Dear Families,
I was knocked out this past week with a weird stomach virus that came with a vengeance. So, a newsletter about my week isn’t necessarily what you’re in the mood to read about. Therefore, Jessie and Natasha stepped up to the plate and crafted this week’s newsletter. A few reminders before they share about the week though:
- The Book Fair is next week! We’re scheduled to visit on Wednesday 12/5 from 9 to 9:30 am. This would be the perfect time to send your young ones with some money if they are interested in purchasing books. Also, they are looking for volunteers to help operate the Book Fair. If you can volunteer, here’s where you can sign up.
- We’re hosting a Canned Food and Supplies drive between now and 12/18. If you can please, send in any non-perishable items that will be donated to local families in need during this holiday season.
- Lastly, I’m currently working on progress reports. These will be mailed at some point next week. I’ll let you know when they’re mailed so you know precisely when to expect them.
And now, I’m passing it off to Jessie and Natasha:
Dear parents,
Over the week the students have been focusing on The Age Of Exploration in gorge studies. They have talked about Marco Polo, the Silk road and Christopher Columbus. They also have learned about cartography and the art of map making by drawing on oranges and than trying to find a way to turn it into a flat surface, they all have done very well.
They have also been working on their vocabulary in reading by finding difficult words and working out ways to understand the meanings. They did this by taking more advanced words that they could not understand and finding the syllables, then splitting up the words and trying to figure out what each syllable means. The students made a mini dictionary in their reading journals of the words that they have figured out. They worked very hard and definitely strengthened their vocabulary. They have mainly been reading nonfiction, and occasionally some fiction.
In writing the students have been looking at newspaper articles to see how the reporters gather information and learn about new topics, they have written two articles, one is a small article about any topic they like, the second was longer and more detailed with quotes, pictures, and longer paragraphs. They are also learning how to use more advanced words and vocabulary by using what they know in reading for their writing to strengthen there topics and stories.
Over the past few weeks In read aloud the students have been listening to great book all about the amazing women from all over the world, that had different jobs, spoke different languages, had different problems and very different lives in a book called “Rad american women from A-Z Written by Kate Schatz and Illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl. They finished the book on Wednesday and no one wanted it to end. They were very good, inspiring, and unique stories on rad woman around the world. The book was made up of different stories on very different people.
In P.E. the students have been playing games like dodgeball and steal the pins, they have found clever tactics, they also have made new friends by being on the same team and learning to work together, sportsmanship has also been shown throughout the weeks.
