Reading Practice and Prodigy Math and Science Check in

Dear Parents,

It's the last week before vacation and excitement has been building. We've been doing a number of thematic writing activities, like thinking of ways to make a grouch grin, and writing a letter applying to be an elf, as well as our usual reading responses to a variety of books. I'll try to do a holiday round up post to show pictures of student work before we go leave for break.

It's easy to fall back in reading during vacation, so during the winter break, it will be helpful to keep on top of reading as a top priority. If you need support with the Raz kids site, please let me know via email. Here's the main site: https://www.kidsa-z.com/main/students/

In math, we've been focusing on problem solving strategies after finishing our geometry unit (focusing on symmetry). All the math sheets students have been working on in class have gone home and our quizzes have marks on them, so that you know how students are performing. Students with marks at Level 3-, 2+, 2, or 2- should focus on rehearsing these skills because students need more practice.

In order to support this practice, I've signed students up for Prodigy. Look in your Mr. Zippy's tonight for the sign up info. It's an online math game that supports grade appropriate skills for students. It's free, and a good way to practice math over the break. Here's the link to the main site: https://www.prodigygame.com . It's free to use and set up like a video game.

In Science, I sent home a checklist for students to follow through on home energy use last week--but I haven't received most of these back. If you haven't completed it, there's a copy available online. Completing it will help us follow through on energy conservation:  Energy at home pdf

Thanks for all your support of student learning. I know how busy this time of year can be.

Sincerely,

Ms. Goegan

Shoe Challenge--Quick Post

Dear Parents,

We've got Raz kids up and running. I've seen many of you logging on and practicing, which is great. I'm also really noticing that students are beginning to gather speed around reading. We've been working hard! If you need updated password information or missed anything coming home, please let me know and I'll update you.


In other classroom news, today we finished reading Ramona the Brave. In the climax of the novel, Ramona faces off with a very big dog, who she chases off by throwing her shoe. Ramona continues to school shoeless and needs to construct a new shoe out of paper towels. We decided to celebrate finishing the novel by having a bit of a design challenge and make a shoe ourselves. Not everyone is done, but here are some preliminary photos.

Design questions like this are a great way to jumpstart inquiry in the classroom. You can see how engaged students are in the process, how varied the results are, and I look forward to hearing about their thinking processes. 

Sincerely, 

Ms. Goegan