Mrs. Ochieng's Weekly News
September 28, 2019
Mark Your Calendar!
October 10th- Liger Mile
October 12th- Fall Break Begins
October 21st- School Resumes from Fall Break
Grandparents Day
Study Trip to Flat Fork Creek Park
Permission slips are due back no later than Friday, October 4th.
If you want to want to chaperone this study trip, please respond to me by Friday, October 4th. There is no limit to how many chaperones we can have, however, some parents may have to meet us at the park due to seating availability on the buses.
Student Led Conferences
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084ca5ac2ea5ff2-2019
If you are having difficulties signing in using this method, please reach out so that I may help you get a time.
I am looking forward to seeing everyone in the next few weeks.
Liger Mile
Why Writing Workshop? By the Partnership for Inquiry Learning
You may be wondering why we using writing workshop for writing. This article by the Partnership of Inquiry Learning will help answer some of your questions.
Writing workshop elevates writing as a content area.
Writing across the curriculum to support our learning lives is different than writing to communicate original ideas. Both are valuable and necessary skills. When writing is only done inside other subjects—writing up scientific findings or responding to essay questions in history or literature, for example—no time is devoted to teaching concepts and strategies that improve the writing. Lessons in voice, genre, style, structure and craft get pushed out of the way. In writing workshop, these lessons are front and center. Students are not only putting words on paper but also learning how to make informed decisions and use intentional strategies that make the written texts as effective as possible.
This Week in Global Studies
In 2nd-4th grade we covered a lot of ground over our last 2 classes (end of last week and all of this week). We discussed how there are holidays celebrated all over the world that are different. One national holiday celebrated in Japan is “Kodomo No Hi” which is Children’s Day in Japan. We also discussed the commonalities we share when celebrating holidays all over the world such family/friends, food, and decorations. We then learned about a food that is almost always part of a Japanese celebration which is called Mochi. We watched a quick 3 minute video of how Mochi is made. The kids thought this was too funny! See for yourself. https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/pounding-mochi-with-the-fastest-mochi-maker-in-japan
Pounding Mochi with the Fastest Mochi Maker in Japan | The Kid Should See This At the award-winning Nakatani-dou rice cake shop in Nara, Japan, the making of traditional Daifuku mochi is an event in itself. Owner Mitsuo Nakatani pounds the rice with his fist at breakneck speeds while a large wooden mallet alternates in rhythm, a thrilling process to watch. Traditionally, mochi was made from whole rice, in a labor-intensive process. thekidshouldseethis.com
We also read a biography called “Yayoi Kusama From Here to Infinity” about a famous Japanese artist that the students have been studying in Art. After discussing this artist we looked at some of her work and followed it up with a quick video about her and some of her own personal words. The students are super impressed by her and have been so interested in her work!
2nd thorugh 4th grade also did a separate activity this week involving Japan.
The 2nd grade students read a story called “Ojichans Gift” about a young Japanese girl whom shares special time with her grandfather working in his Zen Garden until he becomes unable to live alone anymore and has to move from his home. She then creates a small Zen garden for him to have with him at all times to remember their times together. So, as a class we made a “Zen garden” for the students to have in their own classroom. This is something they can do when they are feeling really emotional or feel that might need to settle themselves.
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.
Book Fee/iPad Rental Update
On September 6, 2019 elementary families will be able to view book fees on Skyward. Pat Lines, TCE Treasurer will email families an invoice on Friday evening as well. Book fees and any ipad rentals payments are due October 4, 2019. For those who qualified for café/textbook/ipad free/reduced assistance, you should see a “Textbook Assistance” (TA Code) plus a fee credit (zero balance for 2019-2020 school year).
Just a reminder, for free/reduced assistance families must apply every year on or after July 1, 2019. If you have any questions about this assistance or if you would like a payment plan, please contact Pat Lines, TCE Treasurer at (317) 594-4310 or plines@hse.k12.in.us.
Next Week's Related Arts Schedule
Tuesday, October 1- Day 2: Global Studies
Wednesday, October 2- Day 3: Music
Thursday, October 3- Day 4: Art
Friday, October 4- Day 1: P.E.
We Are Learning...
Reading
Our reading focus shifted to nonfiction texts this week. We are finding out that to gain the most knowledge from these types of books, we need to look closely at our texts. We need to ask questions based on what we are reading. If we want to learn about a topic, we must look through a book to see if it will provide the information we are looking for. If it doesn't, we need to find other materials that will help us gather information.
These tools have been great as we have started writing nonfiction books and are continuing our research into hurricanes. It is allowing the students to work smarter and better during these work times.
Writing
This week we jumped into nonfiction writing. I challenged our writers to write about topics that they are experts in. If you are an expert, you don't need to stop during your writing to look up information in a book. You have the knowledge already. Each day's challenge is to create a new nonfiction work about a topic the kids know a lot about. We are finding that some nonfiction mentor texts have great craft moves that we can use in our own nonfiction writing.
The improvement of our writing through these first few months has been amazing!
Word Study
Math
Mrs. Casey Ochieng
Email: cochieng@hse.k12.in.us
Location: 14642 E 126th St, Fishers, IN, United States
Phone: 317-594-4310
Twitter: @MrsOchiengTCE