Friday, October 2, 2009

October 2, 2009

Calliope Weekly Update
September 28-October 2
Week Five
Hello Parents!


First, Thank you for the wonderful turnout and participation at our Parent Night on Wednesday. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact Mr. B or myself. Williston has just launched our brand new website…still at wsdvt.org…be sure to check out our team and classroom pages! If you have not scheduled a fall conference and would like to, please contact me so I can share the openings with you. If you are interested in volunteering this year, please plan to attend CONFIDENTIALITY for School Volunteers! This 10-15 minute MANDATORY presentation will take place on Tuesday, October 6th at 8:00 a.m. OR 2:20 p.m. Happy October!

Literacy: This week, students worked especially on reading and responding to fiction and non-fiction passages. We will begin reader’s workshop and small group work next week. We also followed Harry and Professor Hardwigg two miles down the volcano shaft in Journey to the Center of the Earth. The shaft turned horizontal, and they found themselves hiking beneath the ocean! Suddenly, they came upon fossils of fish, and they found lots of layered SEDIMENTARY rock that had been created from millions of years of animals and plants and minerals settling into layers and turning into rock! We learned from Harry, the narrator, that they only have three days’ worth of water left. What are they going to do?

Math: Fourth graders continue geometry and NECAP reading and math review. They also began multiplication facts study with the goal of being absolutely solid on their math facts by June. Third graders reviewed time and money concepts and began a data collection in-class project on Friday. Third graders also established weekly ‘mad minute’ fact test routines.

Writing: Students wrote friendly letters to families in preparation for parent night on Wednesday. We will continue to practice writing constructed response questions using the hamburger model next week.

Word Study: Students in Mr. B’s group practiced spelling routines and strategies, as well as word sorts. Mr. B’s spelling class will begin homework (at home) next week. Students in Ms. S’s group finally received materials (!) including student notebooks, composition books, and magnetic letter tiles! We reviewed /k/, /c/, and /ck/ sounds, closed syllables, and /ch/ and /tch/ sounds.

Responsive Classroom: Students watched a documentary entitled Mad Hot Ballroom, which depicted inner-city middle-school Dominican children (NYC) who find identity, belonging, pride, and many life lessons in a city-wide ballroom dance competition.

Ask me about:
• Journey to the Center of the Earth
• Our smarts—multiple intelligences
• Our hard-at-work worms
• Our Math Facts books (4th grade) and Quizmo
• (For Mr. B’s spelling group): how does carving an apple help us remember that “Apple” ends in le. And why don’t we say, “That apple has lots of seed’s? “ but we do say, “Look that apple’s seeds!”