March 13

Hello Families,

I will see all of you in the next two weeks at conferences, but wanted to remind you to check out the class SeeSaw page for posts from your children about what we do each week.  Of course, you will also get a chance to see some of their work in person at conferences.  Students are encouraged to join us.  You can find a copy of the schedule through the googledoc, on the blog page, and/or on our SeeSaw page. 

I hope you heard about how successful and meaningful the 1st annual Disability Awareness day was this week.  Students got to hear from a panel of people living with disabilities, and then participated in simulations in which they had the opportunity to experience what it might be like to live with a physical or mental disability.  Very powerful stuff!!

In math we continue to focus on a variety of strategies for solving larger multiplication problems, and problems involving fractions or decimals.  Here is a link to the very helpful unit overview. 

Students completed one personal narrative before February break and have just barely started on a 2nd one which we will again work through the writing process.  In April, we will be studying US History and our next big writing piece will be an informative piece related to a US History topic.  

I'm hoping you all saw a copy of the directions for the March share (which is optional this month - but I'm hoping curiosity will win and most kids will do something....).  The share is fully choice - students pick a space related topic and the presentation format!  Students will start presenting these next week.  They've also been working on designing an experiment that will allow them to answer "How does shadow length and direction change throughout the day?".  All partnerships are designing these completely on their own which requires them to apply what they already know and  be flexible and willing to revise their design plans if necessary!  We hope to test out these experiments tomorrow (weather dependent of course....). 

And finally, we are in the process of planning end of the year field trips.  We are considering a trip to Montreal, Quebec to visit the Biodome and Planetarium.  To do this we would need every child to have an original or certified copy of his or her birth certificate.   We would also need a signed permission form - kids from families of divorce will need a notarized permission form and both signatures and contact information for both parents.  If accessing a birth certificate or the required signatures will be a hardship for your family, please let us know as soon as possible. Thanks.

See you all soon!!