It was quite a busy week! We had to settle back in after being off from school for a week due to Hurricane-Tropical Storm Sandy. Hope you and your loved ones fared okay. Hope you all did not suffer damage or lose power. If your electricity went out, hope you got it back quickly. It's funny how we don't appreciate things like heat, lights, hot water and gasoline until we don't have them. We can never take these basic necessities for granted and wish all of those who have experienced damage and devastation all the best as the entire area recovers.
We had lots of fun (and pie) as you can see in this picture from our character celebration. You all put in so much time and effort into your in-depth character responses to literature and puppets. They are now featured across the hall from our classroom. Much of your other work will be on display shortly especially during open school week which is coming up this week. I look forward to meeting with your parents on Wednesday. They may visit our classroom on Friday.
Whew! That was an exciting election campaign. Congratulations to President Obama for winning a re-election and to Governor Romney for all of his hard efforts. We followed the campaign closely. I look forward to reading your election scrapbooks. We will now move on to an explorer webquest and non-fiction reading and writing. We will also continue with exciting math projects and begin Socratic seminars shortly which will encourage discussion (over debate) and have us share ideas, build upon each other's ideas and reflect on our new learning from our conversations. (I am posting a powerpoint here so you can get yourself acquainted. We will review in class. Please go to Class work page).
I am also happy to report that we will begin our humane education initiative in January. The entire fifth grade will be involved with this wonderful program encourages respect, reverence and responsibility for human & animal rights and the environment. http://teachhumane.org/heart/
This Monday is Veterans' Day. We are very proud of those men and women in the military who served our country and continue to do so. They are heroes. Thanksgiving is also coming up next week. It is the time of year to reflect on what we are grateful for in our own lives. I am so happy to have a comfortable home, family, terrific job, great students and co-workers. What are you thankful for?
We had lots of fun (and pie) as you can see in this picture from our character celebration. You all put in so much time and effort into your in-depth character responses to literature and puppets. They are now featured across the hall from our classroom. Much of your other work will be on display shortly especially during open school week which is coming up this week. I look forward to meeting with your parents on Wednesday. They may visit our classroom on Friday.
Whew! That was an exciting election campaign. Congratulations to President Obama for winning a re-election and to Governor Romney for all of his hard efforts. We followed the campaign closely. I look forward to reading your election scrapbooks. We will now move on to an explorer webquest and non-fiction reading and writing. We will also continue with exciting math projects and begin Socratic seminars shortly which will encourage discussion (over debate) and have us share ideas, build upon each other's ideas and reflect on our new learning from our conversations. (I am posting a powerpoint here so you can get yourself acquainted. We will review in class. Please go to Class work page).
I am also happy to report that we will begin our humane education initiative in January. The entire fifth grade will be involved with this wonderful program encourages respect, reverence and responsibility for human & animal rights and the environment. http://teachhumane.org/heart/
This Monday is Veterans' Day. We are very proud of those men and women in the military who served our country and continue to do so. They are heroes. Thanksgiving is also coming up next week. It is the time of year to reflect on what we are grateful for in our own lives. I am so happy to have a comfortable home, family, terrific job, great students and co-workers. What are you thankful for?
socratic_seminar.ppt |