March 12, 21012

Dear Parents,

It is great to be connected again. With our 50 degree temperatures outside it is hard to believe we were snowbound a week ago. I hope things have returned to normal for everyone.

In social studies we are moving along with the English colonists and shall read about the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars. The students will participate in a thinking routine called Claim-Support-Question where they will make a claim, support it and then follow with a question about the claim, one of Project Zero's approaches to learning. In an article in Leadership Compass from July 2005 Shari Tishman and Patricia Palmer write, “...visible thinking has a diagnostic function. It allows teachers to see what students are learning and where they need help...And [visible thinking] reveals key relationships between claims and evidence, facts and questions, and certainties and uncertainties. Making these messy, changing, and interlocking relationships visible helps students build authentic knowledge instead of just memorizing facts...In this kind of classroom culture students have ample opportunities to express and explain their ideas. ...and [it] sends a message that thinking is valued.” 

This will be our final week of Wizards. The kids have enjoyed this game. We will continue to use creative approaches to spelling through games and writing activities in class.

Our unit math unit covers data organization and the use of various plots and graphs. 

The new reading genre is mystery. Book reports are due April 11, after we return from spring break.

Take care,

Sally