Jingle Jingle!!

Fourth Grade News

It was a hustle and bustle kind of week.  We enjoyed Holiday spirit all around the school.  Children looked adorable in their festive attire.  Teachers were also part of the fun times.  

I added a new weath to my classroom door.  Throughtout my many years of teaching, I have accumulated many beautiful teacher ornaments and decided to display them on this wreath.  Each ornament was from a former student. 

                                                                Buddy the Elf

Our classroom elf has been traveling all around our classroom.  Each morning the children would come in eager to see where he was in the room.  He has now gone back to the North Pole.  It was a short visit, but one that kept us on our toes.

Pajama Day on Friday was a big hit.

 The children looked comfy and cozy for our viewing of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

It was virtual, of course and the children were very attentive .

Fifth Grade News:

The children have begun presenting their first English Summit project.  They have done a fantastic job up to this point.  I have enjoyed listening to their slide presentations and posters.

Snow days as we know them, are now very different.  I held google meets and some of the children presented their projects as well.  Some even were able to get outside during their break and build a snowman.

Starting tomorrow we will be virtual learning.  Please make sure your child fills in the attendance form, daily and join their google meets (if any) at their scheduled class time.  

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for those of you who celebrate.

                       

 

It's That Time of the Year

 

Our days are busy and bustling around our school.

There is excitement all around, and we even had a special visitor arrive.  His name is Buddy and he is here to keep an eye on all the happenings that are part of our days.

Fourth Grade News:

I waked into the classroom on Thursday morning and to my surprise, I found this little elf.  The first thing we had to do is name him.

There were many great suggestions, but he ended up with the name, Buddy.  In his letter we found out that this was his first assignment, he is new to the whole elf duties.  

He even arrived with his mask and is socially distancing himself from everyone.  He has been keeping an eye on things and reports back to the North Pole nightly.

Trait of the Week: Respect

This week we started reading about and discussing Respect.  There have been some wonderful conversations around this trait.  We will continue with this trait this week, as well.  

For this particular piece, we read it through and the children chose 1 quality of respect that they want to work on.  

Mrs. Davia has been working on Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing with them.  They seem to be enjoying this book.  Mrs D'Angelis, Ms. Greffen and Mrs. D'Amico have also been conducting great lessons and activities for the students.

Fifth Grade News:

The fifth graders are continuing with their work on Summit.

The due date for their final project is on the 18th.  They have been working on checkpoints and some are already planning out and creating their final presentations.  Many have chosen to put together a slide show about comparing and contrasting two stories.

I will begin having them present on the 16th because there are a few finished.  They have been working right along with submitting and requesting feedback.

I am eager to see how they present this to us.  They have been working diligently and focused on the final product.

They are also setting goals daily and working on focus areas and content assessments. 

We are also continuing with Ungifted.  On Fridays, we listen to the chapters as our narrator reads to them.  We have discussions, we answer comprehension questions and we do quizlets that involve the vocabulary from the chapters.

The period goes so quickly but we are getting our work done and the children are so focused.

As you can see, our days are filled from the minute I walk in to the minute I leave their classroom.

I also hold google meets for our distant learners.  The children show great effort and continuing to push through during this very different way of learning.  

On a last note:  These words below  resonated with me a little bit more this week- I want my students to know that I am here for them and care about each of them.  We are going through an unprecedented time and I want the children to feel safe and  know that we are all here for them. 

Have a great week everyone!!
 

A Week in the Life of a Student of SOS

Fourth Grade News:

Our students are learining, creating and progressing along nicely.

They are moving around to physical education lessons, writing personal narratives and creating artistic creations.  

Our days are filled with so much.  The children get their work done, mostly in school.  I know there were some concerns that homework was not being sent.  We feel that with all that is going on, the children have enough to do during the day and anything that is not completed goes home.  Some assignments have to be done in class so that we can monitor their progress.  

The children were given an at home project to work on as a family.  They will disguise the turkey in any creative way they would like.  I will post the story Turkey Trouble on Google Classroom for them to listen to and then they can work on Tom the Turkey.  It is meant to be a fun, stressless project to enjoy with the whole family's input.  In the past, they have created many disguises such as cheerleaders, presidents, snowmen, etc. I am eager to see what the children do.

We listened to a number of books this week.  We read, Kindness is a Superpower, A Bad Case of Stripes and did a number of activities that went along with it.  The children are very engaged and focused throughout the day and are busy doing the various work in each class.   

                                                            Fifth Grade News:

Our fifth graders are all now on the Summit Platform.  In English, they have been assigned their first project and are also working on focus areas.  They are continuing to view the resources provided to them, and take notes.  This does take some adjusting but once the kids are acclimated a bit better, they will breeze through it with great ease.  

We are all helping each other out, the children are working cooperatively, and are being patient with learning this new platform.  I really commend their efforts and perserverance.  They are pushing forward and showing great efforts on their part.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week.  

 

More Treats than Tricks

 

Fourth Grade News:

There were many learning activities and fun things going around in the classroom this week.  We started with Personal Narratives and read Creepy Carrots.  Mrs. Davia is having the students start writing their personal narratives with small moments and transitional words.  During Intervention Block we listened to the story of Creepy Carrots and are creating pictures of their version.

We were also able to play Halloween Bingo on Friday.  It was a really nice week and the children are doing very well with following procedures and guidelines.  I hope they all had a safe and fun Halloween.

Fifth Grade News:

Our fifth graders are also doing a great job.  

We finally have the students on the Summit platform and have been introducing them to how it works.  We are going through the various sections of Summit and what is required of them.

Our first project in English is Compare and Contrast Short Stories.  They are choosing 2 short stories within the same genre and will be working on various checkpoints within the project.  There is a lot of information coming at them.  We are taking notes in each subject, watching videos and going through various resources which will help them put together their project.

Mrs. Sanchez and I are going step by step with this so that they can see what has to get done. This platform will allow the students to work at their pace, and work on various resources.  Not all the students will do exactly the same project.  They can choose how they will want to present it to the class.  There will be due dates to stay on top of and focus areas which they will work on during SDL time (self-directed learning).

Below you can see our first resource that the children are working on.  The videos they provide on the platform are all helpful in order to be able to get through the various checkpoints.  These checkpoints are important because they teach the children various terms that they need to know.  The articles they read will also be beneficial to completing this project.  We know this will be a great success with their participation and learning the skills to work on these projects independently and with the help of all the teachers.  

The various classes are also learning about the voting process.  Great discussions are held around the Presidential race.  They are actually "voting" through a google form to see who SOS wants to lead our country.  We are reading articles about the voting process, watching videos about how voting works, and listening to the candidates as to where they stand and what they believe in.  

Don't forget there is no school on Tuesday, November 3rd so that we can get out there and vote.

The Beauty in Nature

                                                       The Beauty in Nature
                                                             

Fourth Grade News:

   Open House was a great success.  It was great to see so many of you there.  We hope that we cleared up some of your questions and concerns.  For those of you that missed it, the slide deck and video of the classroom is up on Class Dojo.

During Intervention time this week, some of the books we read were;  All Are Welcome, The Best Part of Me.  We did some writing activities to go along with the books.  Intervention time is a time for the students to catch up on work from the day, some one on one time with the teachers, if they need extra help, and some art activities are also incorporated during that time.

 The children are very focused when it is time to listen to the book.  Many great questions are asked and some great conversations are started related to the themes of the books.  

During recess time, the children alternate by day, as to what section 

of the school yard they play in.  The beautiful weather is allowing 

for some enjoyable times outside.

On rainy days we have a fun Kahoot game that the children enjoy playing.  The children are really doing well with all the new changes and guidelines.  They all follow the new guidelines and make the best of the situation.

Fifth Grade News:

 We are continuing with Ungifted- The children listen to the audio and write important details from the chapters.  We have discussions about the events in the story and this helps them with answering questions. 

This narrator, from You Tube is so animated in her reading.  The children are attentive and stay focused.

We also finished the Narrative Benchmark and will be starting Personal Narratives in writing.

This week we will also be introducing the students to their first English project from Summit.  Everyone is still waiting for chrome books, but in the meantime, I will be showing them the platform and how to navigate through it on the big screen.  Our Summit coach, Mrs. Grant, will be helping us roll this out to the students.  

Don't forget- Smile 

Even though we are trying to adjust to a new way of living, we should always make each other smile and be positive towards each other.