Last summer I had a great experience learning about the Writing Project from Lucy Calkins and other professionals at the Teachers College: Columbia University.  This year is my first implementing the new Writer’s Workshop program and the students are learning new skills to become better writers.  Last week we kicked off our essay writing unit and continued that work into this week. Collaboration and sharing strategies are both huge parts of this program.  Enjoy the pictures!

It’s so nice to be back at school to kick off 2018 with snow, lessons and group fun!  Some students shared their favorite things from the holiday break. Others began writing their resolutions for the New Year.

Although our week was shortened by weather we packed in some engaging math lessons and cultural lessons. Fifth years worked on several fraction lessons while the fourth years wrapped up their second math unit.

In one of our cultural lessons we revisited the Long Black Line, which helped tell the story of the beginning of Earth. Next, we discussed the appearance of humans and how much time passed before they could make and use tools, eventually leading to recording history through their writing.

Lastly, we made sure to use a few minutes each day for some group games in class. Some of their favorites are Four Corners, 7-up and When the Wind Blows.

Miss Hope wants to extend a thank you to all of the students and their families for the beautiful flowers, decorative cards and the birthday snack! We celebrated her birthday on Monday to begin the week.

We look forward to a great second half of the year as we welcome 2018 in the Upper Elementary!

 

We have witnessed a lot of group work and collaboration in the classroom in the first half of the school year.  Students naturally reach out to help each other in follow up work or lessons during work cycle.  During large group lessons I encourage students to work in teams or pairs to solve problems. Then, through discussion the students learn different strategies to solve problems or approach a task.

1:1 student conferences are going very well. I meet with each student one time during the six day schedule rotation. We discuss long term planning, goals and form a closer relationship. I encourage students to bring their own items to discuss at this time too.

We are thrilled at the success of the monthly birthday breakfast!  It is such a great way to recognize birthdays and bring together our class community and their families. Our latest breakfast on Monday celebrated both Finn and Sienna for the month of December. We will celebrate January birthdays towards the end of January after the holiday break.

As 2017 winds down we have been busy in the classroom working cooperatively, writing, sharing reading responses and doing various Montessori sorting activities for math, language and culture.

We encourage making more friendships and building community. One example is by changing up the lunch tables. On Wednesday, we sort students randomly to lunch tables. On Friday, we make large group tables of 6-8 seats and the students choose the table they prefer.  To build community we play group games periodically when we have a few free minutes during the day.

This is a close-knit Upper Elementary classroom consisting of students that love to work together!  They have created a supportive classroom community of learners.  Whether it is during language or math lessons the students are an extension of the teachers as they assist and go to one another for help throughout the day.

Students have been sharing a lot of reading responses lately. A few are game boards based on the books they have read.  Their classmates love to listen and then ask questions or make comments about the books that are shared.

 

Last week the students worked together in three groups to make bread for our school Thanksgiving celebration.  John Dixon ambitiously challenged the students to make bread from scratch using yeast. They made Amish white bread, honey wheat bread and oatmeal bread. We enjoyed the bread together Wednesday before the holiday.

Our field trip to the Hartford Science Center was a blast! We explored all levels of the museum including the newest exhibit, Alien Worlds and Androids. The students had the most fun in the Sight and Sound exhibit.  An extra “thank you” to our parent chaperones, Chris Bojarczyk and Rob Schultz!

We have been very busy over the past week. On Thursday evening we enjoyed Parent/Child Night as children engaged in various lessons with their parents.  Thank you for stopping in to spend some time with your child in their classroom.

Monday was our second sandwich making event.  The students worked together for a worthy cause to provide food for those that are less fortunate. These individuals and families spend time at the St. Vincent DePaul Mission in Waterbury, CT.  We have so much to be thankful for. Thank you again for the donations of supplies and time.

Literature circle began on Monday.  Each group joined together to share their individual role sheets for the first assigned reading selection. Literature role sheets are due each Friday until we complete the book.

Lastly, Jayne, Max’s mother got us connected to a very exciting NASA science experiment.  On Sunday, a rocket was blasted into space to the International Space Station with supplies and experiments. Our classroom will host one of those experiments connected to plant growth.  We watched the video of the rocket launch on Monday.

We concluded our previous week with a community Walk-a-thon around the perimeter of the school to support relief efforts in Puerto Rico. It felt great to not only help a community in need, but to unite as a whole school in this process.

The students completed their self portraits or drawings for the Kageno cultural exchange. They put tremendous effort into their drawings and should be proud of their efforts. We look forward to seeing the drawings and writings from the children in Africa.

Our new class mascot (pygmy marmoset) arrived on Monday. On Tuesday the students provided names to vote on for our new mascot. Those names included, Walla-walla, Fursby, Jason, Ginger and Todd.  The majority of the students were fond of the name, Todd. Please join us in welcoming him to the classroom!  Each weekend a different student will take Todd home and write in his journal about the fun or interesting things they did together. On the following Monday the journal will be shared on circle.