I have enjoyed and appreciated meeting with so many of you this week to discuss your children’s progress, ways to support their goals and continued growth.  I am excited about the work we will begin through the independent research project, the Wonders work and our study of maps, geography and history. We have a lot going on.

What Leads to Success

This week we have been considering success – what is it and how can we help each other achieve it.  It is interesting to stop and really think about “success” to realize that in every moment we have a choice.  We all agree that success is a good thing.  We all hope for it.  We are beginning to understand that success in the moment and success in the future are quite different ideas.  It seems as though the class realizes that success isn’t always easy – especially if you are making choices to try something new or push your understanding.

This week we have been trying to notice moments of success for our class as a whole.  We have been looking for examples of successful behaviors in books and throughout the day as we are working together.  We agree you have to persevere (“don’t give up” is how we have talked about it in class), problem solve and try.  It is best if you are positive – but that isn’t always possible especially when you’ve been trying to the point of feeling discouraged.  Ask you child about Carumba, the cat who couldn’t fly or Jack from Clever Jack Bakes a Cake.  We are all working toward success, but it is not a smooth path all the time.

Persuading Others

We have begun exploring persuasion.  The children are trying to choose their top Wonders – each child has made his or her selections and we have narrowed our list from 18 to 11.  The children have been writing to persuade others to support their Wonder choices.  They are working to state their opinion with a main statement, support it with at least three detailed facts and a concluding statement.  To be honest we have not been able to do much of this work this week – our play practices have used a great deal of our time this week.  I am hoping we are further along next week.  Right now our map of North Hampton is a bit empty.

Mapping Sassafras Springs

Our map of Sassafras Springs is coming along nicely.  Most of our buildings are complete, along with some of the characters.  We have a plan of how we imagine the layout of the town and are in the process of completing our vision.  Perhaps next week our maps will be complete.

Discovery Exploration – Independent Research

Each morning our day begins with a variety of projects.  This week children have been exploring various research topics.  They are learning to research on the computer.  At first most of the children thought they could type in each of their questions, copy down the answer and move on to the next.  They felt frustrated by the “no match found” messages they received.  Little by little they are coming to realize that research doesn’t work that way.  Many of the children have realized that books are more helpful at the start and others are realizing that searching the topic more broadly helps them discover more information.  They are learning to use the computer and different search engines more efficiently.  They seem excited by the information they are discovering and are already planning the different ways they can share their expertise with you.

Through other Discovery Time choices children have been able to turn recyclables into a wide variety of objects with some masking tape, markers and imagination.  Some of the children have explored a variety of maps, magnets and games like Bananagrams  – for spelling and word study – and Exact Change – for money and computation work.

Bits and Pieces –

We have begun a new chapter read-aloud, Wildwood.  It is a new genre – fantasy, adventure.  We have met Pru and Curtis, the main characters and we have moved from the city of Portland, Oregon into the Impassible Wilderness in search of Mac.  Ask your child to tell you more.

Bad Boys and The Web Files are nearly ready for the performance at Newington on Tuesday.  Bad Boys at 6:00 and Web Files at 7:15.

We are focusing more on subtraction and moving onto a beginning exploration of fair shares and dividing groups as we learn about fractions.