Newsletter for December 15, 2017

I'm hoping for some serious snow!

Dear families,

This will be the final newsletter for 2017. There will not be a newsletter next week. Thank you for all of the hard work you do supporting your student each day. We couldn't have the success we experience without your partnership and support. I hope you have a wonderful winter holiday filled with family and friends.

What We Learned This Week

Word Study & Grammar

I continued our study of the hard k (/K/) sound. I thought we were ready to move on but realized many students still do not understand the importance of the vowel sound for our two primary patterns (short vowel sound -ck, e.g., sick; long vowel sound -ke, cake). While not all of my students are able to hear the vowel sounds, most are and it is a huge advantage to reading (decoding) and spelling (encoding). If we had to rely solely on memory to recognize words, it would be overwhelming, but listening to the vowel sounds and recalling their associated patterns is infinitely easier and more efficient.

multi-sensory learning with ASL

I introduced r-controlled vowels at the end of the week. There aren't any tricks for this one. I am simply drawing students' attention to the fact that vowels followed by the letter r make specific sounds and they have to memorize/recognize -ir/-ur words and syllables because they produce the same sound.

We are also continuing to recognize verbs and their tense (past, present, future). We've also learned the ASL signs for past and present and sign as we practice verb tenses.

Reading Workshop

We finished My Side Of The Mountain by Jean Craighead George. Overall, the class really enjoyed the first title in this realistic fiction series. Many students are eager to read the next one in the series, but I've cautioned them to read the other titles with an adult because of the many scientific and nature terms.

I introduced our new read aloud, Fablehaven, the first title in a fantasy series by Brandon Mull. While I love the classics, such as The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien) and The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis), their British and dated language as well as historical context make these books a little difficult for some students to comprehend and connect with. Fablehaven does a masterful job of blending contemporary life with familiar fantasy creatures. It has been a class favorite in previous years and features a strong female protagonist.

We are continuing to study author's message and will wrap this up next week by having students either illustrate or use Comic Life to share a fable, the author's message and evidence.

I am conducting reading assessments (Developmental Reading Assessment) on all students who were not at benchmark earlier in the year. I will share these results with families prior to winter break.

Writing Workshop
Blackout poems are a student favorite. We took pages from our library's discards to create poems using others' writing and words. The emphasis is on finding a theme, a feeling, or creating a mental picture using a few choice words and phrases and then highlighting them in some artistic way, from the simple to the complex. After the initial joy of tearing up books, we got down to some really creative work. I like that students start to recognize poetic language all around them and it's low risk as they are using other writers' words instead of their own. I'll send some of these home and you can find lots of inspiring examples online. Here's a link to a simple summary of blackout poems and how to do them.

a favorite blackout poem

another positive example

I find winter is the perfect time to introduce poetry as the weather provides lots of inspiration.

Math Workshop
We continued our study of perimeter this week. Students used geoboards and rubberbands to make different unit perimeters.

We are also solving for missing lengths. This is a little challenging, especially for students who struggle as visual learners, but I'm very encouraged by our first attempts.

Science 
I introduced text coding to students this week. This is particularly challenging, compared to block coding, as it requires familiarity and accuracy with the keyboard as well as self directed learning and stamina. There are some great programs on code.org which your student can work on if they'd like to. Click on the "typing" at the bottom of the left hand margin.

block coding

typing coding

Indoor Recess

A few students got together to jam:) 

Important Dates & Reminders

December 2017

21 Holiday Parties 2:00 pm Life Care Alliance donations due

December 22 - January 4 Winter Break

January 2018

5 No School for Students:  Teacher Workday/PD Day

8 School Resumes

15 No School for Staff or Students:  Martin Luther King’s Birthday

18 PT Conferences grade 1-5 (students are dismissed at 11:05)
22 STEM Exchange with Livingston (UA Rotary providing pizza)

February 2018

5  State of the Schools at UAHS 5-8 p.m.

5-9 Collection Days for “Box Tops for Education”
8 Third Grade Musical
11-14 Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
14 Ohio Wildlife Center

19 No School Staff or Students:  Presidents’ Day

28 Early Release 1:00 (NO LIFT)

March 2018

5 Spring Pictures

9 End of Second Trimester
9 Invention Convention 10-10:30am in the Multipurpose Room/Cafeteria

12-16  Spring Break

19 No School for Students:  Teacher Grading Day

27 Progress Reports available online

30  Good Friday:  No School for Students or Staff

April 2018

4  Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon at Windermere 11-12 in lounge

May 2018

April 30-May 4  Scholastic Book Fair

4 KidFest, 5-8 p.m.

8  NO School for students or certified staff - Ohio Primary Elections
11 Science field trip to Livingston Elementary

21  Field Day

28 No School Staff:  Memorial Day

30  Last Day for Students

30 End of third trimester