Update to Ms. Luria

Dear Families,

NOTE: We are out of snacks in the classroom!

Click to sign up for student led conference times: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4BAFAA2BA5FB6-student

March Dates
Friday 14th Expert Speeches are due
Monday 17th - All Students share their speeches in class
Tuesday 18th - Ms. Luria at meetings
Wednesday 19th - 3:30 - 5:30 Student led conferences - come for 20 min with your child
Wednesday 19th - 5:45 - 6:45 Math OAKS information for parents
Thursday 20th - Ms. Luria at meetings, but will be back for conferences!
Thursday 20th - 3:30 - 5:30 Student led conferences - come for 20 min with your child
Thursday 20th - 5:45 - 6:45 Reading OAKS information for parents

Friday 21st - No school, spring break starts

April Dates
Thursday 10th - Run for the Arts/ Grading period ends
Friday 11th - Teacher planning day (I could use volunteers)
April 16th - Late open
April 30th - Jefferson Dancers field trip ?? I will need adult volunteers

May Dates
9th - Jet boat field trip

This was our last rotation for the first bridges lesson. After spring break students will start their second rotation for bridges. 

Student led conferences: Students are preparing for their student led conferences this week. They are reflecting on their learning in the areas of reading, writing, spelling, mathematics, friendship skills and behavior. Students are also choosing one goal to focus on for the rest of the year to share with you at the conference.

If you have not attended student led conferences before, here is how they work. Students will have a portfolio of their work. They will share with you both their reflections as well as some work samples. They will talk with you about their strengths and weaknesses. This is a very powerful process that helps students reflect and make positive changes for the future. At the end, you can check in with me if you have any additional questions.

In non-fiction reading we continue to work on find sentences to prove our statements. Students read an article about the first electronic only library in the United States. Ask them about if they think there should be electronic only libraries!

We also took a fun walking field trip to the Albina library. Students learned about what happens once a book is checked in. They also learned about different jobs that people have in libraries.
In math, we started exploring gallons, pints, quarts and cups. Ask your child to draw gallon man for you! What does gallon man say about his hands?

In spelling, we continue to work on our spelling rules, dictations and high frequency words. They are working on applying the rules they've learned in their writing. 

Finally, please check out some of the student writing on the blog.  Your kids would love to share with you some of their writing and read some feedback too! 

Have a wonderful week,
Sacha

Update from Ms. Luria March 6

Dear Families,

NEEDED: Volunteers for our Tuesday field trip. Walking Field Trip to Library: 
Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Sign up to walk with us at 11 am http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4BAFAA2BA5FB6-walkingNote: Your child will need a sack lunch Tuesday!

Friday March 14th Expert Speeches are due

Monday March 17th - Students 1-14 will do expert speeches between 9:45 and 11:22
Tuesday March 18th, Students 15 - 28 will do expert speeches between 9:45 - 11:22

Wednesday March 19th - 3:30 - 5:30 Student led Conferences after school - plan to come for 20 minutes sometime today
Wednesday March 19th - 5:45 - 6:45 Math OAKS information for parents

Thursday March 20th - 3:30 - 5:30 Student led conferences - you will receive an email if you are to come on Thursday
Thursday March 20th - 5:45 - 6:45 Reading OAKS information for parents

We are hard at work on our bridges unit. Students are learning about beam bridges and testing them with pennies, learning about the history or Portland and our bridges. Students are in three different groups, so they receive the lessons in different orders. 

I have quite a few pictures that I'll be putting up in the classroom in the next few weeks!
In reading, we continue to work on our novel groups as well as non-fiction reading. The Bunnicula group finished their book, and January Joker will be finishing tomorrow. Ask your child about what book they are reading. 

In non-fiction reading we are looking for proof. For example, if your child reads something and says that a person in an article is brave, you could ask, where does the person show that s/he is brave. Can you read the sentences that showed that? What made you think that? 

In math, we continue to explore fractions. We are using geoboards to make fractions. We are also exploring fractions of a whole. Ask your child questions as you are cooking about fractions. Need 3/4 of a cup of rice, how could I measure that using 1/8th cups? What if I just had a 1/2 cup an an 1/8 cup? 

You can also ask questions about fractions of a whole. If I am going to use 1/3 of the bananas for lunches today and we have 9 bananas, how many are we going to use? It is really helpful if you can show your child how you think and use fractions in real life.

In spelling, we continue to work on our spelling rules, dictations and high frequency words. The students took a mid-year check in test. They did a wonderful job and the minimum improvement was 15 words on the test! Many students doubled or tripled their spelling scores.

Finally, please check out some of the student writing on the blog.  Your kids would love to share with you some of their writing and read some feedback too! 

Have a wonderful week,
Sacha

Jack T.

My first time skiing I thought it was going to be easy. On my first time I fell a lot. It was more tricky than I thought it would be. In the videos I watched it looked a lot easier.

            

After my second time, I was a lot better at skiing. With more and more practice, I got a lot more skillful. The mountains I go to are Mt. Bachelor and Mt. Hood. The reason I love skiing is because I like going fast!

Everett

I have found I am good at slot cars. I have beaten my dad ten times. I try to keep a record. One of the slot cars is behaving a little weird. So, whoever has the blue car has an unfair advantage.

      

      Since on is behaving odd, I ask my dad to fix it, but he never complies. I also can meet my friends and race them. I will normally win against them. If I have the weird car though, my friends will win. I got the slot cars for Christmas.

Finneas

One of my biggest accomplishments in life was the time I won a gold medal at Tae Kwon Do. Tae Kwon Do is a Korean martial art. At the moment my belt is a brown stripe. but when I entered the tournament two years ago I was only a red belt. I got the medal for my flying side kick. I thought I was going to get a silver medal, but I got a gold medal.

            As I sat in the waiting area, I looked around. I looked over at the entrance to the testing ring and saw wood chips scatter across the red and blue mat from a board that one of the competitions had just broken. When it was my turn, I ran at the board jumped, stuck my leg out, and closed my eyes. I felt happy and surprised when I broke the board clean in half. I had a good time.

            It took a lot of hard work to win the medal. I had to practice every day. I had to work on m y jump and aim. When the time came, I was able to kick the board in the center, and that is how I achieved my goal.

Elena

A year ago I discovered that I was good at performing on stage. I was on a holiday in Mexico and I rehearsed two dances for the kids show. The dances were called Russian and Mexican dances. For the Russian dance, I wore a red dress with a black belt. I wore a colorful dress with a hat and a scarf for the Mexican dance.

            Because we were scared of going on stage the night of the show, we played a game backstage before it was our turn. On our second one my hat fell. Luckily it was attached to a string, so it stayed on. We danced and I realized that it was really fun. I did a really good job because I was smiling and didn't make any mistakes.

Update March 1, 2014

Dear Families,

NEEDED: We need a lot of pennies for our bridge building competition that we will be holding this Wednesday and next Wednesday in class.  We will be building beam bridges and testing their load with pennies! Please bring some pennies that you are willing to donate to the cause if you are able to do so. I have the rest of the needed supplies.

Walking Field Trip to Library: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Sign up to walk with us at 11 am http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4BAFAA2BA5FB6-walking
Your child will need a sack lunch this day!

What an amazing week we had! On Thursday and Friday we learned all about bridges and build bridges out of  noodles and lasagna noodles. Then we tested their load and broke them to learn more about engineering. We will continue this coming Friday with another hands-on experiment about bridges.

I have quite a few pictures that I'll be putting up in the classroom in the next few weeks!

In reading, we continue to work on our novel groups as well as non-fiction reading. This last week we read about all sorts of African-American inventors. Ask your child about what they learned about regarding ice cream scoops, light bulb filaments and potato chips!

In math, we continue to explore fractions. I apologize if the homework was a bit challenging this last week (which it was for many students).  In particular, the math was a bit hard in packet B and D. This week should be better! In the future, if you feel like anything is too hard, feel free to write a note on the packet for me.

In spelling, we continue to work on our spelling rules, dictations and high frequency words. You may have noted that we have taken a break from spelling tests. Instead of giving students words to study, I am assessing students weekly on words that have been taught, but not necessarily "studied." This way I know what students are learning and able to apply. Let me know if you have any questions about this or would like links to some research articles about spelling.

Finally, please check out some of the student writing on the blog.  Your kids would love to share with you some of their writing and read some feedback too!

Have a wonderful week,
Sacha