Newsletter 8/29-9/2

Here's What's Happening...

English/Language Arts: This week, we continue to work on building writing stamina by completing a collaborative writing assignment, learning about I Wonder Statements, and selecting an I Wonder statement to write about.  We will also begin an introduction to the first module of our new ELA Resource, Into Reading.  Module 1 is called Inventors at Work!

Science: We actually ended up having time to do some Science this past Friday, where we introduced our first unit, entitled Ecosystem Restoration.  Students worked in groups to create a list of living things in an ecosystem they were given, as well as a list of things they need to grow.  This upcoming week, we will share out the ideas from groupwork, and introduce the problem which the unit is focused around - the need to restore a Costa Rican rainforest.  We also begin discussing the importance of looking at data and drawing conclusions from the data.

Social Studies: Students really enjoyed the activities we did for our lesson about "Why Study History?" even though they really challenged their thinking!  We didn't get to primary and secondary sources last week, so we will focus on those this week.

Advanced Math:  So far, students really seem to enjoy the Desmos lessons we have done in our first unit.  Right now, we have been focused on finding a variety of strategies to determine the area of an irregular shape.  They will then take their understandings and apply it to a new skill, which is finding the area of parallelograms.  They begin with working with parallelograms on grid paper, and then move to finding the area of parallelograms without the grid.  As your learner works through these lessons, it is so important that they are not given the standard algorithm - the lessons build into helping them discover what the standard algorithm is. 

Important Info:

 

MAP  TESTING THIS WEEK!

MAP testing will occur on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.   Though these assessments are important, I aim to ensure students do not feel extreme pressure with taking these tests.  They are truly a snapshot, but can provide beneficial information as well.   Things you can do at home are to ensure your child gets a good night's sleep and a good breakfast in the morning.  Please encourage your child to do their best so that we can get an accurate view of their current levels of performance, but please don't focus on whether their score goes up from the spring.  Every fall establishes a new baseline from which we want to see our students grow.  I appreciate your support in helping students be prepared for these upcoming test dates!

Photo Corner!

Check out some of our activities this week!

Soft Start!

Science Collaboration!

Schedule of Events

• Tuesday, August 30th: Reading MAPS Testing, 10:10-11:20AM
• Wednesday, August 31st: Math MAPS Testing, 12:45-2:10PM
• Monday, September 5th: No School, Labor Day