newsletter
October 25, 2013
RESPECT
Our theme for UN day was respect. We have talked about this at length but this week we took it one step further when we modeled a wrinkled heart. Ask your child for more details.
The students did an exemplary job of showing respect in their willingness to try new foods, compliment their classmates on their dress, and learn about new cultures during UN day. Thank you to the many of you who brought food and dedicated time to help prepare our classroom for such a fun day!
literacy
This week I believe I have seen our students transform into true writers! Each one of our students is brimming with stories to share and helping them transfer that into their writing has been really rewarding. We expanded our personal narratives by asking ourselves questions to provoke details. (Who? What? Where? Why? When?) Many students started their final drafts of their narratives while others started new stories. Now, having provided the tools and means to formulate a story from start to finish the students will independently perform their own narratives at their own rate. Encourage your child's connection to this at home by asking these same questions and telling your own stories with detail.
We introduced the difference between singular and plural nouns. The students have a solid understanding of a noun so it was no problem to understand a plural noun by being more than one person, place or thing. We learned that to make something plural we add an "s," except when a word ends with -ch, -sh, -x, or -s, and then we add "es." (Lunch = lunches and dress = dresses.) Look for more practice in the homework next week.
math
As you probably saw in the homework this week we were introduced to frames and arrows as a guide for skip counting. The students worked in pairs to 1.) make a rule that their friend had to follow then 2.) list numbers while keeping the rule secret and their friend had to find the rule. I was impressed by how quickly the students grasped the complex concept. We also learned to tell time to the half hour. The most challenging part of this was the phrase, "half-past the hour." While it helps to know, it is rarely used in colloquial English, so as long as students demonstrated the understanding that half-past meant 30 minutes I considered it fine. They really enjoyed interacting with the analog clock and reminding each other that time never stops and that's why the hands are always moving.
social studies
We continued with our unit on society and identity by talking about wants and needs. We watched a couple videos that highlighted the idea. Here's the one the students liked a lot and it provoked good conversation about how few things can be better than lots of stuff.
Next week we are learning about goods and services and the students are going to create stores where they make goods and sell them to their classmates.
reminders
No school November 4 or 5
No school November 11
1.4
Email: aryder@isp.edu.pa
Website: isp.edu.pa
Location: ISP