Ms. Arnold’s Classroom News (11/16/14)
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What We've Been Up To:
What We've Been Up To:
It may have been short, but our week sure was productive!
*Publishing Party: On Friday we had a BLAST celebrating our Kevin Henkes-inspired stories! Students demonstrated their ability to learn from illustrator mentors in their animal diaries, and this time around they demonstrated their ability to write like our mentor author! Bravo, writers! Their amazing stories were sent home on Friday. I hope you enjoy reading them!
Check out a sample story, courtesy of Destiny!
The end of this fabulous writing unit lends itself nicely into our next unit: realistic fiction. Afterall, Kevin Henkes' stories are all realistic fiction (well, except for the whole mouse thing!). Students began exploring this genre this past week and will begin developing complex characters this upcoming week.
*Science: This week, the owl class was empowered to see themselves as scientists.
After lots of discussion as to what is science, what is a scientist, and what do scientists do, they were ready to begin the work of scientists! On Thursday, Mr. Goldsmith came to observe them (and me!) in action. We looked closely at how scientists always begin with a question: something they want to understand or prove. First, we brainstormed a lot of questions. They quickly learned that some questions can be considered "research questions"--questions we could look up in a book, on the internet, or interview someone to find an answer; whereas other questions could be experimental. Next, they took the time to explore the question: What makes a ball bounce well? Working in table teams, each student received a different ball, and they went to town trying to answer that question! What they learned: they had a lot more questions!
We will continue this great science work for the next several weeks---and then apply these skills for life!
*Report Card Envelopes: Report cards were sent home on Friday. Please return the envelopes, with your signature, on Monday, Nov. 17th. You should have received a copy of your child's progress notes when we met for parent conferences. If you need another copy of this document, or have any questions, please just let me know!
*Recess: Students go outside for recess everyday unless it is raining or dangerously cold. Please be sure your child has appropriate clothing to stay warm. As always, please make sure all clothing has your child’s name in it so we can help keep things from getting lost.
Have a great week!
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