September 11, 2009

Calliope Weekly Update
September 8-11, 2009
Week Two

Reading: We discussed our read-aloud book, Westlandia, a book that champions being different, being resourceful, and being imaginative. We explored and practiced making meaningful connections to text in our new read aloud, Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. Students have been working with Ms. Gail on beginning of the year Reading Benchmark assessments, which will be used for the planning of future instruction.

Math: Students in third grade completed a beginning of the year numeracy assessment this week in math. Students also learned the number-sense game Pico, Fermi, Bagel and routines and expectations for math class. Fourth graders have started working with geometry and logic problem-solving strategies.

Writing: Our writer’s notebooks are close to being done. We are very excited for you to see them when you next visit school. We will be beginning our Readers’ Response Notebooks next week. Also next week we will discuss what makes a good personal narrative.

Theme (Science): We “kicked-off” our study of Rocks and Minerals with a teacher game-show style skit in the kiva where Mrs. Dodge, Mrs. Powers, and Ms. Schoolcraft were sedimentary, igneous and metamporphic rocks! Students collected rocks as part of a homework assignment and did an observation activity in class on Friday.

Responsive Classroom: Our year is off to a great start. We thought hard about what we most enjoy and what we are most good at (ex: thinking quietly or thinking by talking with others/sports/board games/drama/dancing/ etc.) Howard Gardner talks about the 8 intelligences. We’re figuring out all the ways that we, uniquely, are intelligent. We also discussed some more how all the routines and expectations we have been practicing support us as we grow.

We discussed expected and unexpected behavior for kiva meetings and the cafeteria. We also explored our hopes & dreams for the year and will develop classroom rules next week. Finally, we played sharks & minnows, duck, duck, goose, and worked with the parachute as a 3/4 team this week. We have received several compliments on our line and hallway behavior. And we talked about how walking down the hall from, say, class to art, is a great time to just take a deep breath and breathe! We’re working hard to be the best we can be both inside the classroom and out!


Other: Thank you for your enthusiasm and support for our work together! Calliope 3/4 will be hiking Stowe Pinnacle on Wednesday, 9/16. This will be an all-day field trip…and a wonderful learning experience for all of us. Detailed information and a permission slip was sent home Thursday on bright yellow-orange paper. Please return the permission slip and payment ASAP. If this presents a financial burden for your family, please return the permission slip only. Finally, the Calliope House will host a parent open-house on Wednesday 9/30 from 6:30-7:30pm. This will be an opportunity for us to share our plans for the year ahead, as well as, specific classroom expectations, routines, and volunteer opportunities. We hope you can make it!

Sincerely,

Mr. Bolger