The students have been enjoying the beautiful weather everyday while they play and splash at the pool! Many students are making it into the deep end and jumping off the diving boards! Next week our swimming times seem to jump around quite a bit. All swimming still takes place in the morning.
Students have also been very excited to learn how to handwrite! I usually leave this to the end of the year to introduce something that they are really interested in during the long days of June. I had the fortune of working along side an Occupational Therapist last year who lead the cursive writing lessons. Her approach was new to me and I loved it! I was left with the resources and training to teach it "her way" in future years. I'm finding that this method is working wonders this year too! The students are super proud of their fancy writing!
This morning we had two surprise visitors! Cheyenne's mom was on her way to the vet with two of their horses so when she dropped Cheyenne off for the day, she invited us out to the trailer to say hi! The students were thrilled to meet Flicka (light) and Buddy (dark) and a few of us, including me, got a lick from Buddy! What a treat!
MATH
We are just finishing up the section of our measurement unit that focuses on linear measurement. The students enjoyed learning their first math formula! They felt so grown up!
P=S1 + S2 + S3 + S4...
Next, we will be going to measure time (clock and calendar) and mass!
Mrs. Duperron has been wonderful enough to offer to teach our 3D objects and 2D shapes unit during her time! There is some overlap between this math unit and the science building unit. Since she is familiar with both curricular areas, she is the perfect person to teach this unit! I appreciate the time that this gives me to focus a bit more on language arts for the last couple of weeks!
LANGUAGE ARTS
The students and I look forward everyday to the time we spend reading and talking about Wonder! The other day, I asked the students how they would feel if I told them that we wouldn't be able to finish the book by the end of the year. They had such a strong reaction!
"No! That's not fair!"
"How will we know how it all turns out?"
"You can't do that!"
I asked them why they cared so much and their answers were all the same,
"We care about August and we need to know that it all turns out ok for him!"
We talked about how we do get wrapped up in stories when we genuinely care about the characters. Most of them said that this was the first time that they felt this way. That's exactly why I love reading this book to my students! For many of them, this book is a pivotal influence on them as a reader!
The students have also shown tremendous growth in their ability to infer meaning from the text and ask questions during reading. When discussing the chapters as we read through the books, I rarely ask simple comprehension questions like, "Who is August's best friend?" We are focusing on finding meaning and answers to questions that aren't obvious. Questions like:
Why does Miranda carry a picture of August with her in her wallet? What does that tell us about the type of person she is?
I'm excited to finish up this book with the students over the next two weeks! There will be a special over-the-summer homework assignment for students to complete. It's simple but so powerful! It will be included in their report card package.
In writing, we are working very hard to finish up their final stories! Students will be given a bit of time tomorrow to finish up their stories. If students are not finished, it will come home tomorrow for homework. I will provide our class story as a sample to follow and a copy of our story plan and dictionary. Thank you in advance for your support in ensuring that your child finishes their work.
Students are excited to publish their favourite story from this year and we need your help! With report cards and other end of year projects on my plate, I do not have the time to type 19 stories into the computer...this is where you come in! I will email you two attachments: a google doc and a word file. You choose which one works best for you.
The documents will have the headings already in there for you to follow:
setting intro
character/motive
stuck
attempt 1
attempt 2
success
motive carried out
You need to type each paragraph under the proper heading (your child will easily be able to identify these paragraphs). Feel free to fix up spelling and grammatical errors with your child. They have been peer edited but are not perfect. This will be a great opportunity for you to work with your child and see exactly what and how they've been doing in story writing! Once you are finished, please email it back to me and I will take care of the rest. Please have them emailed to me no later than 9am on Monday morning and return all writing scribblers and papers to school on Monday.
If you have any questions or concerns over the weekend, please email me. I will check my work email regulary and get back to you ASAP.
Thank you in advance for making this story publication possible!
That's all for now! With only eleven days left, things are about to get super busy!!!
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