Newsletter: September 21

Dear Families,

Provided the occurrence of the solar eclipse, the observation of Labor Day, and then the severe weather caused by Hurricane Irma, I believe this newsletter just might represent the first full week of the school year. If so, we definitely made the most of our time together. Our curricular studies have found us carefully observing and naming physical and behavioral traits of various animals, exploring strategies to make addition faster, wrapping up our first unit of study in writing, and continuing work on building practices for increased reading comprehension.

Using a hand lens to get a closer look at an earthworm.

In science our work around careful observation has found the kids learning the value of close observation. We've practiced using precise language to describe what we see as well as the difference between making an observation ("The fur is brown") and offering an opinion ("The fur is pretty"). From there we studied worms I had dug up from my back yard, used our science journals to record notes detailing what we noticed, then broke these observations into two categories: physical (body) traits and behaviors. These observations provided us an opportunity to begin questioning what purpose certain traits may serve ("Why does the cheetah have long legs?") as well as develop possible hypotheses to answer these questions. So much of the work in our classroom, whether it be in science or any other part of the day, is about thinking rather than memorizing.

Gulf Fritillary larvae preparing to much on a leaf from its host plant - passion vine.

We've also been watching our Gulf Fritillary caterpillars grow, enter into their chrysalis, and emerge as butterflies. The 4th/5th grade instructional assistant, Mrs.Mauney, was kind enough to provide us with these larvae she collected from her home garden so we could observe and marvel in their transformation. As you can imagine, the day the first butterflies popped out of their chrysalises was met with great excitement and energy. We set them free in the garden just outside our window where they can find nectar from our lantana plants.

Here's the big moment. 

Found in the lower half of the United States, Gulf Fritillaries have orange wings
with black spots. Underneath their wings you will also find patches of silver.

In math we've been exploring strategies to help us solve addition facts more quickly. I love this inquiry because it calls on every single child to think deeply as they look for patterns and relationships in numbers and then access these to develop "tricks" for computation. These might include, but are not limited to, beginning with the larger numbers then moving to the smaller ones, looking for numbers within the problem that add up to ten to simplify calculations, or identifying how a problem is similar to another problem they already know then making the necessary adjustment (such as thinking of 6+7 as the double 6+6 and then adding one more). We generally spend the first twenty minutes or so of math working together to share our thinking and lay out the course for new strategies then we move out to play games that allow us to practice/reinforce this learning. The kids really love playing games and by walking around the room watching them solve various problems I can learn so much about their comfort level with computation as well as their current level of understanding about numeracy.

Class chart showing how many words each of us generated on a given
day of writing workshop. Some days we're near one end of the spectrum
but other days it's completely possible we might be near the opposite end. Why?
Because with writing some days require more thought and reflection -
especially when our ideas are not yet clear to us. This is why long range
patterns are more important than just assessing ourselves on one given day.

Much of our first unit in writing was designed to help us set the course for the rest of the year. In large part, this meant supporting the kids to generate a lot of writing each and every day. I told them "Just like basketball players take hundreds of shots each day to improve, the best way to grow as a writer is to do a whole lot of writing." At the beginning of the year the vast majority of the kids were writing between 5 - 25 words a day. So we set our sights on building greater stamina for our writing - meaning we were learning to focus more on our work than our tablemates as well as think about ways to stretch our writing down the page rather than writing a few simple sentences then spending the rest of the time drawing a picture (not that pictures can't be a great help when writing - they really can!). Eventually, every single one of the kids had shifted their expectations for their own writing and found themselves generating a healthy amount of writing.

Hard at work on a writing piece. There are no prompts or specific assignments
in regards to what the kids write. However, later we will study specific genres
of writing that will call on the kids to write within that framework while still
self-selecting the topics for their pieces. These will include personal narrative,
non-fiction, poetry, and a variety of fiction pieces.

Having generated quite a few different pieces, I asked the kids to review their writing journals, select their very favorite piece, and publish this onto a loose sheet of paper to later share with the rest of the class. Publishing our pieces calls on us to not only neatly transfer it to a second sheet of paper but to also address any miscues we notice in our first drafts - spelling, capitalization, missing words, unclear passages, etc. In all honestly, I noticed most the kids changed nothing. They simply copied from one piece of paper to another. This is so helpful for me to know because it establishes a defined entry point for our learning together. As with so much of what we do in the classroom, I am always assessing so I will be able to tailor our learning tomorrow, next week, and next month to the specific needs of the kids. This is why we don't use a "canned" curriculum or set of resources such as strict pacing guides or textbooks at CFI. Our beliefs call on us to shape our teaching around the specifics of the learners in our room. To teach any other way is unethical and, for many students, ineffective because the underlying message becomes "You either get it or you don't but either way we're moving on." One aspect of social justice in the classroom is that teachers work to ensure their teaching meets the needs of every single child while maintaining high expectations and working to reach them. I love being at CFI because my colleagues work extremely hard, collectively and individually, to do this!

At work writing in a cozy spot.

Sharing our published pieces out with the class and inviting feedback.

Well...that's it for this week. I did promise to share some ways in which families work to make reading special in their homes but I'm going to wait until next week to share that out as some families are still working to get back to me. I also want to ensure the newsletter doesn't get too bogged down with information. My goal is generally to keep your reading time to five or six minutes to keep you informed while also acknowledging how busy your evenings and weekends can be.

I hope you're week has been as productive and entertaining as ours. Have a great weekend!

Chris