The Willis Weekly
September 20, 2019
Conner Prairie Study Trip
E-Learning Day
If your child does not turn in these assignments by Monday, they will be counted as absent for that day.
Grandparents Day!!
Liger Mile
TCE Movie Night
Why Writing Workshop? By the Partnership for Inquiry Learning
You may be wondering why we using writing workshop for writing. This article by the Partnership of Inquiry Learning will help answer some of your questions.
We believe writing workshop is the instructional framework that best supports all students. Through rigorous teaching, students learn to write with clear vision and skillful intention, positioning them well for lifelong academic and workplace success. Here's why:
Writing workshop engages students in meaningful work.
A key element of writing workshop is choice in writing topics. Students are not prescribed topics; they are taught to mine topics from their own experiences. They write about things that move them, whether that's baseball, grandma's death, Styrofoam waste in the cafeteria, a new Labrador puppy or another topic. Because their texts are driven by desire to convey meaning to readers, students are deeply engaged in crafting the most articulate text they can achieve. Choice of writing topic increases the volume of writing students do. The more a student has to say about a subject, the more opportunities there are to teach him/her how to write about it well.
A Message From Mrs. Chadwell - The Global Studies Instructor
We learned about the 3 different Japanese writing styles. Katakana used mainly to create names for outsiders or to create words for foreign objects (things they don't have words for). Hiragana the more common form of the written language in Japan and finally Kanji. Kanji is a system of writing that was adopted from China. It uses symbols that look more like small pictures to create words. The students were then able to try to write a few of the Kanji words and they really seemed to enjoy this activity. The words are harder than one would think to write them ourselves and to make them look like the Japanese written language. An example of Kanji is
良い週末を
Lunch Visitors
Lunch Visitors Are Now Welcome: Visitors with approved background checks and who have also viewed the anti-bullying video may now eat lunch with their child/children. There is a ten visitor maximum, so please be sure to call the TCE office at 594-4310 by 9:30am on the day you would like to visit for lunch.
Mystery Birthday Gift
•School policy states that food may not be sent from home. A great idea is a Mystery Gift: Surprise your child by purchasing a game or book for the classroom on his/her birthday! Have your child bring this wrapped “mystery gift” to the classroom to open with us. I will then write your child’s name in the donated item and it will be available for each student to use. This is not mandatory; it is only a choice. Your child’s birthday WILL be acknowledged in class, after all, it is a special day!
•If your child would like to hand out pencils, erasers, bookmarks, or any other non-edible item to help celebrate his/her birthday, I will be happy to accommodate a time when this can be arranged.
•It is also school policy that invitations to parties not be passed out at school unless the whole class is invited. Otherwise, they must be mailed from your home.
Library Volunteers
Library volunteers are needed to help with shelving and checking in books in our TCE Library. Volunteering in the library is fun and the schedule is flexible! If you are interested in volunteering, please reach out to Mrs. Hopper, TCE Librarian (lhopper@hse.k12.in.us).
*A safe visitor background check is required for all school volunteers. For more information on background checks, visit https://www.hseschools.org/services/other/school-safety/visiting-and-volunteering.
Book Fee/iPad Rental Update
On September 6, 2019 elementary families will be able to view book fees on Skyward. Pat Lines, TCE Treasurer will email families an invoice on Friday evening as well. Book fees and any ipad rentals payments are due October 4, 2019. For those who qualified for café/textbook/ipad free/reduced assistance, you should see a “Textbook Assistance” (TA Code) plus a fee credit (zero balance for 2019-2020 school year).
Just a reminder, for free/reduced assistance families must apply every year on or after July 1, 2019. If you have any questions about this assistance or if you would like a payment plan, please contact Pat Lines, TCE Treasurer at (317) 594-4310 or plines@hse.k12.in.us.
Wanting to help out at TCE?
Important Information for Next Week
Mark Your Calendar!
September 27 - Grandparents Day
September 27 - Movie Night
October 12 - Fall Break Begins
October 21 - School Resumes from Fall Break
Next Week's Related Arts Schedule
Tuesday, September 24: Day 1 - P.E.
Wednesday, September 25: Day 2 - Global Studies
Thursday, September 26: Day 3 - Music & Library
Friday, September 27: Day 4 - Art
We Are Learning...
Reading
We focused on author's intentions again this week. After looking at how the authors of our books have powerful parts in their books and how they do it last week, we looked at how they use all the techniques to create their stories. We also talked about how even though a lot of the books that we are reading are fiction books, the author is still teaching us things. These things might not be facts necessarily, but more life lessons and other bits of wisdom. We will begin to discuss nonfiction books in the upcoming weeks.
Writing
This week we wrapped up our personal narrative writing unit by celebrating our efforts with Ms. Dyer's and Mrs. Sieman's class. Next week we will start our non-fiction writing unit. In this unit we will identify and practice craft moves used by non-fiction authors to share information about a particular subject.
Math
1. Identify what you already know.
2. Identify what you need to know.
3. Thank about how you need to change the part of what you already know to find out what you need to know.
Social Studies
Inquiry-Based Learning - Mystery Creature
1. Made a prediction of the mystery animal
2. Researched and documented facts about their predicted animal
Students are currently organizing their facts and various types of media to present and persuade the rest of us to believe they have accurately identified our mystery creature.
Mr. C. Willis
Email: cwillis@hse.k12.in.us
Location: 14642 E 126th St, Fishers, IN, United States
Phone: 317-594-4310 (2205)
Twitter: @TCEWillis