I think I know why this month is named March. The days seem to fly by as if we are marching along all the time. I cannot believe that another week is over - and such a great week of learning.
First off is next week's Current Events;
Tuesday - Sveva
Wednesday - Dylan
Thursday - Andrew
Friday - Stephanie
Wednesday - Dylan
Thursday - Andrew
Friday - Stephanie
These have been a great lead in to our Impact unit which starts right after spring break.
Speaking of a holiday, please let me know ASAP if you are planning on leaving early or coming back late. I need to know to plan properly. We have three assessments all due this week and I do not want any of your students to miss any of them
Yesterday was the FOOD IS COOL cook off for grades 3-5. Jovan was our representative for the green team and they did a fantastic job. Students learned more about why meals are important and the kinds of food they should be having each day. Like most students, I thought that the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables was 5 servings per day when in fact it is apparently 7. I learned something along with the students. Then each team prepared a meal from fresh ingredients and a group of taste testers had the chance to try out the meals. Overall it was a fun and exciting assembly.
This past week was also Pueberty week and while I am sure that there are still some questions about Human Growth and Development, most of the main issues regarding growing up and going through adolescence have now been initially addressed. This will be an ongoing topic through middle school as most students actually grow into young men and women during this time of their life. I have told students that I am available to answer more questions if they have them but their best source is really their parents.
We are well along with our Human Body presentations where students have to teach the class about the system they have researched. In doing their teaching, they must involve the entire class in some sort of activity. Some of these are looking quite good and seem to have really interesting ideas. I am excited to see them next week.
We have also finished our first draft of the second speculative fiction story and hopefully next week these will turn into final drafts. It is all this writing that is showing good results in students improving their writing skills and the associated learning that goes with it. I cannot begin to say how important this is as students move forward in their educational career.
We also had a chance to see the grade 2 circus performance on Friday and want to congratulate them for a job well done. It was a spectacular feature filled with color, humor and really neat stunts and tricks. They had obviously worked hard on this and their efforts paid off with a great performance. I know all my students really enjoyed it.
It is time for all of you to sign up for Student Led Conferences on April 7-8. I do expect that all of you will make it to help celebrate what your student has been doing this past year. They have all been very busy preparing for it and will demonstrate all sorts of things during their conference time. Please take the time to sign up now so you get the time slot you want. Each conference is 45 minutes in length.
As we come to the end of the quarter it is very gratifying to see the growth that your students are making. Since no one is the same, the rates and levels of this growth differ significantly but since there is no comparison made, and as long as there is growth to be shown, it is wonderful to see it happen. We will start the final quarter of the year right after Spring Break and I expect to see continued growth from all students in the class. With roughly two months to go, there is plenty to learn, experience and participate in.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know and I will gladly set up a time to meet with you.
Harold Daw
