Newsletter: November 1st

Hey Everyone,

There has been lots going on. Check out the photos below for an update on our most recent studies and school-wide activities!

The kids recently finished up publishing their second pieces of the school year. Whereas the
first piece fell within a "free write" unit in which we were working to build stamina
and set classroom expectations, this second piece was a memory story. The kids learned
from mentor authors (including writers in our own classroom) to begin incorporating
richer detail and description, dialogue, interesting words, proper punctuation,
capital letters, and paragraphing. That's a lot! I've been so amazed by the power of
these pieces. They'll soon reflect upon the differences they see between their first
and second published pieces. I suspect they'll be as blown away as I am.

There's been quite a bit of writing going on in science as well. Now that the kids have
finished up their animal research they are writing paragraphs to share the information
they found. I sent these paragraphs home last weekend asking you to look over them and
help with any needed editing or revising. Thanks so much! The kids are now turning
this into an information card to share with the class that has a careful sketch on one
side and their information on the other.

In math we've been exploring place value. One of our first engagements was a game
called "Race to $1.00" The kids rolled two dice, added them up, and collected the
appropriate number of pennies. Along the way they traded their pennies for dimes.

We've also been using base-10 blocks to explore place value. In this photo the kids
are creating a structure worth "78."

And of course, there's always a lot of logic games going on. In this pic, we're playing
games at the Sandhills library.

Speaking of the library, what a great place to pick out new books and grab a comfy
spot to read. We're so lucky to be able to trek over there every few weeks.

As the weather has cooled, we've also begun climbing out the window to enjoy reading
in our garden. Unfortunately, one of our hammocks was destroyed (likely during
a middle school football game). But we do still have one left. We have a shift in which a
two to four kids can go out to read each day. As of now, the rule for being able
to read outside is that you must have demonstrated you always use your time
wisely during "indoor" silent reading and have remembered to log
 your reading at home each night over the past week.

The kids are doing a wonderful job bringing in news articles to share. Thanks
so much for helping them highlight key parts and even bring prepared notecards
to remind them of what they want to say. We've explored so many different events
going on around our community as well as heard about how our government
works to create and change laws and policies.

This is a photo from the news article I shared today about a mother who was
disappointed in the Halloween costumes being offered by Party City (in all honesty,
this article was two years old but I was curious to see what the kids would say). The
mother's concern was that there were very few career-oriented costumes available for
girls and the few they did have were geared more toward being cute than they were
toward a realistic interpretation. For instance, in this photo the girls' police costume
looks far more like a dancer than an actual officer. A few of the kids have female
police officers in their life and commented none of them go to work in a short skirt
or a low-cut shirt. Their conversation made for interesting listening. It seemed most who
spoke felt the costume should have been more realistic and that there should have been
many more options for the girls.

Outside the classroom, we had a great time at Fall Festival last week. The weather
was perfect, the games were fun, and the ice pops were well received. Thanks so much
to everyone who pitched in to help!