Goodbye Kevin!

We are excited for Kevin's family, but we are sad to see Kevin leave us!

Goodbye Kevin!

Photos from the Native American Fair

Native American Fair

Christmas Pictures

Attached are the pictures taken to make the Christmas ornaments.  Just a few students are missing (Sorry!) since I had to borrow a camera from another teacher to take the last few.

Christmas Pictures

Science Alive Photos

Science Alive

Our Class Wordle

Photos from our "Animal Report Open House"

December Updates

During the month of December students will be learning quite a bit of history.  In addition to learning about indigenous Americans, we will learn about 16th century Africa, and European Explorers.  While these lessons are taking place students will be researching a Native American tribe from the Pacific Northwest, Eastern Woodlands, Great Plains, or desert Southwest. Much of the student's research and project work will be done at school, although they may occasionally do some of the research or planning at home. Students will need a shoebox for this project, by the way!

We will then share our learning in a classroom open house on Thursday, December 16th in lieu of a holiday or Christmas celebration.  If you had volunteered to provide a food or drink for the December party I will contacting you about whether you are interested in providing a Native American food item or drink instead.  The students and I are very excited to share our learning in this way.  Exploring early (early!) American History is critical as students learn about the early days of the United States and our country's struggle for freedom.

Charity Donations

Waukazoo is a Toys for Tots donation site. Donations will be collected through we go on Christmas break. Waukazoo is also collecting new or gently used hats, mitten, and scarves via a hat and mitten tree. This is also placed at the front of the school. I was able to find several items my girls weren't wearing anymore or that had gotten too small that were still in good condition.

Finally, our class has voted to make a Christmas donation to the DeVos Children's Hospital. How can you help with this? Ask your son or daughter about his or her favorite book! In lieu of a gift to me, please consider purchasing or donating a copy of your child's favorite book to the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. In return, I am also going to donate 500 Scholastic points and purchase books for the hospital. The hospital is currently reopening on January 11, 2011 and will feature 150 pediatric physicians and 40 pediatric specialties. The hospital is currently scheduling self-guided tours for a community preview event. You can learn more about the new Helen DeVos Children's Hospital by visiting http://www.helendevoschildrens.org.

Please think about these worthwhile charitable opportunities.

Odds and Ends:

• Each student will need a metal coffee can by the first of February. If you drink coffee and buy your coffee grounds in a metal can, please send it in to school.
  
• As you are baking this holiday season you have many wonderful opportunities to teach measurement math. Discuss measurement terms with your children; discuss the difference between US terms for measurement and the metric system. Check out the following website for ideas: http://mathcentral.uregina.ca/beyond/articles/Cooking/Cooking1.html!
  

  
   

 

 

Reading to Learn vs. Learning to Read

What is the difference?  This blog post will not even attempt to completely answer that question!  However, I will comment on just a few things that create some confusion about what reading instruction looks like in the Upper Montessori 4th and 5th grade classroom.

The predominant focus of preschool and the primary elementary years is learning to read.  Students in K-3 are exposed to an environment in which their teacher creates an appreciation of the written word.  Teachers teach the alphabet, they teach students to develop an awareness of printed language and the writing system, they work to develop the students' phonological awareness and subsequently their phonemic awareness.  In doing so students learn the relationship of sounds and letters, they learn to sound out words, they learn to spell words.  At the same time students are learning valuable comprehension strategies.

As students become more fluent readers throughout their primary grades we also want them to become reflective readers.  When students move into the upper elementary grades we spend more time emphasizing comprehension--students are encouraged to apply the comprehension strategies they already know as well as become thinkers about their reading.  We teach multiply strategies for showing their thinking and students are encouraged to not only make the connection/prediction but to also explain their THINKING.

This thinking is a key component of the reading instruction that is going on in the Upper Montessori classroom.  Just because a student "can read" doesn't mean that he or she is a reflective reader.

You may wonder how to go about building reflective reading skills?  Try these tips from the Reading Rockets website:

• Relate information in books to other events of interest to children, such as holidays, pets, siblings, and games. Engage children in discussion of the topics.
• In both stories and informational texts, encourage wondering. For example, "I wonder what Pooh will do now?" "How do you think the father feels ?" or "I wonder what frogs do in the winter? Do you think that's a problem? Why?"
• Point out unfamiliar words and explore their meaning. Revisit these words frequently and encourage students to use them in their own conversations.

These simple tips can help your child to be a reflective reader at home.  I would further encourage you to provide plenty of non-fiction reading material.  National Geographic Explorer is a great source of nonfiction reading material as is Kids Discover.  Of course, literature should not be forgotten; but nonfiction reading or informational text is the primary type of academic reading that your child will be doing for the balance of his or her educational career.  Encourage your reader to balance his/her reading...some material should be fiction, but some should also be nonfiction.  Another step toward providing more nonfiction material is reading the newspaper with your child.

Consider these tips as your student moves closer toward his or her middle school years!

(The following sites were used to create this post:  www.readingrockets.org and penningtonpublishing.com/blog/reading)