Weekly Update

We have had a busy few weeks full of lots of new learning!

Reader's Workshop: We finished our interactive read aloud Little Dog, Lost by Marion Dane Bauer. During this unit students worked on writing about their thoughts about the text and providing specific evidence from the text to support their thinking. We finished the unit by discussing the theme or message the author has for the reader. Students worked in groups to develop a theme statement and provide evidence for their thinking. 

We also participated in an exciting webinar with author Jacqueline Woodson, the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. She shared her journey in becoming a writer and tips for writing our own stories. 

Archeologist Visit
Mrs. Silvia, of the Haffenreffer Museum at Brown University visited our classes again to present information about the Native people of the Arctic. Mrs. Silvia brought real artifacts to help students learn about how the culture of these people is greatly impacted by their unique climate. Students tried traditional Inuit games that were used to build hunting skills, dressed in traditional Inuit clothing, and tried a traditional ceremonial dance. Thank you to the JFK PCC for funding this great learning experience!

Social Studies:
In December we studied our neighbors to the north, Canada! Some students had the opportunity to even learn some French!

Writer's Workshop:

This month we will continue our work on writing narrative stories by further exploring the world of fiction. After reading ClayMates by Dev Petty, students were asked to create a new character and write the next "scene" from this new character's point of view. Our mini lessons focused on creating characters in their story that are complex, but also make sense as a whole. Next week we will continue to plan and draft our stories.

Dancers of the Week!