It has been a few weeks, so there is lots to go over. Thank you to all the families that came in for conferences. It is so great to see the interactions between students and parents, and for the students to see us as team cheering them on in their education. If you haven't done so already, here is a great TED Talk video to watch. The talk is about your mindset and when not knowing/accomplishing something using the word "yet" instead of giving up or saying "fail". We have been gently caring for plants that we started from seed. This week we used bees to pollinate our flowers, soon we will get to harvest the new seeds. It is such a great experience to see the students' tenderness towards their plants and for them to be able to watch and be active in the whole life cycle right here in our classroom. I have been very impressed with the students Home Journal writing. It is awesome to see how much they know about the science we are studying. The goal for each HJ is to have five nicely formed paragraphs (more than one sentence in a paragraph); some students aren't at this point yet, but we should see movement in that direction. We have been continuing to work on compassion and craftsmanship in class. I have been seeing a lot more attention to the quality of student work, I really appreciate the encouragement you have been giving them on this. Compassion has been a little harder to see change. We have really been working on appropriate school behaviors, such as not talking during instruction, staying on task, and using kind words. The other big issue we have been dealing with is the use of fidgets. I understand the need to fidget or doodle, both are intended to be used to stay on task and this is not what has been happening. The students and I have talked multiple times about this and they know that if I see them playing with a fidget (any time it is a distraction) then I will ask for them to give it to me. They are able to get it back at the end of the day, but they must remember to talk to me. If you have any questions/concerns about this, please let me know. Katherine, our garden coordinator, has been keeping the garden blog up to date, be sure to check it out! Wow, that was a lot! I could continue but I will save it for next time. Comments are closed.
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Upcoming EventsNov 9: No School
Nov 12: No School Nov 19-26: No School Nov 30: FFS - Volunteers Needed. Dec 7: FFS - Volunteers Needed Dec 14: FFS - Volunteers Needed Dec 21- Jan 7: No School Previous Posts
October 2018
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