Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Sunrise/Sunset
Each Wednesday we track the time of the sunrise and the sunset in East Montpelier. As you can see from the photos, the yellow, or daylight, is decreasing and the black, the darkness, is increasing. We began tracking the sunrise/sunset times on September 7th. Since then, we have lost 1 hour and 27 minutes of daylight. Yikes!
Wondrous Words
Students looked the books they were reading to find new and interesting words. We gave them a value. Were the words worth 25 cents, 50 cents or $1.00? We discussed how important it is to use interesting language in your writing to keep the reader reading. After all, words are free. No one owns them, so we can use them!
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Personal Narrative Writing
Students have been working diligently and looking critically at their narrative pre-assessment. We have discussed how adjectives make your writing more interesting and transition phrases move your story along. We also learned about inference. We had a great time reading a small beginning of a story, thinking about what we could "infer" from the writing and then creating our own ending to the story. Congratulations to those students who shared their work out loud. It is a brave person who reads their writing out loud. It is a risk, but we can't grow unless we take risks.
Number the Stars
What is the sign of a really good book? It is when you don't want to put it down. That was the case this week when students read chapters 11 through 14 in Number the Stars. Lois Lowry grabs the reader and keeps you reading. The book shows us a wonderful example of a young girl, an ordinary person, being brave not only to save her best friend's life, but the lives of several other people she doesn't even know. The question for all of us is, would we rise to the occasion and be brave if the situation arose?
Island Project
Wednesday September 28th
Students were assigned a Design Your Own Island Project today. The assignment has two components. First, students must define define 29 geography terms related to landforms. Students may use an online dictionary or a book dictionary. Students should also do their best to rewrite the definitions in their own words. This is due on or before Tuesday, October 11th. Once students finish the definitions, they will be able to start creating/designing their island and incorporate the landforms. I showed students island projects that were created by previous students in order for them to get an idea of how to proceed. There was much enthusiasm for the assignment! Students were given a rubric for this assignment. Ask your child about their idea for their island. We will have some time in school for this assignment but students should also be working on it at home.
Students were assigned a Design Your Own Island Project today. The assignment has two components. First, students must define define 29 geography terms related to landforms. Students may use an online dictionary or a book dictionary. Students should also do their best to rewrite the definitions in their own words. This is due on or before Tuesday, October 11th. Once students finish the definitions, they will be able to start creating/designing their island and incorporate the landforms. I showed students island projects that were created by previous students in order for them to get an idea of how to proceed. There was much enthusiasm for the assignment! Students were given a rubric for this assignment. Ask your child about their idea for their island. We will have some time in school for this assignment but students should also be working on it at home.
Friday, September 23, 2016
September 23, 2016
Dear Families,
The All School Hike has been postponed until next Friday, weather permitting. Students were given their hike assignment this week. If you signed up to chaperone but cannot make the new date, please email Mike Sherwin, msherwin@u32.org. Also, if you can now chaperone on September 30th, please email Mike to let him know. We ask that on the hike, or any field trip, that you only take photos of your own child(ren). Thanks so much.
Students have been taking the DRA2 Developmental Reading Assessment this week. Congratulations to all the kids for doing their best on this lengthy test. There was quite a bit of writing on their part! Next week students will take the computerized math assessment called STAR360. All students in grades 5 and 6 will take the test during their math class on Tuesday.
Students looked at their narrative pre-assessment writing piece to see how they could improve it. The first order of business was to be sure everything was spelled correctly and that proper punctuation was used. We are now looking at how to elaborate some parts of the story and how to use adjectives to make their writing more interesting and to keep the reader reading.
In a few weeks, students will begin work on an independent book project. We have talked in class about how everyone needs to have read a book by the first or second week in October. Many students have already read more than one book. Please ask your child what they are reading and if they have finished reading a book since the start of school.
In social studies, we looked at a map of Europe to see how many countries kids could locate. Students will have a quiz on this soon. I will have a list of countries students must locate and many blank maps. When students feel they are ready, they can take the test, and they can take it as many times as they need to. It is important that students understand where countries in Europe are located, especially once we begin our study of ancient civilizations.
The cooler weather has arrived. We are keeping track of the sunrise and the sunset on a weekly chart. Over the past 2 weeks we have lost 42 minutes of daylight. Yikes! We were all surprised.
Have a great weekend. All the best, Ellen
The All School Hike has been postponed until next Friday, weather permitting. Students were given their hike assignment this week. If you signed up to chaperone but cannot make the new date, please email Mike Sherwin, msherwin@u32.org. Also, if you can now chaperone on September 30th, please email Mike to let him know. We ask that on the hike, or any field trip, that you only take photos of your own child(ren). Thanks so much.
Students have been taking the DRA2 Developmental Reading Assessment this week. Congratulations to all the kids for doing their best on this lengthy test. There was quite a bit of writing on their part! Next week students will take the computerized math assessment called STAR360. All students in grades 5 and 6 will take the test during their math class on Tuesday.
Students looked at their narrative pre-assessment writing piece to see how they could improve it. The first order of business was to be sure everything was spelled correctly and that proper punctuation was used. We are now looking at how to elaborate some parts of the story and how to use adjectives to make their writing more interesting and to keep the reader reading.
In a few weeks, students will begin work on an independent book project. We have talked in class about how everyone needs to have read a book by the first or second week in October. Many students have already read more than one book. Please ask your child what they are reading and if they have finished reading a book since the start of school.
In social studies, we looked at a map of Europe to see how many countries kids could locate. Students will have a quiz on this soon. I will have a list of countries students must locate and many blank maps. When students feel they are ready, they can take the test, and they can take it as many times as they need to. It is important that students understand where countries in Europe are located, especially once we begin our study of ancient civilizations.
The cooler weather has arrived. We are keeping track of the sunrise and the sunset on a weekly chart. Over the past 2 weeks we have lost 42 minutes of daylight. Yikes! We were all surprised.
Have a great weekend. All the best, Ellen
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Arlyn has asked that we include the following
message in our blogs about a school in Louisiana that needs our
help.
EMES is a collection site for books to be sent
to St. Amant School in Louisiana.
We are looking for NEW or LIKE-NEW Books. This
effort is being organized by Bear
Pond Books. Families who wish to purchase books, can get a discount if they use the Bear Pond online
ordering system. For details see www.bearpondbooks.com.
The 4th grade teacher has requested the
following books in particular:
“We’re
having to bring in items from home to improvise an environmentas normal as possible. Students don’t have
any reading materials for when they
finish their work or when they come into class. We also do not have a library at this location, so reading books is
considered a luxury as of now.” ~Lindsey Kelley, 4th grade teacher at
St. Amant Primary School in St. Amant, Louisiana
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