I would like to start this post by talking about the wonderful things I get to witness on a daily basis from this awesome group of students. It's not one super obvious moment that sticks out; rather it's lots of small things every day where your kids are making me smile and laugh. What a lucky person I am to be able to have students so willing and able to make me laugh. Yes, we certainly get down to business a fair amount of the time, but there's lots of fun mixed in. This class has already taken control in the hallway. They literally line themselves up and walk from space to space without me doing anything but strolling along. I know this doesn't sound like a big deal, but this shows me the kind of leadership and respect that adults (myself included) sometimes struggle with. "Best class," "My favorite class," "They were amazing," "They were one of the most respectful classes I have ever had." Those quotes are from my subs this year!!! That doesn't happen by accident. These kids are growing up into some super awesome young adults. On the academic side of things we are having a great time learning about all sorts of new and exciting things. We have recently started some new units in Literacy, Math and Social Studies.
In Literacy we are two weeks in to our Non-Fiction unit that is focusing on Informational texts. The kids have been reading primarily from Non-Fiction books during our literacy time. It's been really fun to watch them become very engaged in the topics they are reading and learning about. We will spend another 2-3 weeks in this unit and then we will be starting a unit on Historical Fiction.
In Math we started Chapter 5 in the Math Expressions (pink book) curriculum. This chapter focuses on the addition and subtraction of fractions (primarily with uncommon denominators). For this chapter there are three different groups working in our Math Expressions book and in our Holt book. I will be putting assignments on my calendar that will be for each of the three groups. The Pink group is working through the Math Expressions book almost exclusively for chapter 5. There is also the Pink/Red group who are going to be doing the majority of lessons in the Math Expressions book, but will also be doing some lessons in the Holt (Red) book as well. There is also a group working mostly in the Holt book throughout this chapter/unit. All students will be taking the same quizzes and unit test as these are great resources for the student and for me to see how they understand the concepts.
We have spent the last week and a half in Social Studies on our "Explorers" unit. The first part of this unit is dedicated to learning about the groups of people who lived in America before it was "discovered" by Europeans. Each student is part of an "expert" group that is learning about one specific Native American group. We will then be sharing all of our information together as a whole class so we can learn about 5 different groups of people living in what we now call America. Lastly, we will end the unit by having each student study their own explorer. From now on the kids will be switching for Science and Social Studies. Each unit will be approximately 3 weeks long. When the students are in Mrs. Hoskins and Mrs. Heilheckers class they will be doing science units. When they are in my classroom we will be doing Social Studies units.
Winter is here. Unfortunately one thing we can always count on living in Minnesota is that winter seems to catch up by surprise. This past week was a reminder of just that. Moving forward it will be very important for all kids to have appropriate winter clothing at school. This is just a reminder to make sure your child has a coat, hat, gloves/mittens and boots (once the snow hits). Snow pants are also strongly recommended.
We only have 3 days of school this upcoming week due to our mini Thanksgiving break. Wishing you and your families a happy, safe, and fun Thanksgiving break!!! Safe travels for those of you leaving town for the break. As always, please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
-Ben Halley
