The Kersey Chronicles
Rockstars Choosing to Matter in Room 25
Miller Shift Learning Showcase
In case you aren't aware, Noblesville Schools offers a unique annual learning showcase to highlight the incredible events happening in our school district. These presentations demonstrate the use of the Miller Shift mindset, and give students a platform to celebrate their hard work! This year, I would like to ask a few students (and possibly parents) to share their experiences with student-led conferences. If you are a willing participant, please email me! Thank you in advance for your support. For more information, see the video below. Feel free to watch it with your child and talk about what they think Miller Shift means!
Not sure what Miller Shift means?
Miller Shift is our term to describe the unique 21st Century learning happening at Noblesville Schools: the “shift” to a new way of educating our students for the world of tomorrow. The way we teach doesn’t happen everywhere else!
Miller Shift is:
- 4 Cs- collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity
- Inquiry/project based learning
- Doing, discussing and applying instead of just listening and memorizing
- Making real-world connections and learning from outside experts
- Students exploring their learning passions
- Integrating technology into the classroom as a tool to facilitate these other objectives
Try This At Home ...
Read a short non-fiction text together by choosing an interesting online or newspaper article. Discuss the MAIN IDEA of the text, analyzing the title, as well as first and last sentences to help determine the main idea. Also discuss the text structure - how did the author organize the information?
This Week's Set List (January 25-29)
Week at a Glance/Skills for the Week:
LITERACY – We continue to study text structures used in nonfiction texts (cause/effect; problem/solution; chronological order; compare/contrast; lists). We will also continue reviewing and practicing our test-taking skills. We will begin our third quarter novel study, Number the Stars, at the end of the week.
WRITING – We will finish our informational essay by Friday. Students will have an additional 20-25 minutes in the technology lab on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week to finish writing their essays.
MATH – We will begin unit 8 this week. The main purpose of this unit is to investigate fractions and ratios. Students will review the concept of renaming fractions as equivalent fractions, and will be introduced to algorithms for multiplying fractions, and mixed numbers. They will also practice estimating and calculating a percent of a number. These skills will be tested at the end of unit 8. This test is currently scheduled for Thursday, February 18th. A student guide will be sent home the week before and we will review the day before the test on February 18th. Per usual, please remember to utilize the family letter to support your child's work throughout this unit.
SPELLING – We will resume spelling this quarter. Students will take either 4th grade words, unit 12 (thought, children, piece, surface, common) or 5th grade words, unit 5 (completely, although, energy, measure, straight).
SCIENCE – We continue our unit on electricity and heat. Students have been building different types of electrical circuits. Questions to guide our learning include: How is energy transferred? How do we use electricity and heat? How are heat and electricity related? Why do we need electrical circuits? What do we know about circuits, conductors, and insulators?
SOCIAL STUDIES – We are taking a break from Social Studies and will resume later in the school year.
TIPS - We are reading Time for Kids texts to explore text structure. Understanding how an author organizes his/her writing will help us better understand the message that is being conveyed as well.
Upcoming Events
February 3rd: Early Release Day, 2:55pm Dismissal
February 5th: PTO Movie Night 6:15-8:30pm
February 12th: Valentine's Party, 2:15-3:00pm