:This week we spent time preparing for our summative assessments on How We Organize Ourselves. They had to be able to reflect on the central idea: Economic activities depend on goods and/or services using the terms: goods, services, money, producer, consumer, how people earn and spend money and resources in their own words and present it in a brochure, poster, or presentation. This week we had students take action and bring in books and items that relate to our planner or mission. In Mandarin we are learning about the Chinese Zodiac Calendar and Chinese New Year. Long o words were our focus this week and we always start our week off with a sort created by the students. After they place them in categories they discuss what needs to be fixed and why and then look at all the ways that sound is made. It's kind of like our Number Talks in Math, where we share our strategies and work through common mistakes to clarify any misunderstandings. Our Closing Circle this week was called inside/outside circles where we got to reflect on our planner and concepts from all our classes. Students made their summative choices that best reflected their learning styles. Then they got to work on their posters, brochures and presentations! We snuck in a few minutes for our daily action takers. We walked to the play Mr. Poppers Penguins and enjoyed the warmer weather. I'm hoping they shared what they liked about the play with you. We ended our week with a healthy birthday treat down in the Cafe. Happy Birthday Ava! Monday is already our 100th Day of School! Hope this note made it home and it should be a lot of fun!
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We started our 2018 off with a quote from Rose and Yamini. I love how they like to create their own quotes and then have the courage to share them with their classmates. We spent a lot of time sharing with each other. They had so much to share they didn't want to go to PE or Lunch which just filled my heart because usually students live for those two periods. We shared a mutual feeling of missing each other and our conversations over Winter Break. They wrote opinion pieces on the Best Gift they received over Winter Break or the Best Toy they have and had to include three reasons to persuade us. Students who wanted to share were given a chance during our Sharing Time. In Mandarin they are also learning about Money. In this lesson they were talking about who is pictured on our money and who is pictured on Chinese Money. They discussed similarities and differences. During this planner we have been talking about how people need to exchange their currency when traveling to other places around the world so I thought I would take a picture in New York City last weekend and show them but was stopped because it is against the law so I could only get a side picture of the place. You learn something new everyday-LOL! We started this week off with the K-2 Morning Meeting. A 4th Grader shared her winning essay on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Students were called up to share what they did to make a difference lately-Peyton shared about helping the homeless after the holidays. Mari won the Communication Award for the month of December and January birthdays were asked to stand so we could sing to them in Mandarin, English and Spanish. Students also shared what they did over the holiday weekend, connections to topics we are learning in class, and businesses they are thinking about creating. From our sharing time comes more connections. Yamini shared a book with idioms on Tuesday and Torsten found a connection in a book he is reading and shared it on Wednesday. In Math this week they got to work with a partner on a Money Match Up Game. In writing we did a reverse thinking activity where we took an already written opinion piece and tried to fill in the graphic organizer we are using to write our own opinion pieces. Then we sat with partners and shared our opinions and 3 reasons using Opinion Starter ideas and Reason starter ideas that they all have in their writing folders. We helped our partners by making sure they used the suggestions on the sheet and also complimented them on how their writing sounds so far. There was a lot of reflection on Friday's daily quote. Yamini ended our week with singing three songs one about a Monsoon and another about Trees and the third about calming her down.
In writing we are working on Opinion pieces. To get ideas on what we can write on they filled out a chart that had their topic ideas and then they had to mark off if they had strong feelings about the topic, had a lot of information about the topic, and if their topic would interest their readers. They also shared their planning sheets with a partner to see if they marked off the areas correctly. The topic they could check off all three about is the topic they will be writing their opinion piece on when we come back in January. After learning about the O.R.E.O. strategy for opinion writing they practiced writing a piece on why the color they chose is the best color. They needed to start by stating their opinion using a catchy lead, giving three reasons why, having a strong ending and restating their opinion. Several students wanted to read their writing on the microphone- their reasons were very persuading!! and the strategy helped them include all the pieces of good opinion writing. I got to capture a few of the students delivering their decorated cookies and cards to CIS staff. Many students delivered the treats before and after school to staff that keeps us safe at school. They had a lot of fun making the treats but they were even happier delivering them. On Tuesday we walk dover to CSU to practice for the Winter concert. They sounded great! Esther made connections to our planner and brought in money from Hong Kong, Canada and her quarter collection, to share in the Exploration Station. Rose made a book on Arabic and Roman numerals that she noticed on coins in our Exploration Station. We had also been talking about them while reading the chapters in Charlotte's Web. Peyton made posters for Christmas and Hanukkah to decorate the Cafe. Juliana shared a connection with Pokemon and the Earth. Shane brought in holiday pencils to share with each of his classmates. On Wednesday I brought in materials they could use to make a gift for anyone they wanted. Many chose their whole family, a family member or someone they'd be seeing in their family over break. Each one was different and special just like them :) William, in Ms. Chamber's Class, mom came in and played for us on Wednesday. She plays in the Cleveland Orchestra and had just finished up a European Tour. She shared pictures from her trip and a little about reading notes and also had us involved in keeping the beats. She was amazing and I'm so glad she came in to share her talent with our students. On Thursday students enjoyed wearing their pajamas and trying to solve The Case of the Selfish Elf by solving math problems with a partner. They also got to take a break and head downstairs for a milk and donut treat from the PCO. They decided they would like to head back to our room to watch Charlotte's Web instead of the movie the rest of the K-2 classes got to watch in The Cafe. I thought I liked the book and movie before but watching them see it was heartwarming! Speaking of heartwarming... I can't begin to thank all the families that participated in the gifts you all got me. I have shared many of them with my family, my siblings, my parents, and my friends over Winter Break. I am missing my students and I'm looking forward to starting 2018 with them next week. Enjoy your family time, stay warm and I'll see you Tuesday!
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AuthorMrs. Humphrey
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