Friday, December 5, 2014

Circle letter 12/5/2014


December 5, 2014


Dear Families,
    Welcome back after our Thanksgiving Break.  It sure was nice to see the kids again after our long break. And we have had a great week together… busy doing a variety of different things… persuading, non –fiction reading, multiplication ,, division and door decorating J
    Our persuasive writing has taken on a new a twist.  Writers are “rolling up their sleeves”  with an opinion of theirs that  they feel strongly about (maybe even passionate about!)  and developing it using solid reasoning and life examples.  Students are being asked to elaborate and write long and hard.  We will continue with writing and drafting next week.
    Our character unit study in reading is complete and now we move into a non-fiction genre study.  In addition to picking great informative books on a variety of topics (animals, space, Titanic, Roman Life…!)  we are also having conversation about text features typically found in non-fiction books.  With this in mind I would like to do an in -class  “reading project” designing a cereal box (or similar sized box)  with interesting facts and graphics.   If you could save an empty box (or two) and have your kiddo bring it in that would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance for the help.
    We continue with our weather study and this week we tackled the difficult concepts of evaporation and condensation… or liquid water changing to water vapor… and water vapor changing back to liquid.  We got to do some interesting investigations with these phase changes. .  Get the scoop from your kiddo.

    Our classroom door, along with many doors here at Mitchell,  is being decked out in winter creativity as part of a Mitchell School fun spirit activity.  When you are in the building come by and check out the work in progress. And lastly the  Report Card and portolio finally go home next Friday.