Hello Parents and Students,
Wow, this is later than I was expecting, but what better time to type this as the first game of the world series begins. Phillies are up 5-0 over the Yankees right now, and I’m ready to type! Below is a look at what we’ve been studying recently and the direction we plan to go in over the rest of the week and into next week.
In Reading Workshop we have begun studying the work of Chris Van Allsburg. There is a link to his website in the sidebar under ‘Authors.’ We are looking at Van Allsburg’s work as an author/illustrator. We have been charting our impressions from the texts we read, connections to other works that we’ve read, and our wonderings about the texts or Van Allsburg and his work. We will continue looking at Van Allsburg’s work throughout next week. We will also begin thinking about the reading strategies we use when we come to unknown words. We will do this by looking at a text with words covered up and thinking about possible words and why they would work. We will make reading strategy bookmarks out of what we discover about ourselves.
During our read alouds we have been really focusing on responding to text. Students have learned the method (at least to begin with) that I want to see them use when responding to text and we have been practicing in class. In a few weeks, students will be responsible for responding to texts in writing on their own. They will be required to respond to their at-home reading 4 nights a week (this can also be over weekends). I aim to collect notebooks to respond to them once per week. More info will come home about this as it draws nearer.
In Writing Workshop we have been working on personal narratives. We have done a series of lessons about writing personal narratives and have selected a piece to publish. Most students have chosen to type their final drafts. I will be teaching a couple of lessons on revision over the next couple of days and into next week. Our next focus will be on expository writing.
We have been studying the Ohlone people during our social studies time. Currently we are practicing taking notes from our social studies text on the Ohlones. My big area of focus is on helping students to learn what things to jot down in their notes. We have been keeping a notebook with information that we’ve learned from Keith Gutierrez and from Annette Coleman (from our trip to Foothills Park). We are practicing our note taking in this same place. Our culminating project will be a written report on the Ohlone people. We will do a series of lessons during writing workshop focusing on how to write a report (including fact checking) to aid students as they work/learn.
In Mathematics we finished up our work on addition and subtraction (although we will see this over and over in review) on Tuesday. Our next unit focus will be on measurement and area. Today we practiced measuring with a class shoe length as a unit of measure. Tomorrow we will focus in measuring to the 1/2 inch and 1/2 centimeter. We will continue with this unit until sometime around Thanksgiving.
We will have Spectra Art this Friday and next Friday as usual.
Information has been sent out from our room parent, Kathryn Shugart, about the next field trip to the Palo Alto Art Center on November 10th. Please take a moment to look at it and respond. I would love to be able to walk to the PAAC, but we will drive if we cannot get enough chaperones.
Conferences will be held near the end of November/beginning of December. More information to arrive soon.
On Friday we will have a Halloween party in our classroom. At 10:30 the students will participate in the Palo Verde Halloween Parade and then we will have some games and lunch in our classroom. Parents have graciously agreed to provide lunch, so you do not need to send lunch with your child on Friday.
I think that’s about it. Let’s have a great rest of the week and an great next week!
