September 23 Lunch Orders Due
September 28 All Day Out & About
Homework Due by Thursday, September 22nd
1. Read for at least 20 minutes every night.
2. Complete at least 30 minutes of math practice.*
* Math Homework Expectations
- Every week, the math homework will be to complete at least 30 minutes of math practice. We will be using DreamBox this year for online math practice. Please see the Homework page for details about logging in to DreamBox at home.
- If your family would prefer to practice math skills in a different way (practice books, worksheets, flash cards, math games or other online resources), please send in your student's work OR send me an email before Thursday morning letting me know how they completed their 30 minutes of weekly math practice.
- Some families are already using Khan Academy at home for math practice. If you would like, you can easily add me as a coach:
- Log in (or sign up) at khanacademy.org
- Visit khanacademy.org/coaches (the “Coaches” tab in your profile).
- In the “Add a coach” field, enter our class code: XJDZM8
Upcoming Out and Abouts - Chaperones Needed!
This Wednesday, we will go to the Forest Grove Police Station to support our investigation of community resources and to learn about the skills different workers need for their jobs.
On September 28th, we will be gone all day on a trip to Metro Central Transfer Station and the Hazardous Waste Facility in Portland. Students who ordered a school lunch for this day will get a sack lunch that contains a sandwich, fresh fruit, fresh vegetable and milk.
Volunteer Opportunities
Breakfast Donations - Fruit needed this Friday.
Mystery Readers - Times available this Tuesday and Thursday.
Out & About Chaperones - Chaperones needed this Wednesday 12:15 - 1:30 and next Wednesday 9:30-2:00.
Weekly Review
This year, we will be using a program called Second Step: Skills for Social and Academic Success as part of our Morning Meetings. This program consists of short lessons, games, songs, skits and stories that address skills for learning and getting along with others. So far, we have completed two activities about respectful listening and focusing attention. Students have also had time to practice calming down strategies, including guided breathing exercises from Mind Yeti. Students can use Mind Yeti on the classroom iPads when they need help calming down, and you can also create an account for your student to use at home!
Later this month, we will talk about how to stay on task and ask for help with schoolwork. We will also cover empathy, emotion management and problem solving throughout the rest of the year. Occasionally, I will send home or post activities called Home Links that correspond with our in-class work. These are intended to be fun and simple tasks for parents and students to complete together so your Plover can show you what he or she is learning. If you would like additional information about this program or the skills we are working on, please let me know!
Last week, we took a walking tour of downtown Forest Grove to begin our study of natural resources and waste. Students looked at what goods and services can be found on Main Street and talked about what resources are abundant and scare in our community. In the classroom, they started to create a mural of their own business community after debating whether their stores should be located on a Main Street or in a mall. Over the next 2 months, students will work in partners to develop their own businesses and solve real-world problems that business communities face. This unit is designed to help students understand how behaviors such as recycling, composting, buying products that are recycled or have less packaging, and reducing consumption can help the local and global environment. During our investigation, we will focus four big questions:
- Where does the "stuff" we use everyday come from?
- How does the way we live affect the Earth?
- Where does our trash go?
- What are ways we can conserve energy and natural resources?
Communication
Please contact me with any questions or concerns. Parents and students can e-mail me at [email protected]. You can also leave a voice message on the class phone or set up a time to meet with me before/after school.