Peregrine Press

October 27-31

 

Schedule:

Monday:  Mock Election; Buddy Lunch; All School Meeting

Tuesday: Out and About to the Tom McCall Forest (nature study)

Wednesday: PE

Thursday: Art; Running Club

Friday: Halloween Celebration

 

*For our Halloween Celebration I would like to make "dirt cups" again which includes: gummy worms, chocolate pudding, graham crackers and spoons.  If anyone would like to contribute any of these things please let me know.  (The puddings need to be individually packaged.)

*We have had some difficulty being respectful in class lately.  Several students are not responding to the quiet signals and they are not picking up their messes.  Half of the class is consistently respectful so I feel that this is especially unfair to them.  I am hoping that the weekend was a necessary refresh for everyone and we can start anew this week.

 

Last Week:

Monday and Tuesday groups took turns presenting their research on the branches of government, citizenship and how laws are made.  I was really pleased with how well the groups worked together and presented their information.  Each member participated in the prep work and the presentations.  Students will do several group projects throughout this year and it is essential that they learn how to cooperate and pull their own weight.

 

To prepare for the mock election and also to practice persuasive writing techniques, each student wrote a persuasive essay on a topic of their choice.  Some chose the presidential candidates and other chose issues close to them.  On Friday they were given the opportunity to share their essay with the class and I was pleasantly surprised with how many students decided to share.  They wrote very persuasive essays and should be proud of the work the accomplished.

 

Wednesday we were lucky enough to be audience members for the presentation of Honk Jr. and it was great!  The actors and actresses performed beautifully and it was such an engaging story that all eyes were on stage the whole time.  When we returned to the school students had only nice things to say about the performance.

 

Friday we completed our 2^nd week of goal reflections.  I made it one of MY goals to have goal reflections at least every other Friday and so far it has been going well.  It is really important for students to reflect on the goals they have set for themselves.  This way we can see how to make progress in reaching them.

 

**I had 10 students forget to turn homework in this week.  Remember that even if they don't have a packet of activities to do, they need to fill in that log that states things they do at home that works towards a goal.  All of the students should know this routine and understand this responsibility by now because it will only help them in the long run.

 

This Coming Week:

Our class is responsible for presenting at the all school meeting on Monday at 1:00 in the Rogers Room at the Library.  We will be sharing all the words that the different classes came up with for the kind of community we want to be a part of.  After much creative brainstorming, the class has decided to share a "rap" that encompasses the words that describe our community.  The rap was written by a small group of our boys, and has gone through some editing with the class and it is going to be great! I love that the students were able to come up with such a unique way of presenting the information that we were asked to share.

 

This week we will begin our study of heritage.  On Friday I sent home two different papers that are the start to the project. Much of the work will be done at school, but there are some components that require your help.  Please set aside some time to have your child interview you about your heritage.  Also, I am asking that they write about a story that is important to the family.  They will write the final draft in class, so what they do at home can be sloppy.  The third thing I am asking is that each child bring in a recipe of a favorite family dish.  If there is a story that goes along with that that would be great. 

 

   Tuesday we will head to the Tom McCall Forest to get ready for outdoor school.  We will look at animal adaptations and tree/plant identification. 

 

 

Upcoming Events:

November 11-14: Outdoor School

November 20^th:  Heritage Sharing with Cornelius Elementary 4^th Graders (at Cornelius Elementary School)

 

 

Peregrine Press

October 20-24

 

Schedule

Monday:  Italics Class; Running Club

Tuesday: No Out and About

Wednesday:  Honk! Performance at Theatre in the Grove 10:00; PE

Thursday: Art

 

Updates:

We started off the week with literacy circles.  The literacy circle books that were assigned were short for this first round because I wanted the students to become familiar with the routine.  In the next few weeks students will be starting longer books that should take several weeks to get through.  All activities should be done at school, however, if students misuse their time, they may have additional work come home. These literacy circle activities give students a chance to read out loud to their peers, work on vocabulary development, learn the story elements, and review grammar.

 

Another major activity involved the study of government.  Students were in groups that researched and prepared a presentation on a specific aspect of the government.  This week the groups will present on their topic and be responsible for teaching their peers about what they learned.  The topics include:  Legislative Branch, Executive branch, Judicial Branch, How Laws are made, and Citizenship.

 

On Monday we participated in a Solv project at the A.T. Smith House.  The students helped clear out weeds, blackberry bushes and also softened up some dirt so a garden can be planted.  Ask your children about why the A.T. Smith house is important.  They can also share some things they learned about that very historic home.   

 

To help students develop and improve their writing and editing skills I have buddied them up with a peer that will help them.  Last week we did a fun activity where they were using their imaginations to write silly stories and after each sentence was written, the buddy was responsible for helping with editing.  The biggest hurdle we will face with writing is really paying attention to editing.  So many students have great ideas, but they don't necessarily want to take the time to check their spelling and punctuation. 

 

This Week

This week the students will learn about the different presidential candidates, and measures, then they will be responsible for writing a persuasive essay taking one side.  We will learn about persuasive techniques and also the essential components of a 5 paragraph essay.

 

Upcoming Events

All school Meeting and Buddy Lunch October 27^th 

Mock Election October 27th

 

 

 

Peregrine Press

October 13-17

 

Schedule:

Monday: Solv project at A.T. Smith House  (12:00-2:00); Italics Class

Tuesday: No Out and About; Outdoor School Info Night 6:30-7:30 at the school (PLEASE COME IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS)

Wednesday:  PE

Thursday: Art

Friday: Fire Safety Week Visit to the Fire Hall for a tour

 

****Please return Outdoor School Medical form ASAP.  I need to get those turned in this week.

    

Last Week:

Our short week was pretty full of activities.  Monday we listened to the last of the Colonial Life presentations and then the students reflected on the work they did for the whole project.  Overall students did well and learned a great deal through this project.

We also started the Italics class with Robin and I am really excited about the enthusiasm the students expressed.  They really like the idea of drawing their letters instead of writing their letters.

We finished the day with Running Club and the mean, median, mode and range for the data collected.  The students are really starting to get the hang of this process.

 

Tuesday we trekked out to the Washington County Election Office in Beaverton.  The students did a phenomenal job riding the bus and the max.  I never had to worry about students making unsafe choices.  It was a bit crammed on the ride back, but I just think many of the students liked the opportunity to stand on the bus.  The students learned about the mail-in voting process we have here in Oregon and then we were given "official" ballots for the students to sign that asked them to vote for their favorite movie star and pet. I actually think the voting part was more fun for some of the students than the election office visitJ.  This coming week we will tally the votes and announce the winners.

 

This Week:

This week students will study the branches of government and citizenship.  Be prepared for students to bring home an interview and a family tree activity in the next few weeks as we connect our study of citizenship and heritage (Students will create a heritage collage).  In the next month our class will be developing a relationship with a class at Cornelius Elementary School that we will then share our heritage collages with. 

This week we will continue grade level math (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday).  We will also start literacy circles.  The students will be in small groups with an assigned book they will read together.  They will have activities each day that will support vocabulary development and comprehension skills.

Friday we will head out to the Fire Hall for Fire Safety Week.  The students will go on a tour of the station.  I would also like to connect our study of government with how our Fire Department is funded.

 

 Upcoming Events

October 22^nd: 10:00 am "Honk" performance at Theater in the Grove (Please send $5.00 with your child to pay for the ticket.  I am sorry if it feels like we are requesting a lot of money lately. L )

October 27^th: All School Meeting

 

 

Peregrine Press

October 6-10

 

Schedule

Monday: Italics class; Running Club

Tuesday: Out and About to the Election Office in Beaverton (We will take Tri-met)

Wednesday and Thursday: Goal Setting Conferences (No School)

Friday: No School for State In-Service Day

 

Last Week:

What an eventful week!  We spent a great deal of time this week working on our Colonial Journals.  The students wrote their final drafts and then created old fashioned looking covers.  At the Celebrations of Learning, most students were able to share the final products of this project.  They learned the geography of the colonies, a timeline of major events and what daily life was like.  At the Colonial Day celebration students shared their journal entries and we enjoyed some lovely tea and delicious treats made by many of the students.  We have quite the culinary experts in this class.

 

Laura took us out to the play yard on Tuesday for some fun teambuilding challenges.  Our class worked very well together and I can really see the benefits of this teambuilding in the classroom.

 

Thursday we ventured out to B Street Permaculture farm.  The students spent some quiet time in nature, journaling and reflecting.  Then we were given a tour of the farm which allowed some Angora rabbit petting, goat and chicken feeding and the garlic planting.  It was quite an eventful day.

 

To help students prepare for goal setting conferences we spent some time discussing goals and how we set goals.  In this class I would like the students to set a few "SMART" goals.

S: Specific

M: Measurable

A: Attainable

R: Relevant

T: Time Bound

We practiced setting a couple of goals in class using this format and many of the students did really well.  An example could be:  By the end of the year I want to be able to complete long division problems with a high success rate.  (We could say given 10 problems, I would get at least 8 of them correct.)

This is not meant to be overwhelming and scary, we just want students to start setting goals that will mean something to them and that we can measure.

We also discussed examples of citizenship and stewardship.  These kinds of goals may be more challenging, but they are important to start thinking about.

 

This Week

With the short week I will not be sending out new homework, but will instead just send out the homework logs and students can reflect on goals.  Please remind them to bring their folders in on Monday the following week, or they can bring them to conferences.  Students will also spend some time evaluating how well they feel they did with the Colonial Unit.  Self reflection is a major part of learning and growing, so it is nice to give the students a chance to look back at the work they did and reflect on what they did well and what they could have put more effort into.

 

Our new unit will be focused on government.  We will start this unit off with a trip to the election office in Beaverton.  In this unit students will learn about the three branches of government, what type of government we have here in the USA and the students will participate in a mock election.  A persuasive essay and possibly a speech will be a part of this unit. 

 

Upcoming Events:

October 13^th (Monday): A.T. Smith House Solv Project

October 14^th (Tuesday): Outdoor School Information Night 6:30

October 22^nd (Wednesday): Play at Theater in the Grove $5.00

 

****I did it! I finished the Portland Marathon on Sunday and the best part was that Gretchen and I were able to cross the finish line together. 

 

****I passed out Outdoor School information on Friday and am sure there are lots of questions.  Please email me questions, or wait til the October 14^th info night.  I don't want Goal Setting Conferences to be taken over by Outdoor School questions so we can discuss those at a later time.  Please, if you can, return the gray medical information sheet at conferences.  The blue guidebook can be returned at a later date.  (It does need to be returned eventually.)