Hello Families,

It was definitely a cooler week in our classroom as we near our first week of October!  Within the past few days, I have seen a BIG change in our classroom environment.  Students are collaborating, respecting one another, taking risks, and working like a team.  I love seeing how independent they become just one month into the school year. This week in Science, we are studying how bees pollinate. Students had the opportunity to pollinate their own plants in class and are continuing to record data and make. In social studies, we are learning about the 6 U.S Symbols and are in the process of creating “isymbols” or “ipads” to explain their importance and to understand what they represent.  You will see an example in our blog below!

 In math, we are nearing the end of unit one, as we finish learning about angles, lines, quadrangles, and perimeter.  Today, we used our online SRB and completed a study guide in class to help reinforce skills.  I am observing students becoming more comfortable with this online tool.  This is a great resource for students to explore previous lessons, gain extra practice with problems, and play games to solidify their understanding.  It is not required that students use this resource at home, it is just another way for students to access the curriculum outside of school. 

In reading, students worked to monitor their comprehension by having inner conversations.  This was modeled earlier this week and students grasped the concept very well.  This strategy will be utilized in both fiction and non-fiction to engage students in their reading and to foster conversation about the text.  Below, you will see the codes students use when “tracking their thinking”.  If you see your student pick up a book this week, ask them to make a track for you and explain what it means.  I think you will be just as impressed as I was!

A popular activity in our classroom right now is our Spooky Narrative Writings.  We began last week by organizing and brainstorming, and we are now writing our entertaining beginnings.  Students are learning to use sounds, dialogue, and questions to make their introductions exciting!  We have a lot of very creative thinkers in here.

Thank you for taking the time to read our weekly email.  It’s a quick snapshot into our lives here at South, and I am very pleased of all the hard work and positive attitudes I see every day in our classroom.  As a friendly reminder, our field trip to Holly Hill is Wednesday, October 12^th, and Wednesday October 5^th is an early release.  Wishing you all an enjoyable and relaxing weekend!

Sincerely,

Ms. Wentworth :-)

Tracking Our Thinking and having inner conversations improves comprehension  

Creating our Isymbols!

We all had our first turn in Homeworkopoly  :-)