Monday PE Guest speaker from Metro | Tuesday O&A to garden | Wednesday ART Follow up with Guest speaker | Thursday Geek Out or Outdoor Work | Friday ART |
Upcoming Dates
| Volunteer Needs Click here to help with: -sharpening pencils -washing classroom rags -volunteer on O&As Wishlist: |
Outdoor School is right around the corner ... October 3rd -October 6th
Now's the time to start the pile of stuff that will head to Outdoor School. Here is the equipment list again. If this is your family's 1st or 4th time sending a student to ODS I would encourage you to read over the student guidebook with your child, click here. In terms of gear, please don't feel like you need to purchase new things for your child. The school has some extra rain boots and rain coats that we are glad to borrow out for this trip. Magruder Outdoor School also has extra supplies too. Please email me if your kiddo needs gear for this experience. I also recommend shopping at Goodwill for warm layers and such. Wool sweaters and rain gear (both coats and pants) make happy campers.
Monday, October 2nd: Erin and I will keep our classrooms open from after school to 5:00 for luggage drop off. Please email me if this time doesn't work for you. Everything gets dropped off at this time, but please keep medications separate as we will record and collect student medication separately. We will provide large garbage bags for luggage to go into, if it seems necessary.
Tuesday, October 3rd: Students should arrive at 8:35, earlier is not necessary. The bus will depart promptly at 8:50 AM. Ideally, students will have their backpack with a book to read and water bottle. They don't necessarily need to come in all their outdoor clothes for the bus ride, but it would be helpful for their rain coat, hat and gloves to be in their backpack.
Friday, October 6th: We usually arrive back to school between 1:00-2:00. Once we depart Magruder, Karen Torry sends out an email with our arrival time.
Project
The highlight of the week for Project work was definitely our time at Nana Cardoons. Through three different rotations students made freshly pressed apple juice, black bean quesadillas, and explored how Charlene and Richard use decomposition. Visiting this place is a good example of how agriculture can look compared to the conventional method. At the end of our visit we always share a meal together where we sipped our fresh juice and homegrown quesadillas! Another gem of the week was when we worked with Level 1 to do inquiry on the worm bins at school--another hands on look at decomposition. Kids looked at which environment worms preferred. Be sure to check out the pictures!
Ask why is decomposition so important?
Listen to your child talk about the experience at Nana Cardoons.
Extend the learning to look at local farms in our community.
Literacy
We wrapped up Love That Dog on Thursday. What a great ending! Jack was able to open up through poetry and take a risk that led to success. We also continued our risk taking by writing poems--my favorite of the week was to mimic the "Love That Boy" poem by Walter Deans Myers, showcased in Love That Dog. Everyone was able to successfully get their Google account working and try out Google Classroom. This is where our writing assignments will be posted.
Ask to see Google Classroom, so your child can show you some of the poetry they've written.
Listen to your child talk about what they liked / disliked with Love That Dog.
Extend the learning by mimicking poems together as a family.
6th Grade Math
Kiddos worked hard Thursday and Friday to put their knowledge of decimals to their first test of the year. On Monday we'll go over the test and students will learn about the test correction, retake and reflection procedures. Parents also need to sign the reflection page. All items are due on Friday, yet there will be other math homework assignments to balance as well. If your child struggled, I would be glad to provide support to correct misconceptions, please email me to set up a time.
Ask what are the four steps to the problem-solving process?
Listen to what your child thought of the first test?
Extend the learning by talking about how decimal numbers are used in your life.
5th Grade Math
This past week, fifth grade mathematicians practiced their skills by calculating the volume and surface area of cardboard boxes, and extended this to compose some rules about multiplication. This coming week, we'll explore more strategies to make sense of multiplication.
Ask, what is the "rule of 10s?" How would you figure out 42 x 10? x 100? What about 42 x 99?
Talk about different ways you use volume to measure objects at home or work.
Extend the learning by trying this week's challenge problem.