Dear Families,
We were excited on Wednesday morning to add two new 12-foot Cleveland Pear trees to our classroom garden. Gracyn's dad, Nick, found us a great deal on the two 850-pound trees and even brought some guys out to install them for us. The kids enjoyed watching the trees go into the ground. We are currently reading the book Holes in which the main character Stanley Yelnats is sent to a detention camp to dig a five foot by five foot hole each day. The holes for our trees, while awfully big, were still only three feet wide by four feet deep.
Our new trees will provide much needed afternoon shade for our picnic tables in August/September and April/May as well as early morning shade for our bench by the pond. In a few years they could possibly even hold a few kids on a hammock during silent reading. No falling asleep!
Thanks to Nick and his crew for their connections and hard work. We can't wait to see the trees blooming with white flowers in the spring!
And a HUGE thank you to everyone who braved the cold on Saturday for our walk-a-thon. It did warm up fast (by some standards, at least) and the kids seemed to have such a great time while also working to help others. I predict our final tally will be in the $1,200 - $1,400 range. How impressive. Once your child has collected all their pledges send them to me in an white envelope. All checks can be made out directly to the American Cancer Society.
Over the course of this project we've had people in to share their experiences with us. Most recently Dr. Mueller, whose husband Michael is currently being treated for bladder cancer, told us about his weekly visits to the oncology center for treatment and how wonderfully supportive so many people have been in helping them both navigate this journey. The kids spent a good bit of time thinking about and discussing why the nurses and other families were so welcoming and friendly. We couldn't help but wonder aloud why we don't just do this all the time, with everyone - here at school, passing people on the sidewalk, and so on.
We will spend the remainder of the year, and next, thinking about other ways we can use what we are learning in the classroom to take care of our community and the people who live within it. While this project was money-based our future endeavors will have us exploring other ways of helping (writing letters, working, visiting, becoming more well informed, etc). Olivia L's mom already mentioned the possibility of delivering cookies to those who might need them most. Since our mathematical studies include an exploration of liquid measurement we could easily learn this through baking projects in the classroom. We would love to hear any other ideas you might have for us.
In writing workshop we have been talking about revision. We began this work by making multiple drafts of a drawing of a butterfly (as mentioned in last week's newsletter). That experience helped us see the importance of providing very specific feedback and then using this to make a piece even stronger. This week we kept those butterfly drawings in the backs of our minds as we did the same sort of work but with our writing. I shared a draft with the kids and asked them to provide ideas for revision. They worked in partners to jot down all their ideas. We categorized these revision notes into the following categories: (1) Easy fixes, (2) Changes to help us better understand the piece, and (3) Changes to help us better imagine the story in our minds.
The kids did an absolutely wonderful job! Here are the two drafts. Notice how much stronger the piece becomes after receiving such specific feedback in terms of what could be rewritten.
Draft 1
She didn’t know I was coming so I rang doorbell. When answered I said hey grandma she said hello Bill. She gave me a soda and we played a game. I won I said. We had lunch and she drove me home.
Draft 2
My grandma didn’t know I was coming to visit her. It was a surprise. So I rang the doorbell. When she answered I said, “hey Grandma.” She said “hello Bill” and she gave me a big grandma-sized hug. She gave me a soda. Then we played a game of Checkers. I was excited to see her because she had been gone on vacation for weeks. “I won!” I said. We had lunch and then she drove me home. I had a fun day.
Thanks,
Chris
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