Happy Halloween!  As you can imagine, the energy was high today.  We did a fun math / writing activity, in which we made a multiplication 'number house' and then wrote a story about it.  We had fun during our Halloween parade this morning - and certainly had fun doing some Halloween activities.  Please note that your forms for our Coloma trip are due tomorrow.  We also have a fun presentation from Tuolomne tomorrow as well. 

This week we made our salt maps.  We had fun mixing salt and flower and forming the valleys and mountains of California.  After the maps dry, we will be able to paint them and add much more detail.

We're just about finished with Unit 3 and will be taking our unit assessment on Friday.  Ms. Christensen and the 4th grade team won't be here on Monday, because they will be participating in a district wide 4th grade staff development. 

Have a fun night!

Book club anyone?

This week I've introduced a new approach to our language arts block. Traditional practices were, that students sit around the teacher and choral read in order to develop fluency. That model, at one time effective, is now viewed as passé.

What does reading, in the real world, look like? We (adults) read alone. Hardly ever to we read aloud except to our children, or to share a short interest piece with someone. Should we discuss our reading, we do so conversationally.

We go to a book store and pick up a book. Either because it was recommended, we've read the author before, or the jacket looked of interest. After reading it we may discuss it with a friend, or a book club perhaps.

Creating these authentic reading experiences is important. Practicing how to engage with each other, pose insightful questions and making relevant selections, is what helps students to develop autonomy in their reading. The idea of literature circles fosters that.

As the kids read, they assign their task / homework (how many pages they will read). They are each assigned a role and are expected to come to the discussion prepared and ready to participate.

I am slowly introducing these roles to the students. We are modeling mature and insightful book discussions. After we get comfortable with each one, I hope to allow them to work in groups to discuss and check in with one another about their reading.

I'm really excited for what's in store!

One note of classroom business: if you are willing and able to help out with our Monster Mash fundraiser please see me / read the next newsletter to find out who you can contact for more information.

Let there be food!

This week was the heritage potluck. We had fun learning the classic tune, "I'd like to teach the world to sing". We had even more fun performing it!

Many thanks to you wonderful parents for supporting us and helping put on such a wonderful event.

This week we're also creating our maps of California for our upcoming salt map creations. If you have yet to being in materials for that (salt and flour) please feel free to bring those in at anytime.

We also had fun with the Walk and Roll and filled out a survey on Schoology.

This week we've also been working on paragraph writing. Formulating a proper paragraph. Topic Sentence. ->Details->Concluding sentence.