January Overview

Here's a quick look at our classroom's active and productive January....

Writing - We are wrapping up our genre study of feature articles and moving on to the State Writing Tests next week.  The students learned about feature article components and strategies such as angles, leads, the body of an article, text features, and conclusion strategies. Each published genre piece, and the supporting writing process, is place in an individual student portfolio to take home at the end of the year.  It is a great way to see students' writing progress throughout the year!  Here's a peek at a few published feature articles...

Ancient Civilizations - We've been discussing various aspects the Mesopotamian civilization and culture over the past few weeks.  Students have retold the Mesopotamian story in their own classroom 12-page book titled Mesopotamia - The Land Between Two Rivers. 

  

  

 Making  typical food in Mesopotamia and playing the Royal Game of Ur

  

Designing personal cylinder seals

Building a Mesopotamian city complex

Gorge Studies - Each student selected a specific ecosystem to study in further depth, gathering information about specific plants, animals, and unique ecosystem characteristics.  Students are finishing the visual representation of their ecosystem with 5 specific plants and 5 specific animals.  Next, we will begin the labeling process and the written piece to accompany their visual representation creations...

   

  

Classroom Buddies -  Our buddies in Mrs. Dunton's class are starting a comprehensive Learning in Depth project that the students will study until they graduate from High School.  We visited our buddy class to help them along in their studies.  Take a look....

Tyson learned the Royal Game of Ur during our Mesopotamian unit and his buddy's topic is....you guessed, Games!  A picture just can't capture the magic happening as Tyson and Caleb played one of the oldest games in known civilization... 

P.E. Teams - Round 2

We had the Opening Ceremonies for our new P.E. teams today! Each team is embodying an ancient civilization through research, flag creation, and a "battle cry" to use while competing in basketball. Here are some pics...

Welcome 2010!

Typically, the start of a new year brings resolutions, feelings of a fresh start, and struggles to write the new year's date!  Our classroom is following this New Year's trend to the last drop...  :)

 Logistical Resolutions 

•  Promptness -  Students' prompt arrival is a crucial element to starting each day fresh and mentally ready to learn.  School starts at 8:00 am sharp and students are expected to be in their seats by this time.  It typically takes students 5 minutes to unpack and get settled in their seats.  So, please make sure that your child is dropped off by 7:55 am at the latest.  We start Morning Meeting at 8:00 am and any late students disrupt this classroom pattern. 
  
• Attendance -  Consistent attendance is fundamental to your child's access to Imaginative Education and is a requirement of admission to Corbett Charter School.  Students' learning takes place in an interactive, peer-dependent environment at school. Their presence in the classroom is necessary due to Imaginative Education framework. For this reason, make-up work is not possible when students do become ill. Homework for days missed will be 60 minutes of independent reading and a math lesson for each day absent.
  

Fresh Starts
We are starting a variety of new studies in January.  One of the best ways you, as parents, can be involved with your child's education is to ask them questions about their daily learning.  Keep them accountable!  My hope is that you will use this overview of new projects and classroom happenings to touch base with your child daily.  Ask them to re-tell a fascinating fact they learned, what is exciting them about school or new understanding they gained about themselves as readers, writers, scientists and mathematicians.

• Writing - Our new genre study in writing is feature articles from magazines and newspapers.  We will read and discuss elements of feature articles such as engaging topics, angle/purpose of the article and organization through headings.  Students will select a topic of interest to research and practice writing their first feature article.  Their second feature article will be focused on a specific animal in a Gorge ecosystem.
• Columbia Gorge Studies - We have been studying four different ecosystems of the Gorge:  temperate forests, wetlands, rivers/streams, and temperate grasslands.  Students will select one specific ecosystem to study more in depth, create a poster to represent their ecosystem, attach their featured article to their poster and orally present their work to their classmates.
• Ancient Civilizations -  Students will be focusing on the foundations of early civilizations and their impact on our present civilization.  A class focus on Mesopotamia will kick off this unit study.  As a class, we will focus on the geography, people/culture, myths and legends, and inventions of the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Babylonians, to name a few.  Later, students will work in small groups, each studying a different ancient civilization, based on their P.E. teams (see below for more information).
• Physical Education - Students selected new team leaders and teams.  It's important for these teams to work together in various ways and learn each other strengths.  So, each team is named after an ancient civilization (Egyptians, Romans, Incas, ect.) and they will briefly research these civilizations in order to compete like them in their new sport model: basketball!
• Reading - Students will be reading historical fiction books in their new book clubs.  The theme...yes, you guessed it....Ancient Civilizations!  :)     Students will also be reading their own independently chosen books and may write their weekly reading letters about either book.  The elemental focus is on practicing how to use supporting passages/quotes from the book to support stated opinions or ideas. 

I hope this provides you with a foundational tool of information to ask your child specific questions about his/her day at school. :)   As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about your child's progress.

~Mrs. Loeung
dloeung@corbettcharter.k12.or.us
503.695.3655 

December Preview

Even though the holidays are upon us, the students are working hard and staying focused with a myriad of projects...

Writing
Your child is publishing an "In December" book of student-created poems and their own realistic fiction short story.  They are so focused, the students beg me to extend our Writing Workshop time!  Ask your student to share their ideas about their realistic fiction story with you...

Reading
Students recently started reading a book club book, in addition to their independent reading selections.  They then meet on a weekly basis with other members of their book club to discuss their connections, understandings and questions about their shared book.   Students are encouraged to read either their book club book or independent reading selection for 30 minutes at home, in addition to the 30 minutes at school.

Math 
With the beginning of a new trimester, students are focused on completing a lesson each day.  Any lessons not finished at school, need to be finished at home as homework.  This will help them stay on track to finish 8 tests within the this trimester.


Columbia Gorge Studies
We are currently exploring the four major ecosystems of the Columbia Gorge (forests, wetlands, tributaries, and grasslands) and the respective plants and animals within those ecosystems.  We have worked together to create a group mural of the forests and wetlands on our bulletin board, and will finish up the streams and grasslands by next week.  Students are also creating an individual written and visual reflection for each ecosystem. This will lead us into January as students select a specific ecosystem to specialize in and present to their classmates.

These are also some belated pictures of each group's healthy/unhealthy stream models...

November Re-cap

 Here's a re-cap of some November highlights...

Alexia and Jessica using a dichotamas key to identify native and invasive plant species. 

Melanie and Jade working on their 
plant identification skills at Buck Creek.

 

Every week, students participate in a Weekly Outdoor 

Watch that involves making observations,

writing poems and sketching natural happenings.

Together with their buddies, students are finding macroinvertebrates at Eagle Creek to determine its health.

Arriving Alevins...

Our salmon eggs starting hatching this week and we have a tank full of wiggly, squiggly alevins. Wondering what an alevin is? Just ask your child for a full description.

We enjoyed watching this clip of alevins hatching from their eggs this afternoon.  We vicariously shared in the frustration of being trapped in an egg and the triumphant victory of freedom.  By popular request, I'm posting the link for you as well.   Enjoy!  :)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgp6OjpfrQo

Class Project - Healthy vs. Unhealthy Stream Model

As part of our Columbia River Gorge studies, students have been working on visual models of healthy and unhealthy streams.  We have been discussing categories of streams that involve levels of toxic chemicals, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and bacteria.  In the photos below, students are creating elements of healthy and unhealthy streams such as the Riparian Corridor, riffles, dissolved oxygen, pipes, dams, factories, and roads.  Ask your child for more details on how these elements affect the stream!