The Week Ahead 2/4-2/8

Reading
Each child has been placed in a book group. As a group they selected a book they all want to read. They also decided how many pages they will read each day. Starting Monday they will be responsible for reading their daily book group pages before they do any other reading in class. Ask your child which book they selected and how many pages they need to read each day. 

Idiom of the week: in hot water

Writing
Persuasive writing will be our next genre. On Monday, students will write an on demand piece to give me an idea of their current abilities in persuasive writing. Then we will begin working on mini-lessons to improve our argument writing.

Inquiry
Our how we organize ourselves inquiry with the central idea that community values influence leaders and impact decision making will focus on the three branches of our state government. The vocabulary words for the week are government related, so students will have a chance to get very comfortable with terminology in our unit. Student were sent home with an assignment last week that asked them to write about a rule in their house. These are due next Tuesday, 2/5. The home rules will be a launching point to discussing laws that government leaders make.

Field Trip 
We will be taking a tour of the State Capitol Building on Thursday, 2/28. The bus will leave West TV at 8:45 and we expect to return at about 1:30. We are so fortunate that Governor Brown will be meeting with us for a few minutes before our tour! If you are interested in chaperoning let me know by Monday, 2/4 at 8. We are able to take six chaperones. If we have more than six volunteers we will draw names out of a hat. I will let you know that morning whether or not your name was selected. If your name isn't selected, don't worry, we will have three other field trips this year! The permission slips need to be returned by Tuesday, 2/21.

Report Cards 
1st semester report cards will be sent home with students on Monday, February 4th. Proficiency levels are based on end of year fourth grade expectations. This means a student could receive a 2 (nearly proficient) and still be on track to reach proficiency by the end of the year. Please let me know if you have any concerns after looking at the report card of your student. 

Auction Basket 
The West TV PTC Auction will take place on March 9th. Close to 50% of PTC funds come from the auction. Please consider donating items to our class basket that will be auctioned off. Our theme is #1 fan. Some suggested items include anything Oregon sports related like tickets or gear for the Oregon Ducks, Oregon State Beavers, Trailblazers, Timbers, Thorns, Winterhawks, Hillsboro Hops, Portland Pickles, Portland State Vikings, U of P Pilots etc...Donated items are tax deductible and can be dropped off in the office.

Upcoming Dates
  • Monday, February 4th - Report Cards Sent Home
  • Tuesday, February 5th - Reading Log Due/Rule Homework Due/Vocab Test
  • Thursday, February 14th - Valentine's Day Party 2-3
  • Monday, February 18th - No School - Presidents Day
  • Thursday, February 21st - Field Trip Permission Slips Due
  • Thursday, February 28th - Tour of State Capitol Building 8:45-1:30


Popular posts from this blog

The Week Ahead 9/3-9/7

First Week We had a great first week of school! My goals for us were to get to know each other, come to an understanding of classroom agreements and norms, and begin to collect some baseline data on where we are academically. We accomplished these goals and I think we're in for a fun year! Headphones Please have your student bring headphones to school. If you are unable to get headphones for your child, let me know and I'll make sure they are provided. Stay Connected Instagram Follow our class Instagram account at blanc.wstv. Here I'll be posting pictures of what we're up to. Seesaw Another way you can stay connected with our class is Seesaw. You can think of Seesaw as a digital portfolio. This is where your student will share their learning. How to sign up Click on this link:   https://app.seesaw.me/s/819-043-150 Choose your child from the list Create your account Once I approve you, you can see content from your child After you sign up, downloa
Read more

The Week Ahead 3/2-3/6

How We Organize Ourselves Thank you to all of the chaperones who joined us for our field trip to the State Capitol! Hopefully you have had a chance to check out some of the pictures from the trip on our class Instagram account, blanc.wstv. On Friday, our classroom committees presented their classroom bills. There was fierce debate but in the end, only one of the five bills got a majority vote in both the House of Representatives and Senate and is now a classroom law. Have your student tell you what they think of the new classroom law. Last Monday, I sent you an email letting you know that we will begin teaching our state mandated Erin's Law lessons next Monday, 3/2. In the email I sent a link that included information on the learning outcomes as well as a link to a website with more information. If you review these materials and decide you want your student to opt out of the lessons, please contact the office and they will get you the opt out form. Students that opt out will do
Read more

The Week Ahead 3/9-3/13

Inquiry Next week we'll begin our Where We Are in Place and Time inquiry unit. The central idea of this unit is migration impacts individuals and communities. The lines of inquiry are reasons for migration, ways migration impacts quality of life, and impact on current groups. In the beginning of the unit we'll learn about migration by studying westward expansion, starting with the Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark led Corps of Discovery. Math Students will continue their study of fractions next week. Up to this point our main focus has been working with equivalence and comparing fractions. Two of the big ideas students should grasp are for fractions to be equivalent, the ratio must be kept constant and the greater the denominator, the smaller the pieces. Next week the students will work on adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators. Conferences Spring Parent/Teacher Conferences will take place the first week of April. Please go to
Read more