A Week of Learning and Celebrating

Grade 5:

Our fifth graders have begun working with the new ELA Curriculum.  They are making inferences, taking notes and researching the Rainforest.  The students are very engaged in the work and working both independently and in a whole group.  

We are progressing along nicely.  They are reading The Most Beautiful Roof in the World in class.  This past week they learned about a rainforest scientist, and what her job involves.  This upcoming week we will learn more about what she does and why her job is important.

Grade 4:

Our 4th graders are also staying very involved in the various activities and work assignments.  They have not been able to go outside very much but participate in Go Noodle.  They get moving and jumping around after spending time at their seats working on the new ELA curriculum, as well as, Math, Science and Social Studies.  They enjoy working on the projects that they are assigned.  

100 Days of Learning:

On Thursday the children celebrated the 100th day of school.  There were some fun activites planned in which they took part in.  There was even a guest teacher that spent the day with them.

Coming Up This Week:

We will begin celebrating with Dr. Seuss on Tuesday.  

It is going to be another fun week at Stephen Olney School

A Big Thank You: On Friday, we all wore Green in support of AJ Quetta.  We are all wishing him a speedy recovery!!

 

Refreshed and Refocused

 

This past week has been one of reflection and refocusing.  I am ready to go back into the classroom and get back on track.  The 4th and 5th graders will be starting a new program titled EL Education.  It is a pilot program that we are beginning in Language Arts.  Our focus in writing is Informational Writing and this will carry over into their reading.  

Fifth graders will be learning all about the Rainforest.  These are some of the books that they will be reading and working on to get to their final project, an ebook.  

Fourth graders will be learning about Animal Defense Mechanisms reading the following books:

Both classes will be writing Informative Essays and some narrative pieces, as well.

We will be introducing this new curriculum on Monday.  The children will be building knowledge on these 2 topics and analyze the author's craft.  Skills such as summarizing, recognizing text structures and researching will be incorporated in the daily lessons.  This program also supports our English Language Learners, it incorporates content connections with Science and Social Studies and focuses on Habits of Character (Social Emotional Learning).  This program has a lot to offer and am confident that we will be able to fully implement it into our schedule.  

As we close out Black History Month, the children did a great job in learning about some very famous black people and their contributions to society.  

Epic: 

Our students have been reading many various books from Epic.  We are charting their progress.  As of now, the 4th and 5th graders have read a total of 700 books- Amazing!!!  We will continue to add to our reading caterpillar as more books are read.  

Our 100th day of school is coming up on Friday.  We are planning some great activities that revolve around it.  Looking forward to celebrating the day with the children.  

Black History Month

Well, it looks like the Groudhog saw his shadow, so we are in for 6 more weeks of Winter.

This past week our 4th and 5th graders have been distant learning due to the Covid19 Virus that has forever changed our ways of doing things.

Monday:

The children listened to Amanda Gorman's poem- The Hill We Climb.  The students chose a line that spoke to them and put it up on a Padlet.  There were tremendous responses and so thought provoking on the children's part.

Tuesday:

The children listened to the story of Maya Angelou and chose one of her quotes to create a mini poster.

Wednesday:

The children listened to Langston Hughes book of poems and chose 1 to make a wordle.

Thursday:

We listened to Faith Ringgold's book titled Tar Beach and worked on Comprehension questions using the RACE strategy.

Friday:

The children listened to Charles P. Smith- The Ninja Poet

They were assigned to create a poem of their own (original) and either write it or perform it

I was really impressed with all the fantastic work that was sent my way.  

Onto week 2 of distance learning.  More activities are planned around Black History Month.

Have a great week and stay safe everyone!!!