Fifth grade reading students have been enjoying the book Dovey Coe. In the story, Dovey (a 13 year old girl) is accused of killing Parnell Caraway, the son of the richest man in town.
We are researching the justice system and how it works in the United States. We will have a local attorney visit us next week and share some knowledge of the juvenile court system so that we can compare it to the book. The most exciting component of this study is that we will also be creating a mock trial simulation. One of the things we learned about the justice system is that trials are open to the public, so fifth grade reading parents, please tentatively put Tuesday, November 5 at 1:00 on your calendar. We would like to invite our parents in to see our trial and what we have been working on for the past few weeks! More information will come soon!
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Third grade is the year where all students in WCPSS are given the opportunity to initially qualify for AIG services. I held a parent meeting to share information about the process. Here is the PowerPoint from this presentation. Please contact your child's third grade teacher or me if you have any questions! HI Parents! As we dive into assignments, we are discovering something about ourselves. It is not that the work being assigned is too hard or too much, but that we are still developing our time management skills. Time management is something that everyone struggles with at some point in their life, but it is an important skill to have!
For example, each week Reading AIG students are supposed to complete Reading Response Journals. The journals should be 15 or more sentences about a book students are reading. When we did the math, we figured out that 15 sentences divided by 5 days = 3 sentences a day. All students agreed that 3 sentences a day is not very much to be asked to complete. However, if it is the day before the journal is due and there is still a blank piece of paper, 15 sentences suddenly seems like a ridiculous amount of work. We discussed opportunities throughout the week to finish the assignments. We talked about ways to remind ourselves that the assignment is going to be due soon. We also talked about how, especially for fourth grade students, it is a big change to have long term assignments that they are expected to fit into their day. Each week is another opportunity to fine tune our time management skills, and I know that in a very short amount of time, they will have no problem completing these assignments each week! I enjoyed seeing so many parents at Open House! For those parents that could not make it to my session at 5:30, I am including the information I shared here. The first powerpoint is from the AIG department at WCPSS Central Office. It provides information about identification, policies and procedures in place and options that are available throughout the county. The second powerpoint is from me. It provides information about how Powell Elementary School and Ms. Fox will support your children through our AIG program. Please, as always, don't hesitate to ask any questions! A Poem by Ms. Fox
Oh I'm so excited, Hurry up, we can't be late I don't want to miss a minute Of this very special date My brain, it's on fire As I think and solve it out The answer is so rewarding That I dance around and shout The meanest trick to play And this is just no lie Is to not let me work on a problem Do you want to see me cry? Math, it's at the heart of me I'm a true mathematical nerd Doing math is what's cool now What? You hadn't heard? So, my gift to you, I hope As you journey with me this year Is that when you get to challenging math You won't run away in fear It's not about getting it right It's more about the thought And having an idea of what to do As well as what to not So come along on the adventure, I'll make a nerd out of you! Math is all around us, It's in everything we do! So, we are off and running today! All things Ms. Fox and all things AIG seem to start at the same time!
First period Ecology unfortunately needed a last minute game changing plan, but the students went with it and didn't let the rain stop them from getting to observe our courtyard garden. Hopefully, we will actually experience the garden first hand before the week is over. Second period Logic and Problem Solving dove right into putting logic to use. They received unorganized, incomplete information and must make sense of it so that they can play the role of teacher and write an informational letter to the parents about an imaginary field trip. Fifth grade math AIG students received their problem solving notebooks and learned about a few quick games we may play from time to time. They also wrote in any form they chose a response to the prompt: "What is your relationship with math?" It was a great way to get to know them and their feelings about a subject I just love! I myself wrote a poem about my relationship with math... Fourth grade math AIG students also received their problem solving notebooks and learned about the games. Their writing prompt was slightly different, but still very enlightening. They wrote in response to "What does it mean to be good at math?" or "What does it mean to be math minded?" Sixth period Thinking Power also got right to work showing off their thinking powers! They brainstormed what it meant to have thinking power and then they, in honor of the rain today, thought about animals getting on a big boat. If you counted the legs, there were 12 legs. How many animals went by? The beauty of this question is that there is not one right answer, but many different possibilities. There were some very creative thinkers today. I can't wait to see what comes with more time to get thoughts together tomorrow! Tomorrow, fourth and fifth grade reading AIG students will have their first classes as well. Both groups will receive their response journals and find out the novels we will start the year with. There's no way I'm giving away the surprise, but I'm super excited about both of them! If you haven't heard yet... Ms. Fox is on twitter! Please, follow me @learnwithfox. Twitter is a new experiment for Ms. Fox, but an integral part of communication here at Powell. Although it is a great way to quickly share information to the masses, it can be much more than that!
I am trying to share out things to think about with your families. #whatisthe? will be tweets with an "answer" and the goal is for you to come up with questions. For example, if I send out "the answer is 4, #whatisthe?" You can discuss with your children possible questions with the answer. It could be 3+1, or the cube root of 64, or the number of first grade teachers at Powell. The possibilities are endless. #wonders will be tweets with links or comments to posts from Wonderopolis. If you don't know Wonderopolis, you should check them out! It just provides great bits of information you probably hadn't thought about before! #dinnerconversation are things that you could talk about with your children. Get a conversation going, engage them! You may be surprised at some of the answers, I know my children constantly surprise me! What I would love to have happen is a dialogue on twitter. If I send out a tweet, share your replies! Let's connect through social media and learn from each other and our experiences. Without your replies (on twitter, or in person), I feel like I'm tweeting to no one, and that just seems silly! Hello Parents!
Just some beginning of the year information for you now that my website is up and running! The SSA nomination window has ended and all tests have been submitted to central office. As soon as results are known, I will contact those of you that are waiting to find out results. Don't know what SSA is, refer to WCPSS AIG tab on my website. At 5:30 on Thursday, September 26, all parents of AIG identified students are invited to a parent meeting in the media center. Join us to find out more information about Ms. Fox and what the AIG program will look like at Powell this year. The fall AIG testing nomination window is open until Friday, September 27. Does your fourth or fifth grade child need to be reassessed for AIG eligibility? Does your child need to have a second area of identification added to their service plan? If so, send in writing to Ms. Fox: Your child's name Your child's grade level Area needed to be tested Ms. Fox's weekly classes will begin on Monday, September 16. Please look for an information letter coming home with your child that week! |
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October 2016
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