The Kersey Chronicles
Rockstars Choosing to Matter in Room 25
What is Inquiry-Based Learning?
I place a lot of emphasis on teaching students to ask good, quality questions and use resources to find their own answers. They will become more independent, responsible, and autonomous through this process. My goal is that they continue to build their curiosity about their world, and their ability to make an impact in their world.
This Week's Set List (Aug 29-Sept 2)
Week at a Glance/Skills for the Week:
LITERACY – We will begin our first unit of study on Monday which places an emphasis on interpreting character actions, dialogues, thoughts, and feelings. We will read The Rising Tiger by Kate DiCamillo during class read aloud, focusing on Rob's character development. Soon, we will begin a class novel study using Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell as a mentor text to continue investigating complex characters. This novel also ties into our Social Studies unit as we explore how people adapt to their environment.
WRITING – We will begin our next writing unit called The Arc of a Story where we learn to write about characters who change, grow, develop, and learn lessons as they follow the plot of a story. This unit pairs very well with our reading unit, so students will see many comparisons and connections.
MATH – We continue Unit 2 this week, which focuses on making estimates and computation. We have been exploring various methods for solving addition and subtraction problems.
SPELLING – We will have the week 4 test this week on Thursday. Students have their spelling lists in their take home folders.
SCIENCE – No science this week.
SOCIAL STUDIES – We continue Unit 1, which explores Indiana's features - both the geography and the people. Students explore the various ways that people adapt to their external environments. We will use our whole class novel study of Island of the Blue Dolphins to discuss this in various content areas.
TIPS - We have been using our TIPS time to practice 21st Century Skills and establish expectations for the school year. Next week, we begin to use this time to enrich our learning with our literacy practices.
Upcoming Events
September 5th: Labor Day, no school
September 14th: Early Release Day
September 16th: Tiger Trek