End of Vacation

I hope this update finds everyone concluding a wonderful vacation and that you are all refreshed and ready to make the big push towards MCAS at the end of March.

I spent a large portion of my vacation up at Sunday River where the skiing was quite good. We also did a lot of snowshoeing, as Maine has held on to its snow cover better than Massachusetts. Lots of snow for the dog to play in, and play she did!

We took advantage of the dumping (2 feet) that we received the weekend before vacation by building the snow forts that we designed as part of our technology and engineering unit. Three groups of students put their heads together and designed and made models of their ideal snow fort. Duties were assigned and the groups were on the alert for the word after a big storm. Once we knew we wouild have school on Monday, an email went out to all of the families in 5W and the project was on. Everyone showed up ready to go, and despite the rainy weather, things went really well. Teams worked well together and, while the powdery snow was difficult at times to work with, the forts really came together.

Great job guys!

The Year Continues to Fly By

As we close out January and pass the halfway point of the school year, we are looking at February Vacation coming fast and then after that, in March, we head into second term report cards and the first round of MCAS (ELA). Yikes!

We are currently involved in the culminating project for Astronomy as each student in class is assigned a planet, satellite, or space object from our solar system to write a brief "postcard" from as though they had visited the planet. The project was inspired by the picture book Postcards from Pluto. The students researched their subject using the iPads over a two day period. What a great tool for research, as the class can stay at their own desk rather than head off to the lab, and it is much easier to share information with others in the class. The projects will be completed by the end of the upcoming week and up on the wall outside the classroom.

 

Also this week, we will be having the chapter assessment for Chapter 5 in Math on Tuesday. The concept of Algebra has picked up smoothly by most of the class, as they had fun trying to solve for variables.

We are continuing to work on MCAS preparation for March MCAS in ELA, and we are forging ahead with our studies of the 13 original colonies in Social Studies.

Due to the Tuesday Math assessment, I will be offering after school hours on only Thursday this week as there will be no Math homework on Tuesday. Remember, the after school times are now 3:15PM to 3:45PM with the new homework policy in place.