Class Elections and Great Learning

We are excited to announce our newly elected class officials; Aidan/president, Max/vice president, Kai and Mateo/judges, Fallon/secretary, Lizzie/treasurer.  The class elections were much like our national elections, it was a very close race! I would like to thank everyone who participated in our election. One thing that we all learned from the speeches that the students gave was about the branches of government.  This is an important concept to understanding the concepts behind the U.S. constitution and its significance as the foundation of the American republic (standard 5.7).

Last week, we began our new book clubs.  The class is either reading Island of the Blue Dolphins or Holes. We are using these wonderful novels to fulfill the standard of analyzing grade-level-appropriate text (standard 3.0).  Each day, we are reading a chapter or two then we are generating a written response in our reading journals.  Our focus last week was identifying the setting the story and making predictions about what will happen next in the story.  We also began looking at the character traits of the main characters of the story (standard 3.3).

The focus in social studies has been understanding the political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved during the colonial era (standard 5.4).  Ask your child what the significance of the Mayflower compact was.  Tell them to explain what The House of Burgesses was or what the difference between a Puritan and Separatist is.  This coming week, students will be acting in the play-"Starving Time."  This is a short skit that clearly illustrates the hardships that the first settlers of Jamestown faced.

We have made great progress last week on our service projects.  The students managed to obtain several highly qualified scientists to come in and speak to the class about environmental issues.  Students are making phone calls, recruiting parent volunteers, and creating plans to manage and budget their projects.  It is wonderful see the level of engagement rise when students are making real word connections and finding their learning purposeful!