Halftime in School Year

 Good Afternoon,

As the students were leaving today it is hard to believe that the school year is halfway over. At this time of the school year it's important to reflect on the growth that has been made by everyone up to this point. In the learning journey and process, I feel its important to understand everyone learns at their own 'race'. Don't gauge the growth on where others are at, but where is the individual student in their own learning journey and process. Every student needs to run their own 'race' in the learning process because everyone matures, grows, and learns at different paces. As the students advocates for learning needing to make sure we celebrate the growth throughout, but also where they are at now is critical to ensuring they stay motivated and have the confidence to want to continue to grow.

Week in Review:

Leader in Me: This week we celebrated all things NDLC. Students wrote about reasons why they love NDLC which decorated our classroom door. We had a whole class conversation celebrating what makes us all unique, and seeing this group genuinely supportive of each other and building each other was such an awesome experience.

Writing: Writers are working diligently on meeting the deadline of their informational book. It's been great to see the collaboration among writing partners supporting each other in this new kind of writing where they are writing across panels rather than on a designated paper choices for informational writing.

Math: We continued with our measurement unit with a focus this week on the concepts of customary measure of weight, liquid volume, and length. Students will have a quick quiz next week on these initial concepts to help us gauge what concepts we have mastered, and which ones we need to revisit for more practice.

Reading: Readers began in new research groups that they chose to study a extreme weather or natural disaster topic of their choice. Continuing to work on capturing the main ideas and details in nonfiction reading summaries as well as being able to work in a group to best go about researching certain subtopics are focuses students are working on.

Content: Researchers began studying Colonial America and the Path to Revolutionary War in our new social studies unit. We began with the lost city of Roanoke, and Jamestown trying to understand the reasons why European settlers wanted to come to America, how they survived the early years, and how they could make a life here.

A Look Ahead: 

  • A few students are finishing i-Ready testing, and when those are completed all i-Ready testing results will be sent home which I anticipate being early next week.
  • Friday 1/27: PE teachers will talk about Kids Heart Challenge and hand out paperwork.
    • Optional fundraising done online only (NO money or checks), prizes given around April 1st, event night is Thursday March 9th with more details to come.
  • Monday 1/30: Mr. H's PE classes start rollerblading. Lasting 2 six day rotations.
    • Students are encouraged to bring their own helmets if they have one to avoid having to wear hair nets. Other safety items are allowed, but must be in a large reusable bag that can be stored in the gymnastics closet and locked at the end of the night. 
  • Madison Field Trip, MARCH 22ND, 2023
That's all for this week! 

Enjoy the weekend!

Mr. VW



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