The start of the week was a really good way for students to see how writing is actually done professionally. The visiting author Matt Holm did two great presentations for the students on where ideas come from and how to go from an idea to a final publication. The parallels were amazing with what I am teaching your children. Writing is MESSY. Anyone who thinks they have a good piece of writing the first time they do it is either very lucky or not really taking a good look at what is in the writing. Proper spelling and grammar and not important as students are collecting their ideas and thoughts in some kind of writing journal. When it comes time to revise and edit, then it is time to look at the proper spelling of words, proper punctuation and even sentence structure since these pieces will eventually end up being published. What is most important, right at the onset, is how well your message or information is being communicated for others to read. This is something I will continually tell my students all year long in writer's workshop.
The big part of next week is MAP testing. For returning students I will be interested to see if there has been any growth since the last test which was late in the previous (grade4) school year. Not usually a lot, but I am hoping to see some. It is vital that all students get a good night sleep and eat well at breakfast. The test will be administered on Tues, Wed and Thurs, first thing in the morning. There is nothing students can do to prepare for it. Parents should see results about 6 weeks later.
I want to say thank-you to all parents who attended Back to School Night on Thursday. I do hope the time was informative and answered most of your questions about my room and the curriculum being taught. I also hope that you feel your student is in good hands in my class. I can certainly assure you that they are very important to me.
I have now sent home all the family invitations for our student Seesaw blogs. Parents have access to their student's blogs and can comment on them. If at all possible, I would like something more than "Great work!." as a comment. I am really trying hard to have my students look at comments and work from them to improve themselves. With this in mind it would be better to write something like; "Great Work! I really liked the rhyming pattern in your poem." or something to that nature. Students will also be commenting on each others blogs as well with the same type of comment. Again, I am trying hard to make everything they do in class have a reason and learning associated with it.
I was very proud of the class with the cooperation and collaborative skills shown in their Sword Dance presentation on Friday morning. They did a truly remarkable job. For those that could not see it, here is a short video of what it looked like. Also a video of the song after the performance.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns please let me know and I will be happy to meet with you.
