It's October Already??!!

Wizards Walk

Hello Families!  

We hope that you have been enjoying the beautiful fall weather that Mother Nature has bestowed upon us!  We are grateful that her kindness has allowed us to get outside and enjoy some fresh air multiple times a day. For the most part, we have had Morning Meeting, snack, and lunch outside. We also go on a "Wizards Walk" each morning between our core classes for a mask/movement break and a little social time. That being said, the weather is shifting and we still plan to get outside.  So please encourage your child to dress accordingly. As we've mentioned, LAYERS are important and helpful. 

Celebrations

Our biggest celebration over the past weeks has been how well we seem to be working together as a team.  We continue to be impressed with our Wizards' kindness to one another, willingness to participate, and their seemingly endless flexibility and patience.  We acknowledge that it can be hard for some students to transition from the in-school routines to the at-home routines each week, however, most of the kids seem to be living up to the challenge.  The teachers have been working to find and tweak systems of organization and delivery of instruction especially on asynchronous days that support student success.  We recognize the challenges of working and having students at home learning since we see this first hand in our own families.  That said, we are working to have meaningful and important learning opportunities for our Wizards when they are remote and this work is essential for students to be prepared for their next day at school.  

Some things you can do:

• Have your student show you their remote activities for math and LA. This is the best way to really understand the work they are doing.
• Join Seesaw where you can see student work, our feedback, and even comment on your student's work. Please email Ms. Anderman at manderman@huusd.org to get access.
• Join Google classroom as a parent/guardian.  Some students are simply clicking "submit" and are not actually doing the work so it can be helpful for parents/guardians to occasionally check. If you would like the parent view, email us and we will send you an invite. 
• Contact the Wizard teachers if you need support helping your student on remote days and we will make a plan with you.  

Teamwork

The students have participated in quite a variety of team building activities that have allowed us to determine what skills we need to work together successfully as Wizards. Students also identified the traits/strengths they bring to the team as well. From this, we will be developing our team norms next week and drum roll....designing our team t-shirts! 

We worked as a team to play a favorite game, Reverse Charades where one person guesses and the rest of the teams acts out the word or phrase without talking.  We laughed a lot!

Language Arts

 

Signpost 
Bookmark

As part of our Identity Unit, students are reading and/or listening to Restart.  I hope they are sharing their thoughts about the book with you because they are REALLY enjoying it. It is a more complex novel, in which the story is told from multiple character's perspectives.  Students are using "Signposts" which are just comprehension strategies to prompt them to stop and think more deeply and ask questions as they read.  We are also focusing on the figurative language devices that the author frequently uses.  For example, this week students went on a "Simile Scavenger Hunt" using the book. 

Science 

This week we added science into the mix.  We discussed stereotypes that we often have about scientists and then challenged students to draw a scientist working.  They also added words to their pictures to describe scientists. We were quite pleased with the outcome. (Sorry the pictures are facing the wrong way!)

Next, they got to be scientists themselves by making observations of a mystery creature from Mrs. Michael's greenhouse and then generated questions they had about it. The mystery creatures were a hit when it comes to the gross-out factor as they are bigger than my index finger! Little do the kids know but this "little" critter is helping to launch our Ecology unit;)

Math

We are off to a great start in math class.  We spent much of the first weeks together talking about mathematical mindsets.  We spent time exploring what exactly is a mathematician in ways that foster the ability for all students to see themselves as mathematicians.  A big part of this exploration was the learning about the brain research behind making mistakes, struggle and your belief in your own potential to succeed in math.  My hope is this work has helped to create a learning environment where all students begin to see themselves as mathematicians and that mistakes are a valued and necessary component of the learning process.   It is not uncommon for students to see themselves either as good or bad at math and my goal is to discourage this damaging misconception that there are people who simply are bad at math.  I believe all of my students can and will learn math.  

In terms of math content, we began with the exploration of the relationships between factors, multiples and volume.  Students have begun to investigate the relationship between dimensions of rectangular prisms, volume and factors.  We will continue their work from 4th grade by developing strategies for multi-digit multiplication and division over the coming weeks.  

Other happenings

We have had multiple visits from staff members during our on-site days.

Jennie Hempey, our guidance counselor, came to introduce herself to the kids.  Here is the link to her blog, which has helpful information for you as well as your child!  

Jen Hill, our librarian, came to visit to share how students can check out books this year and has been delivering books to our Wizards on a daily basis.

Hillary Wheeler, our Dean of Students, also came to introduce herself as a resource to help students with school-appropriate behavior and conflict resolution.