Weekly Update

Dear Families,

It has been great to speak with all of you during our conferences this week and share all the learning that goes on inside our classroom! Your support and interest in your child’s education is appreciated and valued. Thank you!

This week, the students continued their work in fluency and practiced many Reader’s Theater scripts. We even recorded some with our Flip camera! The students also revisited various comprehension strategies that can be used during independent reading. Please ask your child to explain our “I wonder wheel” and bookmarks that encourages us to ask questions as we read.

We also started our new writing unit on Procedural Writing this week. This writing unit prepares the students for the Science Fair, which will be held in May. The students wrote procedures on various topics, such as how to ride a bike, how to make apple pie and how to make a paper airplane. They worked in small partnerships and as they “tested” the directions and instructions on each other, they discovered the importance of specific language and details. We will share more details about this type of writing next week as our writing pieces are completed. Their procedural writing pieces will be sent home and also posted on the wiki as a reference and guide for the Science Fair. Please be advised that the testable questions are due on Monday, April 19th. Parents’ signatures are required as we want to make sure the experiment is do-able.

Next week will be very busy here in our classroom. On Tuesday and Thursday, we are joined by researchers from the University of Vermont as our participation in their Peer Relationship study starts. We are very excited about this wonderful opportunity and are eager to share further information next week.

HCS celebrates “Spirit Week” next week. Every day provides various school-wide celebrations and fun themes. The schedule is listed below:

Monday: Tropical Day. Wear something tropical. Swim suits are not allowed.

Tuesday: Mismatch Day. Wear something that does not go together, such as a striped shirt and checkered pants.

Wednesday: Twin Day. Talk to a friend and wear the same colors, patterns, etc.

Thursday: PJ Day. Wear your PJs to school (must be school appropriate)

Friday: Charlie Fortin Day. Wear denim and suspenders (if you can) to school to honor Charlie Fortin as he retires after 22 years of service to the school. This is his last day.
Have a great weekend!

Regards,
Maria McCormack