We are looking forward to some cooler weather and some cooler classrooms in the next month. There are lots of things happening, but first we would like to get you caught up on our very busy first three weeks of school.
In reading, both classes have been organized into leveled reading groups to begin work on strategies such as inference and questions. However, we spent many days on developing a community of readers and setting up what a reading zone sounds like and looks like. We are building up their stamina so that they can read independently for a sustained amount of time. Remember, all students should be reading at least 30 minutes a night. We are going to move toward serious work in non-fiction in a few days.
Our writing block has been spending time on free-writing in their SEEDS book, as well as small group guided instruction on learning targets. They will take a piece to publication this week and have their writing notebooks evaluated soon. We have really focused on figurative language in their descriptive writing.
The students really shined during science when given the task of developing a model and presenting it to the class of what they learned about atoms, molecules and compounds. They worked well together and were very creative.
In math we have spent time analyzing data and have completed the first two weeks of Math Mates which covered number sense, computation and problem solving, Remember those come home on Thursday, and turned in the following Thursday.
Social studies has been messy, yet fun. Your children created 3-D maps of the Western Hemisphere. They were amazing in their collaboration skills, as well as their attention to detail. We are continuing to work on our mental map of our hemisphere by adding South America-countries and capitals, and Central America-countries and capitals next week. Weekly geography comes home on Tuesday and turned in the following Tuesday.
Thank you to everyone who attended our curriculum night. We are in the process of uploading the video we took of it to the school web site.
Some important dates coming up:
Gem and Mineral Show field trip-Fri. Sept 14
Connect the Dots (Anti-bullying program)-Wed. Sept 19
Early Release-Fri. Sept 28 (midterms go home)
Track Meet-Tues. Oct 9
Fun Run-Sat. Oct 13
Thank you so much for a smooth start to the new year. Your children are amazingly sweet and kind. It will be fun to get to know them.
Mr. Lupo and Mrs. Story
