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.)