Weeks ending January 20

It's been a busy few weeks. With holidays and snow delays, we've managed to pack in quite a bit of learning. 

READING;- Book clubs are back with two groups of students working on two classics. In book clubs, students work on reading chapters for the purpose of having a higher level discussion with their group mates when they meet. To that end, students are recording their noticings, wonderings, and questions in their Readers' Journals. Other reading groups have recently started recording noticings, wonderings, and questions as well as a means to help them comprehend text at a deeper level. Students use this deeper understanding of the text to help them answer higher level questions including questions that require them to make inferences. 

We took our third STAR reading assessment. Students who showed a minimum of six weeks worth of growth are excused from filling out a weekly reading log. All other students should plan on turning in a reading log every Monday. Students are expected to read for a minimum of 30 minutes at least 5 times a week for a total of 150 minutes per week. Parents are asked to sign off on the reading log.

Common Core State Standards

How you can help at home-Encourage your child to read for a minimum of 30 minutes at least five times a week. This is important whether or not your child is required to turn in a reading log. Independent reading of a "Just-Right" book is one of the most important habits your child can develop in terms of improving overall reading comprehension. Ask your child to retell what (s)he's read. What did (s)he notice, wonder or question? 

MATH- We've been learning how to tell time and how to calculate intervals of time. We are also learning how to make pictographs, and vertical and horizontal bar graphs as a means to display data. We are using the graphs to make comparisons between different quantities of items.

Common Core State Standards

How you can help at home-Get in the habit of asking your child to calculate time at home. Incorporate time-telling into your everyday routines. For example, "Your favorite television show starts in 45 minutes. It is now 5:15. At what time will your show begin?"

Mrs. Q, our music teacher, did a phenomenal job orchestrating a music-filled assembly to honor the late Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. 

#20's name was drawn on Blue Ticket Tuesday. Students earn blue tickets for demonstrating our school's guidelines for success. 

#21 and #20 earned this month's virtue awards for demonstrating kindness. Congratulations!

Students, for one DOJO point, leave a comment telling me one thing you learned last week. For an extra point, make sure your comment contains at least one subject or object pronoun.