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!

School service projects

I would like to thank all of the students and parents who participated in student led conferences they all went really well.  Please remember that to reach some of these goals, we need parent involvement at home.  Practicing multiplication facts and reading aloud to your child is a simple way to get students to excel in class.
Another thing that would be an excellent activity to try at home would be holding weekly family meetings. Each member of the family can have a voice about the household issues and any fun future plans you are making. That way your family can reinforce the positive discipline tools that they are learning in the classroom. These could be a wonderful way for your student to practice leadership and speaking skills by leading the meeting.  Perhaps they could work on writing in the family agenda log by being secretary?  By holding weekly meetings, you can help maintain a consistency between home life and school.

Last week students began on their school service projects.  The students divided into teams based of their interests.  Many of the projects will require outside assistance from parents and the community.  The students    decided that they wanted to form a green outreach team, school beautification crew, newspaper and documentary group, and a fundraising committee.  Students are very excited to be giving back to the community.

The students have been planning a Halloween party this Wednesday.  They decided that they wanted to have a dance party in one room and a movie playing in the other room so students could have an option as to which activity they would like to participate in.  The party will begin right after lunchtime (1:15).  If you would like to help out bringing items to the party please click on the following link. PARTY  We would like to encourage healthy choices for our children so please avoid bringing soda and candy.