We have been learning about effective effort and how putting forth the right kind of effort will result in more confidence and success in school. Below is a picture of some definition posters we have in our classroom. Some of these we have already learned, some we will be learning in the coming days.
You Can Help!
When you're at home with your child, look for opportunities to praise your child's effort. Breaking effort down into the six different elements helps children to see what effort looks like and it gives parents ways to be specific with their praise. Don't just say, "Great job! You worked hard." Try saying something like, "I noticed that you put a lot of time into your homework and you didn't give up." or "Great job using the help sheet Mrs. Leger sent home to help you finish your homework." This will give students a clearer understanding of what effort really is.
Math
Last week during conferences, I sent home the first end of module assessment. After looking it over, please let me know if you have any questions or would like some extra work to practice at home.
Students should be studying their fact family cards every night. Our next assessment will be on November 3rd. Please remember to have your child show you their MAH sheet which tracks this studying on Thursday. Parents need to sign it so that it can be passed in on Friday. A large number of students have been turning in their MAH sheets unsigned.
Reading
Students are still expected to read at home for 20 minutes each night. Please let me know if your child is struggling with this.
Writing
We have begun a literary essay unit. In this unit, students will learn how to develop a thesis about a book they are reading and how to write convincingly about that thesis. They will also learn how to add evidence to make their argument even more convincing.
As with the last unit, there will be times when students will be working on their writing from home using Google Docs. Many parents often feel the need to type for their children or to edit their child's work. Please don't! When students come to school with perfectly edited work, or work that has been written by parents, I am unable to see what the child can truly do. This prevents me from giving them what they need to grow as a writer. Thank you so much for your support in this.
Social Studies
Students have been working on research projects on various topics regarding the Northeast region of the United States. We have integrated this project with reading instruction from the determining importance unit which focuses on non-fiction and how to decide what is most important to remember when reading books full of facts.
Students have been excited about this project because students they have been charged with becoming the teachers for the rest of the class. They get to decide what is important for everyone else in the class to learn and how they are going to teach it. Stay tuned for pictures of final products soon!
