Take a Peek at Our Week!

In writing, students peer edited their second essays for argument writing. I "scored" their essays using our argumentative writing rubric to give feedback on strengths and areas needing growth. These essays were sent home today for your review.  I am extremely impressed with their writing! The students worked hard and it SHOWS! Students also completed a reflection to identify goals for their argument writing assessment next week. The assessment  combines reading and writing skills by asking students to collect evidence on the topic of "Zoochosis", analyze multiple resources, determine where they stand based on the facts, and write a five paragraph essay communicating their opinion. I know, it sounds like A LOT, but these kiddos are ready to shine! I will also be chunking out the tasks so that they are not overwhelmed. :-)

In lang & lit, students enjoyed working in choice groups on the debatable topics they selected last week! What a fun way to end our planner as we prepare for our assessment next week.

Our monthly character trait is having a "growth mindset".  Children with a growth mindset believe that intelligence can be developed. These students see school as a place to develop their abilities and think of challenges as opportunities to grow. Here are some great picture books on growth mindset....you may enjoy reading these as a family! 

1. The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires 

2. Rosie Rever, Engineer by Andrea Beaty 

3. Your Fantastic Elastic Brain: Stretch It, Shape It by JoAnn Deak, Ph.D. 

4. The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett 

5. What Do You Do With a Problem? by Kobi Yamada  

6.  Thanks for the Feedback, I Think… by Julia Cook 

7.  Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg 

8.  The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds 

9. The OK Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal 

10.  Making a Splash: A Growth Mindset Children’s Book by Carol E. Reiley 

We dedicated some time during lang & lit to discuss this concept and created posters with our table teams. Below are a few examples of our work! 

In individuals & society, students analyzed the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution and  the Bill of Rights. Students worked with partners to read a section of each document and match a student friendly version. They used their Chromebooks to assist with complex vocabulary. Students then shared what they learned through a Padlet "electronic chalk talk"! We are loving this tech tool! Next week we will backtrack a bit to discuss why the colonists sought independence!

I've been really enjoying my WIN group this round! We have a nice mix of kiddos from my homeroom, Mrs. Ottman's homeroom, and other classes in the grade level! This week, we prepared debates based on one of the topics we analyzed over the course of our time together. The students shared their debates and we voted on the strongest arguments. They were such risk-takers!!

*Please note that Weekly News will not be sent home this week due to our recess day on Friday. 


Have a wonderful "long" weekend!! :-)