Halloween Fun

We had a blast today!  Here are some photos from the fun!

Be a Dectective

Our theme for the upcoming month is "Be a Detective."  Ask your child what detectives do and how were they a detective in their daily work.  

Peer coaching in writing

Writers look to their peers for coaching with our check list for narrative writing.  Students are learning to read their writing as readers and make sure the story reads just what they were intending it to.

Another Perspective

Here is a great video that talks about praise.  A Study on Praise and Mindset

Find as many combinations as you can...

Students share their combinations of 10. The goal of this lesson was for students to show as many combinations as they can with pictures and number sentences.  Be sure to ask your child to show you how many combinations of ten they can find.

Sharing the Love of Reading

Mrs. Bocian's class joins us once a week and our students share their love for reading with a buddy.  Both sets of kids read books and share their favorite parts.  

Bullying Assembly

Students attended an assembly today that reminded us how we can support a bully free school.  5th grade students performed real life scenarios that could take place here at school.  Students brainstormed ways they could support others when they are bullied.

Thank You Westwoods PTO

THANK YOU WESTWOODS PTO!  We LOVE our new staplers and tape dispensers.    Our writing center is not congested and we are not worried about old staplers being jammed up and loosing valuable writing time.  Thank you for all that you do!

Move-a-thon fun

Students moved their bodies to raise money for our school.  A great time was had by all and many students concluded this fun event with a little dancing.  

Book Shopping for Just Right Books

Each week students shop for just right books to practice their newly learned reading skills.  Our rule of thumb is that if they get stuck 0-1 times, the book may be too easy.  If they get stuck 2-3 times, that may be just perfect.  If they get stuck 4-5 times, students should stop and think if they understand what they are reading because the text may be too hard.  These are great guidelines to use when reading books outside of school.

Being Brave

Students are brave by sharing their writing with their peers.  Here Ashley shared how she took risk and added emotion and thinking to her writing to "unfreeze" her writing.  

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Students work independently to figure out how much food the caterpillar ate on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  They are encouraged to use manipulatives or pictures to help themselves.  Next they create a representation of their learning on their paper.

Students then share their work and strategies with a partner.  This is their opportunity to appropriately challenge their partner's thinking and compare it to their own.  

Reading Group Fun

Students participate in reading groups (reading the same book, and working on comprehension skills), strategy groups (all students reading different books, working on the same type of skill) and reading conferences where students talk about their reading, books they chose and make goals for themselves.  

Fire Safety

October is fire safety month. Please be sure to check your fire alarms, and make an escape plan and practice stop, drop and roll with your child.  .

Perseverance

Habits of the Mind have helped students feel joy when they stick with a task and finally persevere.  

School Rules in Social Studies

Students make a "David" from David Goes to School and write the most important school rule to them.

Story Problem Representations

Students are learning how to solve story problems in math.  They retell the problem, gather manipulatives to represent the problem, retell the problem using the manipulatives to a partner and then record their thinking on paper using a number sentence/equation.