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!    

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!