The Willis Weekly
November 8, 2019
A Celebration of Non-Fiction
Cold Weather
Follett Book Fair!
Writing Workshop Enables Individualized Instruction
You may be wondering why we are using writing workshop for or writing instruction model. This week's topic about writing workshops from an article by the Partnership of Inquiry Learning may help answer some of your questions.
'Writing workshop uses conventions for audience'
In writing workshop, students have audiences beyond the classroom teacher and see how their writing affects others. They learn to use grammar and spelling conventions that enhance and clarify meaning in the texts they write. They learn to identify and choose punctuation, line breaks, diction and other conventions appropriate to the audience to ensure that texts are read as the writer intends. In this way writers learn that their words— and how they present those words— have the power to inform, persuade, move, entertain, challenge and profoundly impact readers.
A Moment with Mrs. Chadwell - The TCE Global Study Instructor
This week in Global Studies……
In 2nd-4th grade we finished our Dia De Los Muertos Skull masks and had a few minutes to look through some books about Mexico. We will continue learning about Mexico in our next class.
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.
Important Information for Next The Week(s)
Mark Your Calendar!
November 8 - PTO Movie Night
November 26 - Spirit Day - TCE Spirit Wear
November 27 -29 - Thanksgiving Break
Next Week's Related Arts Schedule
Tuesday, November 5 - Day 3: Music
Wednesday, November 6 - Day 4: Art
Thursday, November 7 - Day 1: P.E. & Library
Friday, November 8 - Day 2: Global Study
We Are Learning...
Reading
In reading this week we learned/reviewed the following skills/concepts when reading non-fiction: using the keywords within non-fiction to describe the books to others. This week our non-fiction readers learned that one of the best ways to know if you have learned a lot about a topic is to teach it to others. This week we used keywords from our books to teach our friends (or our Seesaw audience) about the topic of our non-fiction book. This deeper depth of knowledge allows us to read, process, and reproduce what we learn about a topic.
Writing
WE DID IT! That's right, we have now reached the end of our non-fiction writing unit and celebrated with a 2nd grade wide gallery walk. (Please see the aforementioned post to learn more about how we shared our original compositions of non-fiction literature with our friends)
Math
This week in math we learned/reviewed the following concepts/skills: Standard unit of measurement - centimeters (CM). This week we discussed the importance of a standard unit of measurement (or SUM). As a collective, we agree that we need SUMs so that "everyone in the world knows exactly how long stuff is!" This week's SUM was the centimeter, or CM. We found out that out a 1s unit from our Base 10 model is exactly this length. We then used this tool to measure multiple items around the room. That said, we are looking forward to learning/reviewing longer SUMs because measuring the height of a locker door in centimeters can be very tedious.
Inquiry - Trains
Mr. Willis
Email: CWillis@hse.k12.in.us
Location: 14642 E 126th St, Fishers, IN, United States
Phone: 317-594-4310 (2205)
Twitter: @TCEWillis