Awesome Learners!

I would like to first of all thank all of the students and parents who came to the student led conferences last week, they went really well.

We have been doing so many great things so far this year. Our class started brainstorming outcomes to our science project, "How can we create a more sustainable school?" We decided that we would like to begin building water collection units to gather precious rain water. We looked at averages of rainfall in San Diego and the importance of saving water, especially with the rising costs of water. Also, we are gong to begin researching and reporting on what other schools have done to become more "green." Hopefully we will get some good ideas about what we can do at school and in our local communities to make our lives more sustainable. For language arts we are starting to draft our autobiographical narratives. We should be completing them by next week, so we will be having our publishing celebration soon. The book reports that we have been working on this month are going to be due on the 1st of November, as decided by our class.

By the way, this Friday, October 28th is our first day of clubs. If your child is in my Ultimate Frisbee club, please make sure that they wear the proper attire (sneakers, and shorts).

SLC

This week we are going to be having our student led conferences. These are not parent teacher conferences. At Innovations Academy, we believe that the most purposeful learning occurs when students take ownership for their own education. When ownership is taken, students feel empowered to make more important choices, and ultimately become more involved in their lifelong learning process. I will be sending home reminders to each parent tomorrow that will have your time slot in addition to a goal setting sheet that needs to be completed prior to the conference. This will be an opportunity to hear your child's voice about how they view their education. We can discuss what our day looks and feels like, what is going well, and what they might be able to improve upon. If you have not signed up for a conference please email me or call me 619-972-6032. I will be happy to set up a time slot with you. Also, don't forget that Wednesday through Friday all school days will be minimum days with a 12:00 dismissal.

October is Here! Drivers Needed!

I can't believe that it is October already! My how time seems to fly when we are having fun. October is a busy month and there are many important announcements. The first is that we are planning a field trip to the San Diego Zoo next Thursday, October 13. I will need to have at least 5 drivers to shuttle students to and from the zoo.All students will need to have a sack lunch. While we are at the zoo we will be learning about the food web cycle. Students will be looking for organisms in each of the categories; producers, consumers, decomposers. This activity is in conjunction with our current project "schoolyard ecology." This will fit into a larger project entitled Super cool School. This project will incorporate science standards into a book that the students will create. Our essential question will be "How can our school be a model for ecological/energy sustainability?"
Also, next week we will have no school on the 14th because of a staff development day. This month we are also having our student led conferences on the 19th through the 21st. These days will be half days for the school. Student-led conferences will be a time to reflect on the year so far and make goal for the rest of the year.