Newsletter: Week Seven

Dear Families,

I hope those of you who made it out to the zoo with us had a good time. Everyone is always excited for this school-wide trip. Two years ago I asked my second grade class to observe and code the behaviors of flamingoes. Last year my third graders launched an inquiry into whether zoos were good or bad. We used the field study to compare what we saw with what we were reading in various books, articles, and essays. This year our focus was on being careful observers. The groups sat to observe a couple of things during their trip and then sketched these into their journals. A good sketch is always accompanied with some labels or descriptive text – not to mention a few meaningful thoughts or questions. It was a good time. Be sure to ask for a first-hand report.

In the classroom this week we worked on…

• Establishing literacy partners who will help push us in our independent
reading
• Recognizing the internal conversation that takes place in our heads as we
read
• Building numbers with blocks to better understand place value and build
solving more complex addition and subtraction problems
• Organizing our memoirs and noticing different ways authors choose to begin
their pieces
• Designing and conducting experiments with our seeds
• Learning where our food comes from and wondering how it gets there
• Learning a new plant song and deciding whether we liked our “Building
Community” song as an acoustic piece or a crunchy electric piece (This vote
was not close!)

Our visit to the grocery store sparked an interest (or at least curiosity) in different types of foods. When asked what foods they saw that they had never tried but would like to they answered… kiwi, cauliflower, raspberry, blackberry, pineapple, blueberry, okra, onion, plum, peaches, beets, red/green/yellow pepper, mango, turnip greens, coconut, and oranges. I’m going to pick up a few of these over the weekend and we’ll enjoy a tasting party to see what these foods taste like.

Remember that next week we go to the City Roots Farm and farmer’s market on Tuesday. If anyone is interested in joining us please let me know. We’d love to have you along. I’ve heard the farm is an extraordinarily interesting place and I’m excited to see it myself. Afterward, while visiting the farmer’s market, I’m going to grab a few fresh items from local farms to bring back. We’ll use these to conduct a taste test – Farmer’s Market Produce vs Grocery Store Produce. We’ll see if it actually does taste fresher. (Of course, this decision will be made by a population who think Fruit Roll-Ups are very delicious so there’s no telling what we’re going to find!)

Because this is an unusually short newsletter I’m going to attach a number of photos to help tell the story of our week.

Have a great weekend,
Chris

Extra HW for Tuesday Night!!!

Today the kids chose a memoir piece from their writing journals that they'd like to publish.We spent some time walking around the room telling this story to others in the class. The kids then took about twenty minutes to make a timeline of the events of the story. I modeled this for them before asking them to do their own. Most finished this in class. A few did not. I'm asking everyone to bring these timelines home tonight and use them to tell you the story. I've asked them to work at making it as long as possible. Please take a few minutes to listen to their story and to look over their timeline. If your child did not finish the timeline in class please give them the opportunity to do so at home. We will need all these timelines back in the classroom tomorrow so we can begin drafting.

Homework: September 26 - 30

1. List five food crops that are harvested in April/May, June/July/August, and September/October. The kids are bringing a sheet home for this. It is due on WEDNESDAY of this week. We're using these to prepare for our field study next week.

2. Reading log. It is due next Monday.

Newsletter: Week Six

Dear Families,

This week we celebrated a very big accomplishment – we finished writing our first song together. What started with a few simple chords and two lines from Connor grew into a full piece with many verses, a catchy chorus, and a change-of-pace bridge. The song is truly a collaborative piece. After writing a few verses together as a whole group Ms. Brinson and I sent the kids out in groups of threes to write a verse for the song. Each group was assigned one of our class’ Rights and Responsibilities to focus their verse on. The theme of the song was building community.

After the kids created their verses I took everything home and spent a week or so putting their work together in a cohesive manner and adding in a chorus and bridge. The end result is quite nice. They are all SO proud to now call themselves songwriters. I’m attaching the lyrics for our song to the end of this newsletter. We’ll be performing it for the first time at our Gathering two weeks from today, October 7th. We hope you can be there to hear it. If not, never fear. We’ll perform it again for you during our first Curriculum Night.

Other than putting the final touches on our song we’ve done quite a lot this past week. We began with a discussion of what we believe reading to be. The kids offered:

Sitting and reading a book and learning new words; helping you learn bigger
words; looking at words; learning about things; finding words you forgot;
reading is thinking and imagining; helping you prepare for school; chunking
parts of words; making illustrations; saying the words on the page; looking
at words and making sense of them; and it’s good for you.

We’re learning now that reading is about more than just looking at words and illustrations on a page. It’s much more than combining letters and syllables. Rather, reading is thinking. So much goes on in our heads when we sit and really become engaged in a text. We envision the story, activate prior knowledge, make connections, ask questions of the text, make predictions, and more. If you’re not thinking, you’re not reading. With this in mind we worked as readers this week to envision the text as we read it. The kids made a variety of sketches, they listened to stories with their eyes closed, and turned to describe how they thought key characters and scenes might look. Reading should never be passive – certainly not if our goal is to understand what it is we’re reading.

We worked as scientists this week as we observed, sketched, and took notes on a couple of different critters. On Tuesday we spent time looking closely at crickets. Using hand lenses, and equipped with their science journals, the kids sketched what they saw and created lists of physical and behavioral observations. Some tried to move beyond observations to inferences, such as “He’s trying to claw his way out of the bottle.” We’re moving toward using our observations to create inferences that we can then test. I stopped them at one point to ask, “Isn’t this so much better than just reading this from a book?!” As much as I love books there’s something to be said for a truly authentic study. Later in the week we studied some worms Mr. O brought in for us. Again, the kids listed physical and behavioral observations. This time, though, they also started generating questions they wondered about.

After working with the people at their tables the kids came back to the front of the room and pooled together portions of their information. Some of their questions included:

What kinds of worms are there? Do worms NOT like light?
Which part is the head? Do they have to live in soil?
What body parts are inside a worm? What happens when you cut one in half?
Do worms have ears to hear? Do they have eyes?
Are there boy and girl worms? Why is there a point at one end of the worm?
How long can they get? Do worms throw up?


These types of experiences are at the very heart of inquiry. This is not reading three pages from a science text and then answering a question or two at the end. The kids are very much living the life of a scientist. They are making careful observations, beginning to develop inferences, and thinking of questions they’d like to explore. This will serve them well as we enter into our first expert projects of the year in a few weeks – an animal you’d love to better understand.

As we learn about animals we are also dipping into the world of plants (as a food source) as well. Thanks to everyone for sending in those great seeds. We had such great variety to sketch, sort, and discuss. We’re planning to use these in classroom experiments very soon. As part of this study we’ll be taking a field study week after next to City Roots Farm. This is an urban farm in downtown Columbia. We’ll learn about farming, composting, beekeeping, and more. We’ll then head over to the Farmer’s Market to learn about farms in our state and grab a piece of fruit or two for lunch. I may walk the kids over to Bi-Lo at some point as well to see where the produce we eat is grown (have you seen the oranges from South Africa?). I’ll continue to work out the specifics and let you know what our plans are next week.

Have a great weekend,

Chris

Building Community

We love science,
we love math
Art and music
and computer lab

Goin' to recess
to play O-ball
Talkin' with friends
but that's not all

Tellin' jokes
that make us laugh
We get along
yes, that's a fact

We’re buidin’ community
To live in harmony
Friendship is the key
To this community

Help each other
in every way
So we can have a
beautiful day

Care about others
Invite them to play
Everyone’s included
That’s our way

Be nice to new friends
In the whole school
Because we know friends
Are so, so cool

[[CHORUS]]


Use your manners
Open your ears
Do what’s right
And save your tears

Work out problems
All of the time
Share with others, don’t
Fuss and whine

Maisy, Ashley,
And our friend Trent
Give lots of
Nice compliments

So can you, so can we
So should you, so should we

We love science,
we love math
Art and music
and computer lab

Goin' to recess
to play O-ball
Talkin' with friends
but that's not all

Tellin' jokes
that make us laugh
We get along
yes, that's a fact

[[CHORUS]]

Origami Petal Boxes

We learned to make origami petal boxes in class today. We'll be using these for a math engagement on Friday. If anyone would like to make more at home here is a link to a You Tube video showing you how. (As with all You Tube videos, you may want to preview the comments below the video before allowing your kids to watch. These comments change daily and are sometimes inappropriate.)


www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjviEp1UQZw

Newsletter: Week Five

Dear Families,

Ms. Mahawold’s fourth grade class provided our CFI community with a thought for the week: “Just like the water cycle, what comes around goes around.” I couldn’t help but think of this as multiple people, including me, missed school due to illness this past week. There were obviously some germs both coming and going around. We’ll make sure to wash or hands often but don’t be surprised if we make a request for an extra box or two of tissues in the coming weeks.

There were some really cool things going on in the classroom these past five days. One of my favorites was an unequal resources simulation we did on Monday and Tuesday. The kids were split into five groups, each representing a different community. I explained to them they were the government for their community and, thus, presented with the responsibility of providing their constituents with opportunities for education, industry, food, shelter, and clothing. To accomplish this they needed to complete tasks such as: create four gold strips that are three inches by one inch, make a blue “T” that is four inches high, create a four-page book in two different colors, create a four-link paper chain using four different colors, and create a two inch white square with a yellow triangle attached to the top for a roof. The catch? Each of the groups received different (and often incomplete) collections of resources. After about five or ten minutes of complaints and concern they got down to business. Some groups found new, or even old fashioned, ways to complete tasks. Others traded resources with neighboring communities. Others, still, shared the wealth with no expectation of anything in return. It was a great experience. In the end we looked at what everyone created and noted some interesting results.

Based on the resources available, products looked different from one community to another. Looking in a book of homes around the world we found this same thing to be true in the real world.

Some creations were more crude than others when the tools they had available were less advanced (fingers vs scissors). We also noted that some of our governments were unable to provide everything for their communities because too much time was wasted due to disorganization or squabbling. Does this sound familiar in a real world context?

In math we continued to explore addition and subtraction. On Wednesday I posed the problem “How many pockets do you think we have all together?” We discussed the difference between an estimate and a guess. The kids made estimates and then counted their own pockets, recorded these on post-its, and brought them to the front of the room to add to a graph.

We found that the range was 0 -12 pockets and the mode (most) was zero pockets. Seeing these numbers displayed across the board the kids revised their estimates. They next broke out into table groups to calculate how many pockets their table had. These numbers were brought back to the front of the room and recorded so everyone could once again revise their estimates based on new, and more manageable, number sets. I then brought out some snap cubes and we used them to add the pockets from each table: 20 + 21 + 10 + 4 + 18. We found that the class had a total of 73 pockets. We’ll revisit this question later in the year. The clothes will change and the follow-up questions will become increasingly more complex.

Lastly, I hope you’ve heard we have a new friend in second grade. Chandler Robertson joined us from Forest Lake Elementary School. Chandler has already demonstrated a love for reading in the classroom and O-ball at recess. We can’t wait to get to know him over the coming weeks and months.

Notes of Interest:
 Our school-wide trip to the Riverbanks Zoo will be on September 30th. Please make certain to return those permission slips.

 Opening Picnic will be September 22.

 One component of next week’s homework will be to bring in a seed (or seeds) to share with the class. This can come from a piece of fruit, your garden, or the store. I just wanted to let you know before the weekend begins in case it will be easier for you to secure these on Saturday or Sunday.

Have a great weekend,
Chris

Newsletter: Week Four

Friday, September 9, 2011

“Human communities depend on a diversity of talent, not a singular conception of ability.”
- Ken Robinson

Dear Families,

I love that quote. It’s so short yet says so much. I think of it each and every time I’m called on to administer the PASS test in the spring. It hurts me to see everything the kids know and understand boiled down to a numerical value or label. No matter how hard the powers that be try, they will never be able to assess who our kids are with a test booklet and scantron.

Still, assessments are important. Extremely important. They help me find the direction my teaching needs to take in the coming moments, days, weeks, and beyond. I assess in the classroom every single day. From anecdotal notes to miscue analysis of reading to math journals, the kids share themselves with me as readers, writers, mathematicians, scientists, and community members. What I learn helps me do so much more than assign alphabetic grades or group kids into learning groups.

One really important assessment I use each Monday is the weekly reading log the kids bring back in from home. It helps me see who is committed to reading nightly, who makes good book choices, who reads too quickly or too slowly, who finishes books, and who abandons them. While I’m not a big fan of having kids fill out reading logs each night (frankly, when do adults ever do this?), the amount of information I can glean from these artifacts is priceless. Please help to make sure your child is completing this log accurately. I ask that the kids read five nights each week for a minimum of twenty minutes.

A bit ago I asked the kids what great books their families were reading to them at home. Only a small handful of kids raised their hands. Okay, I said, Then tell me a really great book your parents read to you over the summer. Not a single person raised their hand. I think I started to hyperventilate. The importance of reading with, to, and beside our children cannot possibly be overstated. We need to make certain that we’re carving out time each night for reading. However, I knew, too, that kids are not always the best transmitters of accurate and timely information. Later in the day I sent an e-mail asking you the same question. Fortunately, I received a good deal more feedback. Eleven families shared some books that their kids are really enjoying, or have enjoyed, at home. These titles include:

Magic Treehouse, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Cat in the Hat, Phantom of the Opera, Gooseberry Park, Franny K Stein, Frog and Toad, Anything by Shel Silverstein, Green Eggs and Ham, If You Give a Mouse a Pancake, Little House on the Prairie, Children’s Encyclopedia of World History, Flat Stanley, Invention of Hugo Cabret, and Uncle Wiggily and Alice in Wonderland.

What a great, diverse list. If you’re feeling a bit unsure what direction your reading at home should take next you might want to access this list of high interest books. In any case, make sure reading is a part of each and every night.

Have a great weekend,
Chris

Homework: September 6 - 9

1. Read twenty minutes and log your reading. You should read five of the seven nights this week.

2. Play "15 Number Cross Out" against someone at home.

These are both due next Monday.

Newsletter: Week Three

Dear Families,

This past week found us talking a lot about community. Of course, we used the feedback from you about ways our community has changed during the time you’ve lived here. The kids reported back that there’s more traffic, businesses, and jobs. Families are seeing more houses and, thus, more neighbors. Schools are to be found at nearly every turn. “Green” roadways are seeing more and more concrete and fast food signs.

We also talked this week about the role of laws in a community. Asked who creates these laws the kids answered “the government.” That’s great, I said. But who exactly is the government? They responded “the governor,” “the president,” and “the sheriff.” I followed these responses with a request that they head home to ask a parent who makes our laws. Did you know???

The kids then worked to write laws that they felt are important for a neighborhood. Some included:

• Don’t steal
• Don’t feed wild animals
• Don’t speed
• Help others
• No killing
• Don’t smoke

We then turned our study to that of our own classroom community. We revisited the list of rights and responsibilities created on our first day together. So how are we doing with these, I asked. The class responded that we’re good at cleaning up and caring for others who are hurt. On the flip side they said we were really not very good at being a friend to everyone and sitting next to people who will help us to listen and behave. I thought this was an awfully accurate assessment. Each day we continue down the path to learning what it means to listen attentively, think hard, and share out. We are talking a lot about the importance of using kind words, considering the effects of our body language, and being a friend. There’s no greater goal than to learn to live, work, and play as a close community that supports and praises one another. This growth will allow us to accomplish so many incredible things together. Be sure to ask your child how it’s going.

Have a great long weekend,
Chris