Davis Weekly September 10-14

1. Davis WeeklySeptember 10-14 DATES Sept. 18- Picture Day Sept. 19- Field Trip day Sept. 26- Special Flower day Oct. 2- Special Math lesson Oct. 8-9 Fall Holidays “When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find that a Thing that seemed very thingish inside you, is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.” ~Pooh READ READ READ DEAR PARENTS- Folder/Notebooks Update: I have had many questions this week, so here are some answers to help everyone! As you could see from the folders and notebooks the children brought home this week, we write a lot! We are an AMSTI school which means we use a journal type writing task following many of our classroom activities. This is true of Math and Science, especially. We also use our Writer’s Notebook and Reading folders for responses to lessons and books. All of these items are graded based on what the specifics of the task might have been or the focus of the lesson. We are all working hard to learn how much to write and how to make the writing is quality, not simply quantity. One BIG lesson we have worked on this week was writing with more detail. We took the time one morning to listen to samples of quality use of details and then each student went back to the WNB and tried it with a partner. It worked beautifully and perhaps helped some of us understand about writing “deeper”. The Writer’s Notebook is graded based on a list of items we have talked about a lot. Of course, the length of the writing is part of the grade, but I also look for thoughtfulness. We have heard many examples of writing that sound like a “diary” and we want to write with emotion, feeling, descriptions, and style. We need to get away from just making a list of things and dig deeper. This is happening already and the children are truly learning a lot and doing great! The WNB is also a wonderful place to practice GUMS. Small errors are expected but GUMS errors should not distract from the writing. Again, this is an area that has already improved a lot! To help you with seeing these folder and notebook papers the children will continue to bring these home periodically. They just have to remember to return them the next day! 1)We will have many more Social Studies grades in the next few weeks, so you can stop sweating that one. Use these lower averages as a way to help me teach the kids what “averaging” means. I tried to do that one day but they just don’t really understand. (Sometimes they will catch on to this if you talk about baseball hitting averages!) I often pull out the purple sheets and show them how a few really good grades will “pull up” the average. This also reinforces that hard work pays off! 2.) The children need to read 5 books and take AR tests on them. Next week I will check out a bin of picture books and non fiction books to keep in the classroom to help them get this done! Before the end of the grading period they will have had the opportunity to read these and take these tests. The chapter book tests really should have already been taken. We have been in school long enough to have read 2 chapter books! We still have 5 more weeks! 3.) What about Language grades? One source for this grade is the WNB, but we are also studying nouns right now, so any paper we complete on language skills will be added. Next week we will have a Language/Spelling check up in which the children will have to identify nouns, rewrite some sentences, and use skills we have learned since August. This will be grades for Language and Spelling. 4.) What about the story writing requirement?? Do not worry about it. We are doing some extremely valuable writing in the WNB and if we do not get a story written during this grading period it will be alright. Our Travel Shirts arrived this week. I will wash them and have them ready to wear for the trip next week! Read Aloud: Flying Solo