Yesterday as part of our Food Day Celebration, ex-Patriot player, Jermaine Wiggins talked to us about being responsible for doing our part to become successful.  He reminded us that having all kinds of opportunities were useless if we each didn’t make an effort to do our best.  As he spoke I thought of our class.  For most of our class, it isn’t that the children can’t accomplish great things; it is that they don’t choose to.  Hours are frittered away chatting.  Our class will benefit from any reminders from you about what your expectations for their behavior and effort at school.  We will continue those conversations here as well.  Thank you.

Working Effectively in Groups

Social-Emotional Learning

            This week the children worked in small groups to create a write up for the raisin science experiment and again to write the narrative for a blog post reviewing Marty McGuire. Group dynamics are challenging – how do you include everyone, what do you do when some in your group won’t participate, how do you listen, cooperate and compromise.  Through these projects it was interesting to see quiet careful leaders arise in a few cases.  While some groups were all about grabbing the markers out of each other’s hands, other groups were about building consensus and taking pride in doing careful work.  As each of these projects is completed, we will post them for you to see on our blog.

 

 

 

 

 

We also had to work together to complete our Trust Fall challenge with Mr. Caron.  This challenge was about taking risks and trusting others to help and support.  After a rocky start of talking over and through Mr. Caron’s safety instructions we were able to begin.  Half of the class found the courage to take the challenge and fall back into the arms of their classmates.  Others were able to lye under the arms of their classmates to while another fell back into their arms.  Taking risks and working together are also important parts of learning that lead to success.

Writing Well

            We are continuing to set goals for our daily writing.  We have noticed that no matter what type of writing, narrative, persuasive or informational, each piece needs a lead and a conclusion.  Writing also has to flow and transition from idea to idea in a logical way.  We are learning that we have to write enough so that a reader can understand our intention.  And we are learning that our writing can benefit from a plan.

Most of the children have set adding detail and description as a goal for their writing.  Some of them are interested in publishing their work and are willing to revise and work through a drafting process.  They are learning about crafting complete sentences and about the interesting adjectives and strong verbs.  They are listening to their own pieces of writing to find those places were they have included words that give their writing power.

Autumn versus Winter

            Last week we chose a favorite season. This week we selected three main reasons why the chosen season was the best and worked to write a persuasive piece convincing others that the season of our choice is, in fact, the best.  In this writing project we learned how to state our opinion in the lead, support it with facts and then conclude with a statement reaffirming our opinions.  When these pieces of writing are completed we are wondering if others will change their minds based on what we have written.

Bits and Pieces:

• Now that we know raisin seem to float and dance when buoyed up by the carbon dioxide bubbles of soda, we decided to see if other things of similar size would do the same.  See if your child can describe what they discovered and learned through their experiment.
• Remember your “Who Am I?” project is due on next week.  We will be celebrating science and scientists on Thursday with a special presentation given a scientist from the SEE Science Center from Manchester.
• We are reading the second Marty McGuire book called Marty McGuire Digs Worms.  Ask your child what they suspect is going to happen with the worm project.
• We voted for the state Ladybug Book Award.  Have your child explain their choice to you.
• We learned more about healthy choices and being safe and responsible with Mrs. Yeaton.