Monday, June 23, 2014


Where has the Time Gone?

 

Hello Spirit Bear Families!

It is hard to believe just how quickly the school-year is moving.  Spring is definitely in the air and our Spirit Bears have been ferociously learning and growing!  They continue to be a group of invested and enthusiastic learners, whose thirst for knowledge can never quite be quenched.  The theme of “Making Connections” continues to be a part of our Language Arts, Math, Social Studies and Science curriculums.

 

In Language Arts, our Bears continue to grow and develop as readers through “Stop, Spot and Jot.”  As students read independently, they stop when they come across a word that they are unfamiliar with, jot it down on a sticky note.  While reading, students are encouraged to use context clues to make meaning of the unfamiliar words.  The class has become so invested in developing their vocabulary that students share out each Monday to the whole class one new vocabulary word from their reading.  Mrs. Reed and Mrs. Hawkins then choose 6-8 words from the class list for students to define and act out in small groups for the entire class.  This has become a real hit for the Spirit Bears.  It has been such a neat process for us to watch as the students develop their vocabulary as well as acting skills.  The skits have truly gone from “good to great.”  On Tuesdays, we usually play FREEZE as a whole class with our new set of vocabulary words.  This game continues to help students connect to the words and make them their own.  By Friday, students are ready and well prepared to show us what they know on their vocabulary quiz!  The Spirit Bears as a whole have knocked our socks off at quiz time.  In addition, it is rewarding to hear students use new vocabulary words now in conversation, class discussions and in writing.  They truly have become voracious vocabulary experts.

 

Mrs. Reed read aloud Will in Scarlet, by Matthew Cody.  The book itself got mixed reviews from the class, however, getting to Skype with Matthew Cody was a HUGE hit with the entire class!  Phoebe’s mom is good friends with Mr. Cody and connected us with him so that the students would have the opportunity to meet him and learn more about the writing process.  We were able to Skype with him for about an hour one morning.  Spirit Bears had the opportunity to ask Mr. Cody questions specifically about Will in Scarlet and Powerless (a read aloud from last year) or about his journey as a writer.  The class was very thankful to have such an opportunity!

 

Currently, Mrs. Reed is reading aloud Wonder.  The storyline of this book has inspired lively discussions in class and insightful writing responses.  Students have made personal connections to the characters of the story.

 

The Spirit Bears continue to develop as writers.  We’ve written leprechaun stories and poetry connected to what we’ve been studying in Social Studies.  Upon return from Winter Break, we looked at our three branches of government and connected the establishment of our government to our study of the Ancient Civilizations and what our forefathers borrowed from those civilizations to create the current government as we know it today.  We wrapped up our study of the US Government with our trip to Washington, D.C., where we were able to tour the Supreme Court and the US Capitol Building. 

 

We are now travelling back in our US history, and learning about Jamestown.  We began our study with reviewing the explorers that we’d learned about last year and why they would even be exploring new lands.  We then narrowed our focus to English Explorers and why they would desire to come to the New World.  As a result of studying England during the late 1500s and early 1600s, we included a study of Shakespeare and what London was like during his time period.  Students have compared Shakespeare’s London to the New World through poetry and art.  Phoebe’s mom came in one afternoon and shared with the class her knowledge of Shakespeare and even acted out a few scenes from several of his plays.  As we continue to study Jamestown, we will also read and act out a few scenes as a class from a Shakespeare play.

 

In math, we have truly become mathematicians!  The Spirit Bears have continued to build on their number sense and number relationships.  We have worked on multiplication, division, fractions and have just started to explore decimals.  We continue to play math war and around the world with multiplication facts to help students’ automaticity.  Students have become more fluent with their multiplication facts, which has helped tremendously during our study of division and fractions.  Fractions have become relevant to the Spirit Bears as we used examples of food to illustrate fractions.  We then moved to fraction sets and used M&Ms, Starbursts and Skittles to understand fraction sets.  To further our understanding of fraction sets and connect to the Earth Day Festival, we used different types of pasta to determine fraction sets that were used to make necklaces at the Festival.  Students are truly beginning to see the relevance in daily life of fractions.  Moving to a study of decimals is a natural segway.  We have started to help students see the connection between fractions and decimals and the use of decimals in everyday life.

 

The Spirit Bear Scientists have been busy at work planning a playground and learning about biomes and habitats. 

 

We are looking forward to finishing the year strong with our Spirit Bears!  They have become such a tight-knit group.  They have grown individually as well as a group.  We can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings! 
 
Below are pictures from some of our adventures from the school year--most recently the trip to Jamestown and Cape Charles!  Enjoy!