Update from January 22

Hello, well hopefully this finds everyone healthy. There's been a big dose of germs going around the school and our classroom.

Well for the past two weeks we've continued to learn more about Ft. Ross. The learners found out which role group they will be learning about a portraying at Ft. Ross. They met in their role groups and thought of the types of things they would have to learn to prepare for their time at Ft. Ross. They've learned more about Ft. Ross by continuing to read about the history of Ft. Ross and answering comprehension questions as well as reading and discussing historical fiction. They began to work on writing non-fiction summary paragraphs with partners. Inga visited this Monday to teach cyrillic. She taught a few words and phrases as well as how to write their names. Some groups have gotten thier official Ft. Ross names, based on actual people who lived at Colony Ross at one time or another. All learners will get their names by next week. Commandant Von Rengel showed up on Tuesday, frightening and confusing the sub and entertaining all of the learners. We are working on finishing revising, editing, and publishing a couple of pieces in writing. We are working on a narrative, a creative prompt, and a piece spurred by a "seed" in their writer's notebooks.


Update from January 15
Happy Friday,

This has been a busy week. We are learning about a variety of different things and are quite busy in room 11.

Math:
We are continuing to learn about fractions. This week we looked at combining fractions. We created drawings that showed a specific part of a square colored and a specific part uncovered. It was interesting to see all the different ways to represent 3/4 covered and 1/4 uncovered. The learners had to explain how they knew that they had the correct fraction of the picture colored. We are also continuing to work on our math skills. I can tell that lots of the learners have been practicing their times table, but some of them still have a lot of practicing to do. Please encourage them to work on their multiplication facts for five minutes a day.






Social Studies (Missions):
The ABC mission books are coming along. Many learners have already begun working on their final drafts. Some learners are still in the process of editing, but will hopefully finish with the data gathering today. They are very creative and full of interesting facts. I know I have learned a lot. These will be on display at the learner expo Feb.2nd.

Homework:
Several learners have not been returning their homework consistently. We are drafting a letter for these learners to notify you of the problem. We will be putting them in your family folders in the next couple of weeks and ask that you go over it with your learner, sign it and return it to us. The goal of these letters is to support your learner in being successful with homework and time management. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Parent Feedback Survey:
Please fill out the survey for Elysha as soon as possible. Lale's will be coming out next week. Your feedback is valuable to us, so we appreciate your time.

Enrichment:
Enrichment started this week. It was really exciting to see the learners participating 2-4. There were some great learning experiences. I watched the business class work on starting a business and deciding what to sell. I watched the hip hop class practice their dance steps. It was really great to see the learners so engaged in such wonderful classes.









Have a great weekend,
Elysha and Lale