Six Days In...

It has been a whirlwind six days, but what a fantastic time we have had getting to know our 5th and 6th graders! We have conquered lockers, schedule changes, crowded hallways and busy lunchrooms. We have set goals for reading and writing, and practiced analyzing poetry. It feels like we have known each other for a lot longer than six days! To all of our parents and families, many thanks for the patience with paperwork, and your generous school supplies! Thank you also for signing up for group messaging with our Dojo classroom app. Parent codes to sign up for the Dojo program went home this week.

This blog will be updated every few weeks, but the Dojo updates will come daily.

Please remember that your student will have a poem to read aloud each night. They will also need to analyze the poem and it will be due on Friday. Students will create a classroom newsletter "In the Loop" that is sent home each Friday, this is worth 5 points.

Your student will learn the origins and meanings of many new words this year, but we also explore the power of learning one new word and adding it to their vocabulary each day. We keep track of these words in a Word Power Journal, encourage them to share their word each day with you. These journals count as a quiz score every few weeks, and graded on neatness, completion and creativity. For example, this week we learned: contemplated, prognosticate, and conclude.

In reading, we are beginning to review theme, plot, and inferencing, and providing evidence to support our thoughts.

A word of encouragement...This is an extremely quick-paced curriculum designed to challenge and teach High Ability Students. As the teacher, my role will be to guide, instruct, and encourage students to problem solve and work with many different students. I am so proud of what they have accomplished Give them an extra hug this weekend, they deserve it!Love, Mrs, Zipper