We are getting organized, and will be kicking off a few things that look like schoolwork this week. Most of you have arrived with close to a full complement of school supplies. If you haven't yet, please bring what you need as soon as you can. It is really helpful to start off the year organized and prepared. I've included a tab here on the blog with a list of items we will use this year.
While you're exploring the tabs at the top of the page, check out our class timetable. This is a work in progress and will become more detailed as September progresses.
Tuesday is Monterey's Meet the Teacher event. Our PAC runs a social outside from 6:00 - 6:30. Parents, I'll meet you in the classroom from 6:30 - 7:00. And our school's new music teacher will run a presentation 7:00 - 7:30. See you then!
About Music... an informal poll with the students showed some limited interest in our school's music program. Band 6 gets underway soon - it is not too late to join. But it will be important to make the decision to join the band or strings or choir this week if that's the direction you would like to go. Taking advantage of the (free) music lessons now could set you up for a lifetime of music-making! Send your parents to the info session Tuesday night after Meet the Teacher...
Here are a few of the things we're going to try to accomplish this week:
Writing: I love writing. I love teaching writing. And I love to see student-writers develop their confidence and skillsets. We'll play around with language a bit this week, and begin building an inventory of ideas for future writing tasks.
Math: We'll ease into some basic ideas in math this week, including subitizing, estimation, and graphing. You each now should have a math binder, divided into four sections ("notes", "sheets", "data" and "results"). Please do your best to keep this binder organized throughout the year.
Social Studies: We will begin to explore human rights this week. We'll build our understanding of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Language Arts: Let's work toward beginning a novel straight out of the gate! Perhaps as early as the beginning of this week we will begin a novel study. More to come about this.
STEM: The Help Harry engineering challenge will get us thinking in different and collaborative ways. It will also lead us into a quick writing task.
That's it for this week, folks!
