Happy Friday!
Your children looked about as tired as I felt by the end of the day today!
Our first full week of school was very busy!
We took our pre-test for our first unit in math, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well everyone did on their first pre-test of the year. The results of the pretest give me information about what students already know coming into a unit, which can help inform how fast or slow I teach the lessons. Our first math unit is a review of computation skills with fractions and decimals, and will be important for the rest of the year.
Students also participated in a week of high interest math activities thanks to the website YouCubed.com. The picture below is of our class's work in a game called Four 4's. Students must figure out how to create equations using only the number 4, and must use that digit four times to equal numbers 1-20. Here is what they figured out!
In reading, we are starting our year with a few lessons that promote inquiry and discussion in shared readings. Each lesson contains a very short, high interest, story that we discuss in a variety of depths.
We watched some inspirational speeches by child activist Greta Thunberg, which is starting our discussion around persuasive and argumentative writing.
We started our Social Emotional curriculum, Second Step, this week as well. Students will be (if they haven't already) taking home a worksheet that requires an adult's participation and signature before it is due on Monday.
During our daily Morning Meetings, we discussed brain science, people that we can trust in our lives, how we are feeling that day, and interpreted a quotation about how important our mindset is for dealing with failures as well as successes.
All of these activities are helping me get to know my new and returning students even better.
One activity that took a lot of time this week were our new adaptive diagnostic iReady tests. The deadline to finish the iReady math assessment is next Wednesday so that we can discuss the results during our afternoon meetings. The reading assessment isn't due for another week after that. These assessments, whether because they are new or because students are cautious and careful, took much longer than anticipated, but are almost complete. Once all of our data gathering is completed, we will have some more time to spend doing the things we love, like science, social studies, and art!
A few things that I need from parents right now, as the year is starting:
1) Please take a moment to fill out this survey about your child. If a student's parents live in separate homes, I would appreciate both parents filling out the survey so that I may get to know you all (and your child) even better.
2) If you haven't read and approved your child's Technology Contract, please do so and send back to school with your child. This allows for common technology expectations for all students, and I will not allow any children who haven't returned signed contracts to use the computer for more purposes than testing.
3) Please mark your calendars for Curriculum Night right here in our classroom next Tuesday, September 17th from 6:45-7:30!
I look forward to seeing you all, presenting on our year together this year, and answering your questions. If you have any burning questions about what we are doing right now in class, please don't hesitate to email me!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Regards,
Mrs. Hart
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