Hello everyone,
I apologize for the late update this week. It is flying by!
As a reminder, we do not have school this Friday or next week for Spring Break. I hope everyone gets to do something fun! As soon as we return, students begin their M-Step and NWEA testing. I will be sending home a sheet of paper with your students current NWEA scores on it. On the back of the page is a list of websites that will let your student practice what they need to learn, according to their score. I highly encourage daily practice on these sites and Mobymax, Front Row Ed or Myon. I would hate to see any student scores dip down because they got a bit foggy over break. If you have questions on this sheet, please send me a note! Please watch the following video about the new M-Step so you will have an idea of all that is expected of your student on this test.
This week:
Spelling: We are focusing on the ‘ble” pattern. Our words are tangible comprehensible, audible, combustible, irresponsible, survival, authority, environment, ordered, and origin.
Math: We are working on spiraling through some past topics and working on our current fraction unit.
Reading: Most students have a new reading group book and they are working on new strategies. As a class we are working on Close Reading and summarizing.
Science: We are focusing on animal adaptations and how these adaptations help them survive. Ask them about their moth projects.
Writing: We are publishing out poetry that we have been writing and we will be starting a new unit after break.
In other classroom news, the first grant I wrote for a classroom set of noise canceling headphones has been ordered. This will help all readers and test takers be less distracted and we wont have to share headphones with different students throughout the year.
I wrote a second grant and it looks like it has been approved. We should be getting a few iPads in the classroom. I hope to use these to have every student create a virtual portfolio of all of their work throughout the year for your viewing.
Lastly, In partnership with the P.T.O. I am launching a club to take back the garden located behind the building. It has become far too overgrown to use and enjoy so we will be meeting to plan out how we wish to use it and what we would like done to it. Please find our group page located on the Facebook Nowlin PTO page and “like” it for more information on the meeting times and how you and your student can become involved. Let’s all work together to make Nowlin even more beautiful again! Have a great week.