Exhibition Night was Fantastic!

I would like to first of all thank all of the families who made it out to exhibition night.  I really enjoyed having the students share all of the important work they have been doing. During the exhibition, parents and students filled out a mid-year check in to give us some feedback on how the home learning goals are going that we set during SLCs .  If you did not attend exhibition night, please fill the form out and return it to school as soon as possible.  Many students are still in need of extra practice with math times tables and independent reading at home.

To celebrate how hard we have been working, we have planned some fun field trips next week.  On Tuesday, we are going to Balboa Park for free museums.  The free museums are; The Museum of Art, The Mingei International, The Museum of Man, and The Japanese Friendship Garden. On Thursday we are going ice skating at the San Diego ice arena.  The cost for the ice skating is $8.00 per person. I made a mistake on my previous blog post, we will be leaving for ice skating at 12:00. We will need parent drivers to make these trips possible. Please click on the link to sign up (drivers).

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Exhibition Night!

This week we are going to be having our Exhibition Night. This event is held only twice a year, so participation is mandatory. This Thursday night, from 5:00-8:00 pm, each student will be presenting what they are working on for their service-learning projects.Our current projects involve making big changes in our community.  Our students are changing their worlds in ways that reflect their unique interests and talents.  Students have taken on big jobs for 5th graders. Our Beautification Team has plans of beautifying the school through artwork and gardening efforts.  The Green Team is making our school greener through educating the student body and the immediate community about environmental issues and making green changes on campus.  The Newspaper Crew is creating a school newspaper.  Their current issue is 5th Grade-specific but we look forward to a campus-wide paper!  Our Fundraisers are raising money in a variety of ways for our class to use for project supplies and field trips.  They are also our field trip planners! We also have the Documentary Crew.  They are creating a Documentary about our school because they think we are doing something unique here at I.A. and they want to get the word out.  Our documentary group will be having two show times at 5:30 & 7:30.We are still in need of parent volunteers in the afternoon.  We are currently managing six projects at once and things would definitely run smoother if we had extra parent support during that time.  Ideally, we would like to have one adult per group, that would mean four more adults in addition to me and Alexis.  Our project time is from 2:00-3:00 Tuesday-Thursday.  Please email me or just drop by during this time if you would like to help.  Last week we had an opportunity to go and visit Chicano park.  Prior to going to the park, students wrote research papers about the history of the park and the muralists who created the paintings.  It was so wonderful to hear one of my students, Julia, recount the history of the park to the rest of the class.  It is so awesome to see the fruition of our work here at IA- when the students become the experts. 

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Stepping it up!

I would like to first of all thank all of our parent volunteers who have come in during school hours to help assist with projects and the Friday bake sale!  We really couldn't do it without your continuing support.  We are still looking for parent helpers to come in to class during project time.  We are currently managing six projects at once and things would definitely run smoother if we had extra parent support during that time.  Ideally, we would like to have one adult per group, that would mean four more adults in addition to me and Alexis.  Our project time is from 2:00-3:00 Tuesday-Thursday and Friday 9:30-11:30.  Please email me or just drop by during this time if you would like to help.

In language arts this week, we completed our final drafts for our personal narratives.  Alexis and I have had a blast reading the stories.  You can really hear the students' voice come through the writing.  Remember that if you would like to read your child's work, you can do so at any time via Google drive.  Each student is presently working on a research paper that is tied into their service learning project.  Students were given questions to take research note cards on.  The focus has been to put the content and ideas into their own words before creating a rough draft.  After doing their research rough drafts, students are getting peer feedback before their final drafts. Most students are finished with their research and rough drafts. Once we complete these, each student will be posting their work on to their blogs.

The school beautification group has been researching the significance and impact of the murals at Chicano Park.  Next week we are planning to have a field trip to the park on Thursday, December 6th.  We will be leaving at 9:30 and planning on staying for 1 hour.  Hopefully we will have enough parent drivers to take the entire class.  If we aren't able to get enough drivers, we will at least be taking the beautification group. Please click on the following link to sign up (drivers).

I'm pleased to say that students are really getting into their book clubs.  Each class is roughly half way through their books.  The skills we have been focusing on are using visualization of the text, making text to self connections, reading aloud, and summarizing the key points of the story.  Ask your child what is their favorite part of the story so far.  Also be sure to keep up with the 20 minute nightly reading goal that we set during student led conferences.

This Thursday evening we are asking for parents to come and show support for our charter renewal. The school board will be meeting at 4100 Normal St. 92103 at 5:00.  If you would like to speak to the board about our school please email me and let me know.  It is important for the board to hear why you think our school's charter should be renewed.  Thanks again for all of your continuing support!