Camp STARZ News
Bi-Weekly Newsletter
Happy November!
It is hard for me to believe that it is already November and I have been lucky to be with your kids for over two months. We are really coming together as a classroom community and we are busy every day. I hope your child comes home with stories, information and shares with you what they are doing in class. Ask them about math workshop or their latest writing piece. I'm thrilled with all the reading that the students are doing at home and at school. We are incorporating the ipads for reading and spelling practice. I look forward to integrating the technology throughout the curriculum, in the weeks to come.
Our Classroom Community Creations
Habit #2: Beginning with the End in Mind
Urban Community Poster
The students had to work together to create lots of roads and skyscrapers. It all came together in the end.
Rural Community Poster
The students in this group made lots of land, farms and animals. They quickly realized that they had a big poster to fill but they did it!
Suburban Community Poster
The suburban group made lots of trees and houses. They had a lot of items and with careful placement, it all fit!
Math:
We have been enjoying math workshop for the last two weeks. Most lessons can be done this way and it allows me to offer differentiated instruction with all three groups. We will finish up with unit 3 and take the test on Tuesday. The district benchmark test will also be given at the end of the week. I will be starting unit 4 before Thanksgiving break. I have decided to hold off on math volunteers because of benchmark assessments. Your child will only have math homework on Monday this week and next week. Enjoy the break from homework and help them work on fact fluency.
Social Studies
The students have been learning about their community, local government and patriotism in the past week. We will finish up the unit on Monday with an assessment. I look forward to moving onto exploring the Pilgrims and how they formed their first community back in 1620. I hope your child comes home and shares new information about the Pilgrims.
ELA
The students read a realistic fiction story called The Ugly Vegetables. It tied in perfectly with our social studies unit because it showed what a suburban neighborhood looks like and how they synergize. Our next story is about storms and is a non-fiction text. We will continue to work on writing informational paragraphs. I was very impressed with their first piece and look forward to sharing that with you at conferences. In writing, we will continue to respond to their reading, letter writing to someone they are thankful for at school and creating quality paragraphs.
Upcoming Dates
Nov. 17th-Scholastic Book Fair-11:00
Nov. 18th-Credit Union
Nov. 19th-Room 10 Feast
Nov. 24th-Trimester Ends
Nov. 25-27-Thanksgiving Break
Dec. 9/10th-Conferences