version of the test. I look forward to wrapping this block up and moving onto fractions. Also, please follow up with me if you have questions regarding your mathematician's goal for the year. And, remember kids are invited to come into my classroom at 8:15 if they want help on their math homework, but it’s helpful to email me ahead of time so I know to expect them.
Ask how is the block 2 test going?
Talk about how to create a routine to accomplish your math goals.
Extend the learning by seeing connections between decimals and fractions.
5th Grade Math
Last week, we dove further into the decimals, learning how to multiply numbers by powers of ten. (This week's mystery word: exponent). We will apply our learning by converting metric measurements, like cm to meters, this week.
Ask - What's an exponent? What does 10 to the fourth mean?
Listen - to your 5th grade mathematician explain one of their homework problems.
Extend the learning by watching this video and talking about distances. Does your mathematician know how far it is between home and school? Home and the beach?