Coming Up:
October 28: Unit 2 Math Assessment
October 28: Student Share – 2:10
October 29 & 30: No School - Parent Conferences
Dear Parents,
The fourth and fifth grade students elected two
representatives from each class to a recess council that has been reviewing challenges and possible solutions to the 4/5 afternoon recess. Next week, we will be trying out some of the solutions the students have decided upon such as opening additional indoor and outdoor space. This is hopefully the first of many opportunities for students to take responsibility in working collaboratively to solve real life problems. Council representatives will rotate through the year depending on their areas of interest.
Reading
Student read a book in small groups this week. I took picture books and copied all of the text into one document. I wanted to students to continue to work in small groups on taking notes, inferring meaning, and paying attention to author's craft. We followed a similar structure when reading Tiger Rising and I wanted to see what students would do with support but also independence. Overall, it has been rocky in places, working together and staying on task but with continued support and guidance our discussions have been very good. I believe students are starting to see the value of digging deeper besides "because you told us too." Over the weekend, they were asked to finish the reading response they started in class in which they choose one big idea they gathered from the text and supported their thinking with evidence. This week, students will be able to read the book with illustrations. We will also return to our book bags and find ways to use these strategies and skills when reading independently.
Writing
We continue to work on our Realistic Fiction stories. Our beginning, middle and endings are finished. Students have worked to add drama to their stories by adding dialogue, emotion and action. This week we are focusing on minor revisions and editing. We are learning about formatting on the computer as well as paragraphs and indenting for dialogue.
Math
We have been working with big numbers and data charts. While the class was quick to report that addition and subtraction were much to easy a topic to explore, we have been finding that maybe we do need to discuss strategies and structures for big numbers! We also felt very confident with graphs and charts until we were asked to make our own with labels and then reflect on these charts with new vocabulary such as mode, median, and range. We will continue to review these skills for the Unit 2 Assessment on Wednesday.
Social Studies
We continue to debrief our time at the Bonneville Dam; highlight the implications of water on our campus, and in our state. We are exploring idea that dams are good and bad. We are focusing on Oregon right now but have started to discuss dams in other countries. We are also reviewing the Sandy River where a dam was removed, is this good or bad? We are diving into many different topics surrounding the environment and how humans interact with their world. Please discuss and share your discussions and resources with the class. We love when friends bring in articles and newspapers to add to the discussion.
Passion Projects
After a long process of reviewing expectations and possibilities for Passion Projects, we are ready to hit the ground running. Students have topics of study. They are all expected to share their learning with the class and hopefully beyond. Please talk with your child about their topic and look out for a blog post devoted to Passion Projects soon!
Student Share Day
I hope you have Student Share Day - October 28th at
2:10 on your calendars. I know that it is difficult
for some of you to take time off work, so please let me know if we need to
re-schedule. This is an informal event; you are welcome to leave early and take
your child, or stay the whole time. We’re looking forward to this time of
sharing!
