Newsletter: March 18, 2014

Dear Parents,

I thought I might use this week's newsletter to show you all the ways we use literacy across our entire day. No matter whether we are thinking as mathematicians, scientists, writers, or citizens, we use literacy to enrich our learning. Here's how...

EXPLORATIONS
This is a time when the kids can self-select what to do with their time. There are some who play chess, Othello, or Battleship. Others will occasionally paint, work with clay, or make origami. Recently there was a group who took to working on their writing pieces each morning. "We LOVE to write," they explained when I asked what had made them decide on writing. There are always a couple of people searching the Chromebooks for news articles to share or jotting an idea to share in a class journal. A couple days ago there were even a few groups in the room who asked if they could form their own book clubs. They used Exploration time to select their books as well as plan the pages they would read each day. I agreed to provide snacks during their morning book chats.

SPECIAL AREA
How cool is it when the kids return from special area excited to tell you they found some more books on a topic of study in the classroom and that they checked them out to read during silent reading? It's very cool. How could we not all be inspired by their enormous energy and curiosity?

MORNING MEETING
We use this daily structure to reflect back on our work from the previous day and then share out news articles and journals. Journals are an opportunity to share information or pose questions around topics such as: language, math, history, culture, science, social action, and our own classroom community. News articles are an opportunity to build conversations around topics in the news. We learn to read, summarize, and discuss non-fiction texts as well as listen to the opinions and ideas of others. Recently we've been talking about the fact March is Women's History Month. You know this, of course, because the kids came home and interviewed you about the reason behind this as well as asked for the names of important women figures of the past and present. Thanks for those. We generated quite a list! I suggested we might borrow a fourth or fifth grade history textbook and see how many of these women were in it. I predict we would find that very few are mentioned. This was at the heart of many of your responses to the question "Why do you think we have Women's History Month each March?" You said...

Women used to be treated like second-rate citizens, women had to fight for equal rights, it's a lot like Black History Month - to acknowledge the accomplishments of people not often represented, to celebrate the good things women have done, because women have historically been seen as unimportant, women didn't have the same civil rights in the past, women contribute a lot to this country

After generating our list of important women, someone brought in the book My Name is Not Isabella. We were excited to read it. This book told the story of a young girl who, throughout the day, imagines herself to be Sally Ride, Annie Oakley, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, Elizabeth Blackwell, and her mother - all important women (this reflected those of you who mentioned family members on your list of five important women from the past and present). At the end of the book Isabella returned to being herself. The last page demonstrated how she had a little piece of each of these great women inside her. It read "It's me, Isabella, the sweetest, kindest, smartest, bravest, fastest, toughest, greatest girl that ever was."

Through these conversations we are learning to read the world around us. Though we might read it differently from one another from time to time, we are certainly beginning to learn to notice, name, and reflect on the things we see and hear. This, too, is literacy.

WRITING
Literacy is easy to find in our writing workshop. We talk. We read. We write (obviously).  However, the literacy in our classroom is unique in that it is rooted in inquiry. I do not stand in front of the class and fill the kids heads with information. Rather, we use literacy to notice and name patterns, pose questions, and explore new ideas. The kids take ownership of their own learning as the curriculum becomes negotiated between all involved. For instance, when learning to become stronger writers we access the books of authors we know and love to see what they are doing and begin thinking about how we might try the same things. There's nothing better than starting a mini-lesson with the question "So, what do you notice...?" To me, this is what sets our kids apart at CFI. They are provided numerous opportunities to think, think, and think some more. And they grow into this because this expectation is part of the culture of the school. Being engaged in texts and learning makes for more strategic thinkers as well as more strategic readers and writers.

MATH

Ms. Nozsa recently used the book Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday to contextualize our study of subtraction into real world situations - in this case, a boy who spends all his money and is left with little if anything to show for it. She asked the kids to work as accountants and keep record of each transaction for Alexander and his brothers Nicholas and Anthony. Using literature in our math workshop not only helps us to further explore new concepts but also serves as one more opportunity to enjoy a good book together.

READING
Like writing, reading is an obvious choice for literacy. You can't escape it during this hour of the day. This week we are taking what we learned to do as members of a book club to deepen our understanding of non-fiction texts. We're using news articles for this in hopes of also enriching our morning conversations. Today we read an article titled Is School Designed More for Girls Than Boys? We've been learning to read each chapter then go back and highlight only the most important ideas. We have found that different readers sometimes have different ideas as to what is most important. However, some items are quite universal. Today we used our article to have a written conversation. Written conversations allow us to bridge our reading with our writing in a very concrete manner. The kids are bringing these articles home to continue their written conversations with you. We can't wait to see what you have to say about the article.

Another part of our day is read aloud. I've mentioned all sorts of read aloud already but now I'm referring to the book where we just sit, listen, and relax. Right now we are reading an absolutely amazing book titled Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. It's the story of a young girl who sets off on her own to find the Old Man of the Moon to ask him how she can improve her family's meager fortune. I can't wait for the end because it offers a dilemma well worth discussing.

So...I left out other parts. Singing, for one. Storytelling, for another. Literacy is everywhere. All day long. But this newsletter has to end somewhere and this as good a place as any. Enjoy your week. I know we will!

Chris