Newsletter: October 24th

Hey Everyone,

I hope you all are enjoying this wonderfully cool weather. I have to say, recess is amazing this time of year. As fall weather arrives, we find ourselves nearing the quarter-mark of the school year. So much of importance has been established over these first seven or eight weeks that will allow us to be successful, safe, and happy as we soar through the next year-and-three-quarters. Laying solid foundations in regards to building caring relationships and setting high expectations is so important. We're definitely off to a great start.

Here's what we've been up to lately...

We had two guests from the USC School of Engineering visit us a few weeks ago. They are developing
a hand-held 3-D printer that allows students to create all sorts of cool structures and designs.

I really thought the kids might become frustrated when their projects didn't turn out
exactly as they wanted to (using the hand-held devices was tricky given we'd never
done anything like this before). But the kids really stepped up. They
were patient with themselves and did a fantastic job.

It's such a gift to have guests come to the classroom. If you have any special interests,
skills, or knowledge you'd love to share with us just let us know. We'd love
to have you!

Not every guest leaves us with a product but the kids sure are
grateful when they do. They were very proud of the "poki-balls" they made.

In math we have launched an inquiry into measurement. We began with measuring
items around the room using non-standard units of measure. To do so, we used
our bodies as measuring tools. As demonstrated on the sheet above, our units included
fathoms, cubits, spans, palms, and digits. 

The kids worked to measure various items after first deciding with
non-standard unit would be the most logical choice for a given object.

This practice helped us see how linear measurement is really just a number
representing the number of units needed to stretch from end of an object to the other.

One issue we ran into was when a unit of measure didn't quite extend far enough to cover the entire
distance we were measuring. When just a little bit was left over we figured out
we could always use a smaller unit of measure to complete the measurement. For
instance, when measuring my height the kids first used fathoms (very large) and then
tacked on palms and digits to complete the measurement. This is much like what
we do with feet and inches. We've since moved on to using standards units of measure
so we can all come to the same measurement. These include centimeters and inches.

In social studies we are learning about elections. We're using the school board election in
Richland 2 to find out how and why people run for public office.

We invited all seven candidates to visit our classroom to help us learn what a school board is.

We're also learning how the election works. We've been fortunate enough to have
two candidates, Craig Plank and James Manning, visit us to help us better
understand this process.

They were also invited to share a book with us. Before they left we sang them the animal
song we wrote together and then sent them off with a flyer detailing all the information I compiled
from the kids, you all, and our teachers concerning the things we love about our school(s) as well as
the items of concern we feel they should be aware of. It was a great opportunity for the kids
to see democracy in action. While they are engaging with all this at a seven-year-old level, continued
opportunities over their academic careers to be informed and share information
with elected officials will make for a future citizenry prepared to build a stronger
democracy and community!

Next week another candidate, Cheryl Caution-Parker, will visit. We hope to have at least one or
two others join us as well. 

In writing we're learning to "read like a writer." This means to read a text and identify the
qualities of writing in that text we feel are important to crafting strong pieces. We first looked
at published pieces of writing (i.e., picture books) to see how authors use a wide variety of
craft moves to make their writing really work on the page. Some of these have included repeating
certain words for effect, asking the reader a question, and using surprising words. Even more
important than any single craft move, this study teaches the importance of learning how to write
by reading lots of different texts. We learn to write well by being passionate and observant readers.

Most recently, we've been looking at the writing of our friends in the classroom to see
what we can learn from one another. In the piece above, we learned the power of descriptive
words and using ALL CAPS to show excitement or volume. A great feature of using our own
writing to learn from is that it positions the kids as very capable writers worthy of being studied.
They already know so much. Our job is to keep building on what's already there!