Celebrating CENT = The 100th Day

Quote of the Day: “Mrs. Rupp, look at how many multiple sources we are using!”

Today, we continued our read aloud of Goodbye Vietnam, learning more about Mai, her family, and her village. We made it to “Part 2: The Journey,” which described the secret departure from her home… a home that had been in her family for generations. In this section of the book, the author revealed a number of struggles caused by the move and allowed us to consider connectionschanges, and perspectives related to those struggles. Grandmother’s stubbornness was a focus of some discussion. As the family entered the town of Go Cong, they (and we) encountered a suspenseful moment. For the first time, Grandmother’s stubbornness was helpful.

Reflect: How does one’s character or character traits relate to struggle and survival? (Scholars… consider different points of view!)

The following video is from a market in Go Cong taken during Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year).

(Note: the description of the video provides a bit more information about Tet).

Multiple Sources

 

After reading, we put our hands to writing. Since it was the 100th day of school, we enthusiastically embraced today’s writing challenge… writing a collaborative 100-sentence story. Students, working in groups of 4 or 5, took turns (sentence by sentence) drafting a 100-sentence story. Writers had the option to draft on paper or on a Google doc. And, groups could decide to focus on one story or craft 4 or 5 collaborative stories simultaneously. The energy and engagement for this activity was high. In addition, students naturally initiated thoughtful writing conversations about the effectiveness of hooks, word choice, figurative language, character development, plot development, and conventions (spelling and punctuation).

 

This afternoon, we spent some time reading independently in order to build up our reading stamina and apply some of the strategies we have been learning about. Scholarly readers:

  • preview and predict
  • monitor comprehension and clarify understanding (pause and ponder, tackle tricky words, reread)
  • generate questions (about the text and about the author’s purpose and intent)
  • make inferences (prior knowledge + text evidence = inference)
  • envision / visualize (brain crossing)
  • make connections (to self, to other texts, to the world)
  • consider text structure (use graphic organizers)
  • synthesize / summarize (SWBST)
  • think about thinking (metacognition)
  • evaluate (determine importance)

Phew… reading is a complex activity that requires a  W  I  D  E  variety of skills and strategies.

  • Which skill or strategy allows your to soar as a reader?
  • Which skill or strategy do you struggle with… and how can that struggle make you a stronger reader?

We finished our week by completing a multiple source for measurement. This tool will be very useful in the week ahead as we apply our knowledge to a variety of problems.

Multiple Source: Math is Fun – Measurement Index

Our 100th day of school ended with a flourish this Friday as we celebrated Jessica’s birthday. Jessica herself baked a beautiful batch of chocolate cupcakes to share with icing and sprinkles to add some sparkle. We are grateful that her mom was able to join us in celebrating the joy that is Jessica!

 

 

Talent Show Information

Dear Family,

Your child will be bringing home a permission slip for the Annual Elementary Talent Show.  We hope that students will participate to show their wonderful talents.  The acts are can only be up to 3 minutes long and can be any one of the following: singing, dancing, magic, a reading, a poem, a special trick, controlled soccer skills, a short skit, etc.  Please be aware that if we have more acts than anticipated the timings may need to be cut down to 2-2:30 minutes.

Auditions will be the week of February 25 through March 1st.

Permission slips are due by Thursday, February 7th. If you are a family who is still out of the country, you may send your permission via email to Ms. Sherman. Be sure to read the linked permission slip and make sure you include in your email all the information requested on the form, such as:

  • Child’s name (first and last), and Grade
  • The acts your child will be in (they are only allowed to be in 2 acts ‘see form’)
  • The other students who are in the act with your child (first and last name and grade)

We look forward to seeing your child’s talent on Friday, March 15th in the CAC at 6:00.

If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Sherman.

Regards,

Ms. Sherman

Ms. Kraft

Elementary Student Council

 

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