A Week of Learning

The week was filled with many activities and learning.  We are developing a growth mindset.  We are learning of new ways to learn and do things that we are not familiar with.  We all make mistakes and learn from them.  We can improve by working harder.  We never give up.  We are determined to do our best. We self reflect in order to succeed.  We overcome challenges with effort and we train our brain.  These are the components of a growth mindset.

We have been working on Personal Narratives for the past few weeks and students are now publishing them in order to share out with their classmates.  The children have put lots of effort into their work and are adding great details as they write.  They have "hooked" their readers with great beginnings and have told their story in vivid and descriptive language.  We are still working on how to add more into the stories, but the children are enjoying the writing that they are doing during "sacred writing time." We put aside time during the day to focus just on writing.  This is part of our Units of Study.  The children find a place to write without being disturbed or without any distractions.  After giving a small mini-lesson the children are sent off to let their writing blossom.  I put on music and they know that it's time to let the pencil do the talking.

On Friday we will be celebrating National Day of Writing.  Many of the teachers have planned wonderful activities all revolving around writing.  Many stations will be set up in which the children will take part in.  

 We are continuing to read wonderful novels in the 4th grade.
Our next ones will run differently.  I am planning on setting up literature
circles and Socratic Seminar.  Children will get a choice of which novel
they would like to read and decide how they will share it out. 
Also, the children in 4th grade should be working on their book projects at home.  These are due on November 28th.

On Thursday and Friday of last week, the 4th and 5th grade teachers went to a conference at the RI Convention Center.  We spent 2 days going over Summit and discovering many new and different ways to add it into the curriculum. We looked at data and attended a number of various workshops that will help us as we progress along with this platform.  We are always learning and willing to try new things.  Having the right mindset will help us achieve these goals.