Archives

Week 5

Sep13

Good Evening!

Your kids have been working so hard the last couple of weeks.  I am impressed with their motivation and excitement toward learning.  Please be sure you take a couple of minutes each night to check their planners and ask them about the work they have been doing each day in class.  Those conversations will help them connect what they are doing in school to home and will give you a good idea of how they spend their time.

4th level students have learned a new mnemonic to use as a strategy for opinion essay writing and they used it to outline their first formal essay/paragraph.  Writing is a skill that takes a lot of practice and patience.

5th and 6th level students are learning how to use a “Stoplight” graphic organizer for their essay writing.  Although they have not outlined a formal essay yet, they have worked in partners to practice using the strategy.  I’m excited to see where they go with it!

Ms. Rachael presented our first Botany lesson of the year today.  Your kids were so engaged and polite and I’m so proud of them.  We have the privilege of her lessons once a month this school year.  She is an amazingly knowledgeable Botanist!

6th Grade Expert Project

Please be sure your 6th grader brings their library books to class on Thursday.  We will be using them for our next lesson.  You can find all of the lessons to date at the link at the top of the blog.  I’m excited they are taking this seriously, as it is a lot of work, but it will be an amazing reward when they present their projects in April.

 

6th Grade Parent Meeting

Aug31

Attention 6th Grade Parents!

Our first meeting of the year regarding the Redwoods field trip is next Thursday, September 8 at 6pm in the library.  This meeting is for parents and 6th grade students.

Please make other arrangements for siblings so that your attention can be wholly on the meeting and your 6th grade child.

See you there!

 

 

IXL Expectations

Aug31

Good Evening!

We have a lot of things happening in our classroom this week, the first of which is your child’s first IXL homework assignment.

Each week your child will be given a math assignment in IXL.  The assignments have several purposes: to review previously learned material (from 3rd or perhaps even 2nd grade), to practice newly taught material in a format different from that they see in the classroom, and to practice skills using math language that they will see on end of year testing.  This homework is by no means “teaching to the test” nor is it meant to drill your children to death.

IXL homework should take, on average, 20 minutes each night.  If your student is not able to earn the “badge” at the end of each session, or score a minimum of 80,  within that amount of time, please help them write a note in their planners letting me know that they may need more help with a particular concept.

IXL logins are in the back of your child’s planner (along with Utah Compose and SAGE which we have not accessed yet).  The link to login can be found here as well as at the top of the page under IXL.   Please do not allow your child to reset or change their passwords.  If they are unable to login, please let me know and we will troubleshoot from school.

In addition to being written in your child’s planner, the IXL homework will be posted at the IXL page weekly.   Typically homework will be given Monday and is due Sunday evening.   As discussed in class, this homework is not optional.  The school has purchased a license for each student to be able to practice and it is an expectation that they are following through.  As with all homework and home projects, any that are not completed on time, will receive a pink slip notifying you they are not complete and asking your child to create a plan for completion.

If you do not have internet access at home, please let me know with a note in your child’s planner and we will make arrangements for your child to practice IXL during class time.

Week 2

Aug24

Good Evening!

I say it on a regular basis, time flies!  I feels just like yesterday that the school year ended, and here we are at week 2!

We began our week with the “Birth of the Universe”.  This story is one of the Great Lessons Maria Montessori developed in order to spark the child’s interest in the world around them.  In our classroom, we have taken a slightly different approach to the first Great Lesson.  Returning, and brand new(!), students volunteered to present the lesson to Ms. Holly’s class.  Even though there were a few items beyond our control, the lesson went well, and the audience loved it!

We take this approach in our classroom in order to keep older students engaged (what better way to show mastery than through teaching of a subject), as well as model speaking skills to our mentor class.

In addition to the first Great Lesson, we have begun our introductory science lessons.

  • 4th grade students will be studying the concept of cycles this year.  This will tie in to the Utah Core study of Utah’s Natural History.
  • 5th grade students will focus on change as well as cause and effect
  • 6th grade students science study revolves (pun intended!) around scale (how big is the universe?!)

In math we are taking some time to do a bit of review before the first formal math assessment.   I will be doing formative assessments in language.  Formative assessments are designed to inform my instruction.  These preliminary, and ongoing, assessments allow me to give your children the lessons they need.

Your children recorded their first spelling word list in their planners today.  Please take a few minutes each evening to review these words with your child.  Spelling can be daunting for some kids, but the more time you spend studying with them, the better they will do.   Spelling tests are Wednesday mornings before our specials.

I strive to communicate everything you need to know to help your students in school.  Please don’t hesitate to email if you need clarification, or have questions about classroom procedures and expectations.

6th Grade Families – Expert Project

Jul19

I wanted to remind the 6th grade families (and introduce new families) of the Expert Project summer assignment.   At the end of the school year your child was introduced to a year long project we are piloting in our classroom this coming school year.  With the introduction, the initial assignment was given.

I am so excited about the opportunity to pilot this project in our classroom this year.  In order for your child to have a good experience, it is imperative that they stay on top of the deadlines for this project.  The introduction letter and first assignments can be found here.

This project is broken into weekly mini-lessons (the first of which is scheduled September 1) and follow-up assignments.  Because this is ultimately a home-project, the bulk of the work will be completed at home by your child. Throughout this project they will learn skills that will help them succeed in Jr. high, high school and university.

This project is going to be a learning experience for us all.  Ultimately, we will celebrate our success during an evening next spring when your child presents their project to you and other invited guests.

In advance, thank you for supporting your child (and me) in this endeavor!