Friday Folders - every Friday a folder goes home with your child that contains homework and tests that have been graded. Also, any notices, letters, or important information from the office goes home in those folders. If you have not seen any of these papers, please check in - the abyss - I mean the backpack!
Next Friday, to celebrate the end of the quarter, we will be having a DOJO Reward in our classroom! We will have a game day. Students are welcome to bring a board game or group game from home. No video games please.
October has been a busy month in our classroom. Here are some of the things we have been doing:
- English/Writing - we are continuing to work on our autobiographies during Writer's Workshop. We have been working through each of the steps in the writing process (pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing). Writer's Workshop has worked well for our class, it allows each student to work at their own pace through the writing process.
- Reading - we are currently doing a novel unit on Mississippi Bridge by Mildred D. Taylor. We are learning a lot about what it was like during the Great Depression and the struggle for equal and civil rights of African Americans in the south during that time. This ties in well to discussions about racial tensions that we still face in our society today.
- Science - we are still working through our units in Life Science and are currently looking at how scientists work to classify living organisms. Last week we used specific criteria to attempt to classify a Mystery Creature! After comparing and contrasting it to other similar creatures, the Mystery Creature was revealed - a tarsier! Ask your student about what organism it was most closely related to - tree frog, fruit bat, or lemur (or Yoda). :)
- Health - we are still learning about Digital Citizenship. We spent several class periods talking about gender stereotypes in media. Our first lesson on this subject caused quite a reaction. We split the back of the classroom into three sections - boy, girl, or both. Then I read off a list of statements, colors, occupations, and ideas. Students went to which section they felt the statement most represented. We then came together to discuss our ideas and why we reacted the way that we did. Our discussion had rules: everyone who wanted to could share, no one was allowed to interrupt or cut someone else off, no loud outbursts were allowed, and no judgements of others. This was a good practice for hearing others out without jumping to conclusions about what they are saying. We then talked about where our opinions come from and looked at how media can have an influence on our thinking - sometimes in an obvious way and sometimes in a not so obvious way.
Have a great week!
