Monday News

Dear Families,

We kicked-off writing workshop this year with the Olympics Fanfare theme by John Williams playing our opening ceremony as each student was handed their writing notebooks. We are starting with a unit on realistic fiction. This week we will develop believable characters by creating their external and internal traits.

In reading workshop, we will continue to read, read, read. We will look at characters in stories and look at how characters develop throughout a story. Students will place their understanding of character development on a progression. The first stage is a retell. If your child tells you everything that happened to the character in the story, then their understanding of that character is in the first stages of understanding that character. The second stage is to notice character feelings. For example, your child may say, “The character felt lonely, even though she had a dog”. The third stage is to notice character traits. An example would be that the character was sneaky and untrustworthy. The last stage is to notice the lesson or the theme. For example, your child may notice that the character realized that, “You should appreciate the friends you have”.  Reading comprehension strategies are developed on a continuum or progressions. The students learn to place their comprehension strategies on these progressions, so they can set goals and monitor their understanding. We are focusing on character development in both reading and writing workshops. You can talk to your child about the characters in their books at home.

The homework this week:

Math: Workbook pages assigned by math teacher

Reading: Read for 20-30 minutes each night

Math Homework is due Friday, September 23rd

Alison will teach the students about nutrition on Thursdays. During Thrilling Thursday, we focused on life cycles. All living things have life cycles. Alison showed us garlic and we discussed how it propagates with the bulb. We will plant garlic in the school gardens. Students learned that garlic and leeks are both alliums.

Class Schedule:

Mondays - Spanish

Tuesdays - Library, Music, Physical Education

Wednesdays - Art

Thursdays - Physical Education

Fridays - Guidance

Important Dates:

• 9/21, Wednesday, Open House, 6:00-7:00 pm
• 10/11, Tuesday, Hike Day, 9-1:30pm (rain date, 9/13, Thursday)

Our class will lead all school morning meetings on the following dates:

9/30/2016

10/28/2016

1/6/2017

3/10/2017

5/12/2017

Enjoy your week,

Mrs. Carter