Week of September 12, 2016

Students thinking about core values and their meaning.

 Highlights from Last Week:

Another great short week of school! Students are learning expectations and routines, and I'm learning about them. Here are some highlights of the action:

• Core Values --We discussed the Pine Hill core values and what it means to be a respectful audience. We worked almost all day on Thursday to create a video on "How to be a Respectful Audience" to present at Friday's All School Meeting. Please check it out here!
• Multiplication Facts --Students assessed their multiplication fact recall and are working toward improving their speed.
• Read Aloud --Everyone is loving our class read aloud of There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom. Students are analyzing characters and trying to figure out why the main character, Bradley, tries to be so unlikeable.
• Aspirations for 5th Grade --Students began writing about their aspirations for 5th grade. We learned about the structure of an essay and will that structure to give shape to our hopes and goals for 5th grade.
• Independent Reading --We've been cultivating a love of reading by sharing our favorite titles and enjoying some long stretches of independent reading. Meanwhile, I've been floating around the room asking students to read aloud for me to get a sense of their reading skills.
• Expectations --We've been working out some kinks in how we meet classroom expectations. There have been some bumps, such as calling out a running commentary instead of raising hands, and getting off-task during independent work. I've been stopping the action to coach students on how to make good choices.

This Week's Plan

Yet again, much of last week's plans move to this week as we get back into the swing of routines. I also failed to plan ahead last week for the Core Values video that we had to create for Friday, which ate up almost a full day. It was worth it, though!

Upcoming Special Events: 

• Student Council Elections --Monday, September 12th.
• Open House --Also known as a Parent Back to School Night, is the following week, Wednesday, September 21st. Fifth grade goes at 6:50pm after the principal's address in the auditorium at 6:30pm.
• Picture Day --Thursday, September 22nd, the following week.

Special Activities:
We continue to take time throughout the day to learn expectations, routines, interpersonal skills, transitioning, and much more. These understandings are essential to the smooth operations of our entire school year.


Reading:
Launching Reading Workshop.​

• Teacher Read Aloud --We're reading There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar. An entertaining story about a boy who hates school, hates his peers, and hates himself, but turns his life around with the help of a committed school counselor.
• Informal Assessments --While students independently read, I will float around the room and ask individual students to read aloud for me so I can learn more about each of them as readers.
• Find a "Just Right" Book --We'll learn how to find books that are just right for us and how to recognize that a book is too hard.

Writing:
Launching Writing Workshop.

• Aspirations --Students will write about what they want to accomplish socially and academically this year in an essay. We'll learn a little about transition words and phrases, as well as framing our ideas with an introduction and conclusion.

Math:
Review Multiplication.

• Multiplication Patterns --Students will investigate patterns in the multiplication table.
• Multiplication Game --I love coming up with math games. We'll be rolling dice, betting, and multiplying to practice our multiplication facts.
• Factors and Arrays --Students will model multiplication using arrays.
• Place Value --We will explore how our place value system is set up and compare numbers in various place values.

Science/Social Studies:
These first few weeks we hold off on Science and Social Studies to focus on launching reading, writing, and math. 


Homework:
Please check the Homework page for more details. We have our first Homework Project starting this week!

1. Homework Project: All About Me. Students will think, create, and write about themselves and those close to them.
2. Read 25 minutes at home per day and keep a log in your planner.
3. There will be a math page for homework each night starting on Wednesday.
4. Continue memorizing your basic multiplication facts up to 10x10.

Thanks for Reading!
So that's the plan for the week. Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or feedback. I look forward to an awesome school year!