ANOTHER BUSY WEEK

Language Arts:
This week we focused on point of view and it's meaning as it relates to people and to literature. We read an excerpt from Later Gator by Lawrence Yep in our Critical Reading and Writing Daybooks. After reading part of the story, told by a boy named Teddy, we rewrote a part of the story from Teddy's father's point of view. The learners' rewrites were very creative and showed a clear understanding of "voice" in writing and how that changes with point of view. Beware... your child may be asking for a pet alligator!

Explorers:
The beautiful and thought provoking book, Encounter by Jane Yolen, was read aloud to the class. It's about Christopher Columbus' first meeting with the Taino, through the eyes of a Taino boy. It lead to some interesting discussions. I then read excerpts from Christopher Columbus' journal about his 1492 voyage. They were surprised to hear some similar events and how different the perspectives were. For homework this week, learners practiced this skill by writing a journal entry as if they were an explorer.
We worked on gathering information from written articles about specific Explorers in small research groups. We also continued to work on our Explorer trading cards. They will be up in the room if you would like to learn some interesting facts about California explorers. The learners used reading materials to access information about the explorers. It was a nice activity to work on finding important information in text.

SEL:
We had a lovely class meeting where many people gave learners very genuine, meaningful compliments to others in the class. Everyone was aknowledged at least as a class. It was a warm way to end Tuesday.

Magnets:
Students quantified the obsevable magnetic action of 1 to 3 magnets and a paper clip in an experiment entitled, "How close can you get?". It was a review in measuring in centimeters and millimeters as well. We also completed an activity testing magnetic strength through magazines. The learners were quite impressed with their strength. Next week we will begin to look at magnetic poles.

Math:
This week learners played math games and continued working on their math menus. We completed an assessment and are going to start looking at fact recall over the next coule weeks. I have noticed the learners have a variety of great strategies for solving problems and are enthusiatic about challenging problems. This creates a nice environment for taking risks in math. Next week math volunteers start!

Have a terrific weekend!
Elysha and Lale

Dear Families,

We would love to create an enrichment program for the fourth grade. Currently the fourth grade is the only grade without a seminar/enrichment program. The 5/8's participate in the Fine Arts Block. Coming from the 2/3 team, we saw how important it was for the learners to have choice and participate in enrichment opportunities. We would like to carry this model into the fourth grade and hopefully will be able to participate with the 2/3's enrichment once during the year. We are currently looking for people that would be interested in running an enrichment class or working as an aide. There are 30 learners, so it would be great to have four choices offered each session. If you are new to the CLC, enrichment is a wonderful opportunity for community members to share their passions, interests and expertise with the learners as well as provide opportunities to extend learning into different areas. Enrichment classes need to have an educational goal or outcome. Ideally we would like the enrichment classes to tie into some part of the 4th grade curriculum or fulfill a designated need. This may sound daunting but we are committed to help volunteers develop enrichment classes into educative experiences that build on the current 4th grade curriculum. You may teach the class on your own or alternate with another community member. We also often need aides for enrichment.

We have many ideas, and would love to build on your ideas as well. This program can ONLY exist with the support and enthusiasm of the community. We hope that you will consider leading or aiding in an enrichment class. If you are interested please contact us as soon as possible.Some Ideas:

Math in Cooking Computer and typing Fort Ross costume design Exploring patterns Artist study
Illustrator study Simple Machines Patterns in art Knitting Author study
Book group Patterns School Newspaper Music Drama
Reader's theater Human body Ca Government Sewing Blogging/Web Page design
Local Service Learning Math on the menu Wordplay Statistics Poetry/Perspective Writing
Pen pal writing Gardening Math Board Games Mission Power Points Pioneer living

We are hoping to have 3-4 sessions this year
Session 1: November 8-December 6
Session 2: January 19-Feb 9
Session 3-4: TBA

Here is the specific date information:
Day: Wednesday
Time: 8:45-9:45
Weeks: 4

The only exception would be if we did enrichment during the second session the day would be changed to Friday.
DAY: FRIDAY
TIME: 8:45 – 9:35 or 9:45
WEEKS: 4

Please email us as soon as possible with your questions or ideas. We are happy to support you in any way and can also help you with curriculum connections. We appreciate your support!

Sincerely,
Elysha and Lale