Dear Families, It was wonderful to see so many of you at Open House. Here are a few pictures from the event! Third and Fourth Grade October Character Project: Third and Fourth Graders will begin monthly book projects this month. Students have chosen books with a strong character to read for their nightly "just right" book for the month of October. Each student has chosen a book and been given a calendar with a reading schedule, so that they are sure to finish their book and project by the end of the month. We will be working on the project draft and final projects in class. It is important that your child bring his/her chosen book to school daily. There will be time in class to work on reading and projects in addition to students' home reading. Without the needed materials at school, it will be difficult for your child to work on his/her book and project in the classroom. Final projects are due at school on October 31. Students have their book, calendar and the first draft of their project, so that they can begin working on their books tonight! Here are examples of the completed character projects. Grade 5 Character Project: Students in grade 5 will be reading books with strong characters at home. These will be chosen this week and "schedules" for the reading will be created for those who would like one. Students will then create a character scrapbook page for one of the main characters in the book. Directions will be sent home this week. Spelling Bee: Some students in grades 5 and 6 represented us at the ACSD spelling bee last week. Way to go to Luke and Phoenix for helping the team come in 2nd! Science/Way to Go Challenge: Salisbury students also met the challenge for carpooling this past week. Ms. Clapp was very impressed with the support from students and families! We earned the maximum number of tickets for the solar raffle because of the participation. Ms. Clapp has also sent out information via email about the outdoor classroom. She is seeking snack donations for Wednesdays/Thursdays. If you have not received her emails please let us know, we can send your email address to her. 5th graders will begin attending STARBASE next week with Ms. Clapp. PE Students will begin working on tennis skills during PE in the coming weeks. The unit will culminate with a really fun family event at Middlebury Indoor Tennis on Friday, October 29. Mark your calendars! This week: Monday-Wednesday-Natalie Kinsey Warnoc/author residency Wednesday-Shakespeare (Could change due to author residency) Thursday-Fire prevention presentations by Salisbury Volunteer firefighters Friday-BAND-instruments needed! Sunday, October 15-Friends' Family Photo Shoot with Cyndi Palmer Next week (Short week): Monday-Grade 5/STARBASE Wednesday, October 18-School photo day and Shakespeare (grades 4/5) Thursday-Friday, October 19-20-No School
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The above photos are from the Back to School picnic two weekends ago! (3rd-5th graders) Dear Families, It looks like summer weather has arrived just in time for the start of autumn! Please help remind your student that they need sneakers for P.E. class on Monday and Wednesdays. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at Open House on Thursday, September 28 from 5:30-6:30. This is a great opportunity for your student to show you around his/her classrooms and describe all of the learning opportunities that he/she is engaged in. Ms. Foster's Literacy: Ms. Foster's Literacy Group is just finishing their read aloud The Great Treehouse War . Students have made beautiful water color projects for this book and have written about the story elements. Look for these projects on the classroom wall during Open House! This week, we will be starting our Character Unit. Each student will be part of a book group where they will read about strong characters and analyze the characters' traits and how the characters grow and change throughout the book. In addition to reading a book group book, students will have opportunities for choice reading. It is important that students are bringing their choice book to and from school each day. I have noticed that many students are reading a couple of chapters of a book and then abandoning their book. It is important for the development of high level comprehension skills that students are reading books from start to finish and taking the time to discuss and reflect on their books. Below is as graph that emphasizes the importance of students reading for a minimum of 20 minutes per night. Why Read for 20 Minutes a night? infogram.com/why-i-canand39t-skip-my-20-minutes-of-reading-tonigh-1g90n2ow3l79p4y Ms. Morrissey's Literacy: Students with Mrs. Morrissey's class are just about finished with their read aloud, Wonder by RJ Palaccio. We have discussed and written about the book in various ways. We have focused on the characters traits and students have connected the characters to their own lives. Book groups began last week and we have gotten off to a slow start due to a few schedule interruptions, including Shakespeare, which happens to be a great one! 4-5 Grade Shakespeare: Before we met for the first time on Wednesday with the actors from Town Hall Theater we began learning about William Shakespeare himself. Thus far we have learned a bit about his early life. Students were also impressed about all of the words and phrases we use today that he "invented"! When the actors arrived we played some theater-like games in order to get to know each other. They also did begin to set the stage of the story, Twelfth Night. Students are never told the story, but by acting pieces out the plot begins to unfold. The process is pretty amazing! At this point students have just been introduced to some of the characters and wondering about the problems they are facing based on their actions and feelings. The setting provides a background for students to use when exploring. It was a highly energetic hour and I imagine next week will be as well! The plan is for us to meet for about 8 weeks and then perform the play on November 17th, so be sure to mark your calendars! Third Grade Math: Third graders will be completing their first math unit this week. Unit 1 is a review of addition and subtraction facts and adding and subtracting two digit numbers. We will have a final test on Friday. Our next unit is an introduction to multiplication. Third graders will be introduced to the a variety of multiplication models and begin learning strategies for the multiplication facts. Attached is an overview of our second math unit. www.mathlearningcenter.org/sites/default/files/documents/family/PAR-BR3-U2.pdf 4th Grade Math: Fourth graders have been exploring numbers and determining whether numbers are prime or composite. We have been using the area model to multiply some larger numbers, into the teens. The students have an interesting math calendar to share with you when you visit on Thursday, so be sure to ask them about it! 5th Grade Math: Fifth graders have been investigating volume and surface area. They are also working to create and solve expressions by noticing number relationships. The math calendar is introducing students to many equivalent fractions with visual models. *Fifth grade students need to return STARBASE field trip permission forms and call buttons (designed names). Upcoming Events:
The above photos include 4th-5th graders participating in our first Shakespeare meeting! The above photos are 5th graders working during math class and during Mrs. Hornbeck's 5th grade Social Studies class. The above photos are of 4th graders continuing to learn all about each other in fun ways during Morning Meeting and working hard during math! There is even a photo of some budding musicians playing instruments during music class! Third Graders working hard on math!
COMING UP:
Wednesday, 9/20-Grades 4/5 Shakespeare practice Monday, 9/25-Way to Go Challenge begins (Big Wednesday!) See Amy Clapp's information about this! Thursday, 9/28 (2 weeks away!)-Open House, 5:30-6:30 The first few days sure did fly by. We have enjoyed getting to know each other, the new routines and expectations! Students have met all of their teachers and are really getting into the swing of things. Literacy: Students explored the classroom libraries and chose books to begin reading independently. In some cases we are just getting to know our new learners and are listening to them read and discuss their books with us. Students also have prepared their writing journals for the year. They will begin free writing a bit this week and we will work our way towards writing personal narratives shortly. It is an expectation that students read 20-30 minutes nightly. Some students have assigned books to be reading at home, while others will have these soon. Math: All grades have just begun to explore the new math concepts. Everyone began by creating essential agreements or rules that we will follow to help create a productive math class. Groups also took pre-assessments and will continue with Unit 1. To see the specific grade level overview (math concepts, strategies and vocabulary), click on the math links on the left side of the page. Classroom Economy: Our first integrated Social Studies unit of study is Economics. As part of this unit the 3rd-5th grade students will be participating in a classroom economy. Each student has applied for a classroom job. Students will switch jobs at regular intervals throughout the year. They will be paid a salary for their job and charged rent for their classroom work space. Through the classroom economy students will learn some of the following valuable life skills in an experiential way.
Homework: Homework will begin next week. Students can expect a math worksheet due on Wednesday and Friday as well as a spelling packet/language due Friday. (This will be worked on during school as well, so it should remain in student folders throughout the week). We also expect 20 minutes of nightly reading and will begin creating systems to ensure this is happening. Please allow students a few weeks to get in the swing of things with their homework routines. However, if after a couple weeks things are still seeming very difficult contact us so we can alter your learner's plan. Your Homework: We have included a link to a survey we would love for you to complete about your learner. We will send home a paper copy on Friday in case you prefer to complete it that way. Knowing a lot about your learner helps us to better meet their needs and you are the expert! docs.google.com/forms/d/1GcYOEvLfjxv4b4FPGFBhYhh38e0n-dtQ4k9_uwCq5pg/edit UPCOMING EVENTS:
Thursday (9/7): -FOSCS (Parent/Teacher) Meeting in the library at 5:30. Everyone welcome! Friday (9/8): -Year of the Book rollout with author/illustrator AShley Wolff and Summer Reading Bike raffle -BAND for returning members Saturday (9/9): -3:00-6:00 BACK TO SCHOOL BARBECUE and FUN GAMES Families with last names A-L are asked to bring a side dish and K-Z are asked to bring a dessert. The FOSCS group will provide hot dogs and Middlebury College volunteers will be running games. There will also be a book give away, 1 free book per student! Thursday, September 28th-OPEN HOUSE 5:30-6:30 The blog will soon include many photos of your learners throughout their school day. If there is any other information you would like included in these weekly updates please let us know! Thanks so much for helping us to get the year off to a great start! Lili Foster and Bethany Morrissey |