Christmas Party

Hello Families and Happy Holidays!!

As this time of year can be hectic and crazy for all of us, I wanted to give you the gift of time as far as our Holiday Party goes.  We, as a class, will be planning our day with a mix of holiday cheer, fun, learning, and community building.  We aren't going to have a standard party, but instead have activities throughout our day.  What does this mean to you?  I means no stress about trying to find the time to come in or help with crafts or decorations.  All we are asking for is a few treats that we can enjoy throughout our day.  Please use this link to sign up.

During our day we have agreed upon doing a Book Exchange in a White Elephant style game, so please have your student bring in a new or gently used wrapped book next Friday.   We will also be doing math surrounding the 12 Days of Christmas and finishing up our studies on Jamestown, among other normal school day lessons.

Thank you again and may you and your family enjoy your time together over break!

21st Century Skills

We have been weaving into our vernacular and daily thinking 21st Century Skills the past few months, and I wanted to give you a brief update.  Our two main areas of focus this year (though we touch on the others) are Systems Thinking and Critical Thinking.

Systems Thinking is a way to look at things around us as a whole unit with many parts.  We use the word Interdependence a lot when talking about this.  We think about all the parts that make up the whole and what happens when a part fails.  Sometimes this causes the system to fail, sometimes it makes it weaker, sometimes other parts take over and have to be resilient.  Ask your kiddos about this!

Critical Thinking is another tool that is woven into all areas.  We are really looking at text, point of views, arguments, and problems with a critical eye to analyze each to develop stronger thinking skills.

With both of these broad concepts, students annotated the definitions to create personal meaning for themselves.  We also create a few "I can" anchor charts to serve as a checklist in kid-friendly terms.  I must say, I'm very impressed with their thinking and application.

Research-Based Argument Essay

    We've started our second major unit in writing that will take us up to Winter Break: Research-Based Argument Essays.  As opposed to just "opinion essays," the rigor has increased this year as they are basing their opinions on evidence.  This isn't necessarily an easy task for these kiddos as sometimes they want to rely heavily on their emotions.  I'm teaching them that to make a solid argument and to convince others, they need to provide researched evidence, facts, quotes, and data to support their claims.
    As a class, we will be looking at the debate of whether or not chocolate milk should be sold in schools.  We will spend the next week or so stating our claim, researching, and learning to write a well-developed argumentative essay.  At the end of this time, students will be allowed to explore their own topic and conduct research to support their thinking.
   

Halloween Party

Hello Families!!

Mrs. Hendrix has graciously offered to plan our Halloween party this year.  Our party will be on Halloween, Friday, October 31, 2014 from 9:15-9:55 with the school parade immediately following.  We would love a little extra help with some of the items needed.  Please see below and let us know what you help with!  Also, if you sign up for a snack, please write in the "comment" section what you will be bringing.

We have 23 kiddos in our class.

Thanks again!!

Here's the link to the Sign Up!!

Museum Field Trip

We will be going on a Field Trip to the Museum of Nature and Science on Wednesday, November 19, 2014.  During our time at the museum, students will have the wonderful experience of performing a lung dissection of a lamb's lung.  This connects to our next science unit on Life Processes and Body Systems.  Five volunteers are needed for this experience; please let me know if you are interested in joining us.

Attached is the Flier with costs and how to sign up your child for the trip.  I will also send a hard copy home in Thursday Folders this week.

Digger Dash

Hello families!

I just wanted to let you know how our Digger Dash plans are coming.  Our class name will be the Blazing Broncos.  Anita Rudman has graciously offered to create our banner and be in charge of flair.  We are asking that, if possible, you could send in a donation of $3 to help offset the cost.  Also, the kiddos have decided that we will be wearing Bronco's shirts, or at least orange shirts.  We have also discussed maybe sharing with classmates as some of us have a few to chose from.  This is NO WAY means that students are supposed to go out and buy a jersey!!  =)

I'm so excited to share in this fun day with these great kids!

Volunteers

I am still looked to fill the two slots needed by PTO.  Below is a section of the email I sent out last week:

2.  PTO Parent - I am looking for someone to be the PTO Contact Parent.  This does not mean that you will have to attend meetings, just that information can be relayed to you to the rest of our families.

3.  Digger Dash Volunteer - I am also in need of a parent or two willing to help with the Digger Dash.  This would entail helping us with our class Flair and Class Banner.  Please let me know as soon as possible if you are able.

Conferences

Conferences are fast approaching.  If you haven't looked at Jenny Brown's Blog I have the link for you here.  This is where you can schedule a time that works best for your families.  I can also do some times that are not listed on the scheduler (typically mornings at 8:15 and 8:30 and afternoons at 4:00, 4:15, and 4:30) on either of those two weeks.  If you would like one of these times, please email me directly: adalcerri@dcsdk12.org

Spelling

Spelling work began last week.  Students were put into groups based on pre-assessment data.  Each week a new set of words should go home.  On Mondays in class students work with their groups to organize words based on patterns and rules that they see.  Typically, each set of words comes with headers to guide them in their discussion and organization.

On Monday nights, they will need to cut out their words and organize them in the same fashion they did in class.  They should be looking for these rules and patterns (i.e. When is the vowel short and when is the vowel long? How does the part of speech change when you add -tion?  What do the Greek and Latin roots mean?)  How they study the words weekly is completely up to you and to them.  I have included some suggestions in their Word Work Notebooks for reference.

Each Friday I will give them a quiz in class.  I will randomly chose 10 words from their list to test them on.  Periodically, I will ask them to tell me the rule that they were working on as part of their quiz.  The goal is to see their spelling patterns carryover to their writing and to push the word choices they use.

Teamwork

    We began this year with a focus on Teamwork.  I'm a big believer in working together and, as collaboration is a focus skill of our district, I thought that we should start the year learning about working together.

    Students read two articles this week and annotated their thoughts as they read.  The first article was entitled: The Importance of Teamwork and the second was A Great Metaphor of Teamwork from Steve Jobs.  With the first article we decided to make a clear Class Vision to share with others (you'll see this coming in the next few weeks to our wall outside).  With the second, we debated whether or not we agreed with Steve Job's metaphor and how it would apply to how we work together.
    We also had discussion on how everyone has something to offer and how we all have great qualities. We realized that it's easier to work well with others when we know them and we like them.  Students spent time this week communicating with each other to find commonalities and begin friendships.  It seems as we are all starting off on the right footing.

Welcome to the beginning of the year

Hello wonderful families!

This is our class Blog where you will find the ramblings of me on different events, learning opportunities, and happenings of our class.  I use this platform regularly for communication and is a bit more reliable than emails as the information is always available for your reference.

Friday is meet the teacher time where I will get an opportunity to meet all of you, collect supplies, and answer a few questions.  As our time is short, I will also be asking you to fill out a questionnaire from home (which will be posted on the class website), so I can learn more about your families and your child's uniqueness.

First day reminders:  please have your child bring a labeled water bottle, a healthy snack, and come rested, ready to learn and collaborate.