Newsletter: Sunday, November 25, 2018

Short but Sweet

Though we shared only two days together last week, we made the most of them.  We shared the qualities of reading fluency we noticed as our family members read aloud.  Thank you for helping with this task.  Listening carefully to you guys truly brought home many of the attributes we have discussed in class.  Some of these the kids are noticing and trying to implement themselves include: using voices for characters, raising and lowering their voices, pausing at punctuation, and matching their voices to the emotion of the character.  As their first and best teachers, you are essential in helping them to become fluent readers.

We continued our data and graphing inquiry as the kids used their survey data to complete line graphs, bar graphs, and pictographs.  They also wrote questions based on their graphing data and exchanged them with partners. Each student had to examine a new set of data to gather information in order to answer the questions.  

Of course, we can't forget Pajama Day.  Thank you to Mrs. Kelly for helping with our delicious breakfast.  We enjoyed a day of cozy reading, strategic game play, and CFI's annual production of 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving.

This Coming Week

This week we will focus on using punctuation to guide our reading and demonstrate the attributes we have been studying through reader's theater.  We will edit one our choice pieces of writing concentrating on capitalization and punctuation.  In math, we will launch a new activity known as "Number Talks."  Last week, Dr. Johnson's wife joined our faculty to share some of the math work she and other teachers are doing in her school.  I would like to incorporate this structure she shared into our classroom.  It is very similar to what we have been doing as, "Number of the Day"  but encourages more collaboration in which the students build off of each other's thinking.

Curriculum night is this Thursday.  We will be sharing the work we are doing in math now.  We'll start off with a math talk, discuss some of the things we have been learning, and then we would like to have you join us in a little math work. I hope to see you all there.

  

Via's Visitation Schedule

November 30        Jennifer

Important Dates

November 29        Curriculum Night #2 
December 7           Passing of the Cans and CFI Parents Night Out 6:30—9:30 PM
December 12         Gift Card Orders Due for Dec. Pick-up at CFI
December 20         Weather Make-Up Day

Pajama Day!

 There's nothing better than sharing a yummy, warm breakfast with twenty of your best friends.

Two friends from Dr. Whitecotton's fourth grade taught us how to play Battleship.

There were many small teachers in the room during game time!

Newsletter: Sunday, November 18, 2018

Rain, Rain Go Away....Just in Time!

Last week we began looking at attributes of reading fluency by listening carefully to read alouds and thinking about what good readers do.  In writing, we examined basic grammar conventions including nouns, verbs, capitalization, and punctuation. As mathematicians, we collected individual survey data and graphed it in multiple ways.  We also continued looking at our place in the world through maps.  This led us to map our food donations and helped us to examine where our food comes from.  This spurred many questions about why we ship food so far and why we don't grow more here.  These are questions we will continue to research. We celebrated the rainy days by getting creative in indoor recess with games and investigations into patterns and animal bones.

Though we may have had a wet start to our week, the rain cleared up just in time for our annual trip to the zoo.  With just 20 kids in our class, we had an amazing 17 parents/family members accompany our class to the zoo.  I just have to say thank you again for all of the support you provide our class.  Although lunch may have been a bit chaotic due to the volume, we were able to make it work because of you.  Not many schools can take their entire student body on one field trip together, but our family support systems make this possible for us at CFI. Thank you!!

This Coming Week

We will pack these two days full.  On Monday we will develop questions based on all the graphs we have been generating from our individual surveys.  In reading we will continue analyzing the characteristics of a fluent reader using Storyline Online.   As writers, we will create a list of when and where we capitalize words. As social scientists we will look at building maps and blueprints. 

I'm sure you have heard Tuesday is Pajama Day! No need to eat breakfast, we will enjoy a Thanksgiving breakfast in class.  We will also have a block of time for games.  Feel free to send in any appropriate board games you would like to share that day. We will also spend time reading, writing and reviewing a film from one of our literature studies.

Via's Visitation Schedule

November 30        Jennifer

Important Dates

November 21-23  Thanksgiving Holiday

November 29        Curriculum Night #2 
December 7           Passing of the Cans and CFI Parents Night Out 6:30—9:30 PM
December 12         Gift Card Orders Due for Dec. Pick-up at CFI
December 20         Weather Make-Up Day

Last week we enjoyed several days of indoor recess. Here are some of our highlights including Uno, identifying animal bones, and creating patterns.

Some memorable moments from the zoo:

Many were excited to pet Oz, the rainbow boa.

What an awesome day to spend learning with our friends and family!

Newsletter: Sunday, November 11, 2018

Democracy, Data, and Grandparents

We began our week learning about the voting and election process through our CFI Election.  Dr. Hass' class led each of the classes in grades 2-5 through this process beginning with an information session about the candidates.  They carried us through the registration process to get our official voters' registration cards, waiting in lines,  and eventually to the ballot box. The kids were surprised that it wasn't as simple as just showing up at the poll.  They appreciated the information session, and though we kept our votes private, they began verbalizing strategies in decision making based on the information they were given. It was truly amazing to see them grasping the power of voting. You can view the results below with our pics for the week.

We continued our measurement inquiry and moved into analyzing data.  Based on the data collection from last week, we began looking closely at the numbers to determine the median (middle) of our trials. We then carried this into one of our first graphing experiences.  We have continued collecting other forms of data that we will be working with next week.

Friday we celebrated two events, then end of CogAT testing and more importantly, our wonderful grandparents.  I have to tell you the energy in our room leading up the the grandparent visit was tangible.  The kids were so excited to share a little bit of their life at CFI with some of the most special people in their lives.  I am so grateful for each of these grandparents and the way they value your children's learning.  This was evident in the way they shared each expert project and writing piece, and how they participated in all of our surveys.  We will actually use their data in some of our investigations next week, so please convey our sincere appreciation to them.

This Coming Week

In reading workshop we will embark on an inquiry into fluency while taking a closer look at capitalization and punctuation in writing workshop.  We will continue our study of data and graphs in math workshop.  For social studies, we will learn about the differences between a country, continent, state and city.  If you have any interesting maps or atlases you would be willing to share with us, we would greatly appreciate them.

Important Dates

November 16       Schoolwide Zoo Field Study

November 21-23 Thanksgiving Holiday

November 29       Curriculum Night #2 
December 7         Passing of the Cans and CFI Parents Night Out 6:30—9:30 PM
December 12       Gift Card Orders Due for Dec. Pick-up at CFI
December 20       Weather Make-Up Day
December 21       11:30 Dismissal Winter Break Begins


                                                                 CFI Election Day

Dr. Hass' class provided us with some information about each candidate.

We all went through the process of registering to vote before heading to the official voting room.

We began looking at our measurement data from last week to find the median for each of our trials.  Then we each created a graph to represent this data.

Thank you to all our grandparents.  We loved sharing a little of our school lives with you.