Class News - November 2013
LeCroy and Pickering
Charleston
Thank you so much for the support in this field study. I am overwhelmed at the amount of parents that would like to volunteer. I originally planned that we have room for six, but if other parents in other classrooms do not sign up, it will open up space on the bus.
If you have not already sent in your child's deposit, we need $15 by November 19. This is required in order to secure a spot for them on the trip. The bus company requires it in order to hold our reservations for the chartered bus. Thank you!
Thirty - One Fundraiser (Charleston)
Thank you in advance for helping raise money for our Charleston trip. Please send the link I emailed to your friends and family as well. If they order something online and not from the paper order form, they must tell you (and you must tell me) for us to get credit. All order forms and money are due on November 20.
Stability Balls
Thank you to all who helped us with donations for our Stability Balls! We are loving them.
Math
In math, this nine weeks we are trying something different. I have pretested the entire nine weeks to see what students know. Instead of spending a week on a concept, we are spending a day or two on something and then moving on. This is called compacting. Many of the students are picking up on some of our concepts rather quickly. Also, when students already show mastery on a pre-assessment, they are put in a group to work on above grade level work. If students need more support, I can pull them in a small group. This has worked very well the past week. This does require student to pay very close attention during the minilessons. They must be focused. I will be sending home assessments and pre-assessments home in next Thursday's folder. This Thursday, you find the pre-assessment and assessment we took on Time.
Science
We are wrapping up our unit on Earth's Materials and Changes. The next couple of weeks will be spent learning about the slow and rapid processes that change the Earth. We have been working on above grade level projects using Discovery Education. Students will be given a chance to take the assessment for the extension material in about 2 weeks to earn a 4. We will be pre-assessing our next unit, Heat and Changes in Matter. We will begin this unit around the end of November/first week of December.
Social Studies
We have learned a lot in Social Studies this year. We began with regions and then learned that Native Americans were the first people to inhabit our land. We have learned about many groups of people, including explorers, that came to America. We have learned about the many contributions they each brought, as well as the many conflicts that arose. We now have a good foundation about the groups of people who built the foundation of our colony. Next week we will begin our unit on the Revolutionary War and how we gained our independence from England.
Reading and Writing
Last week, we began a new unit on Informational Texts. Students are reading books they checked out from the library that are informational. I also checked many out for them. Articles are also posted to Edmodo that relate to our studies. Students are learning different strategies to pull information out, take notes on their ideas for discussions, be a good speaker and listener during a discussion, and look for main idea and details in the text. We have learned that the purpose of informational text is to teach us about something. Your children are very bright, and are experts about many things. They have chosen a few of those things to write about. We are working on planning and drafting a book about a chosen topic. We are studying things that published authors do, so that we can use the best strategies for writing our own books. So far, we have planned out an extensive Table of Contents. Students are writing chapters for their books, including subheadings in their chapters. I am very impressed with their work, as this is going very well. We also took a pre-assessment in writing that I am hoping to send home next Thursday so that you can look at where they are for this unit of study. This informational unit will last the entire 9 weeks.
Disc Golf
Here are a few snapshots of our Field Study to Disc Golf:
Brattonsville
Here are some snapshots of our Field Study to Brattonsville: