Conferences and Christmas Reminders

Don’t forget that Parent/Student/Teacher conferences are December 13 and 14. Your child is expected to be in attendance as they will lead the conference. I look forward to sharing information about your child’s progress over this semester. 

December 19 is the last day of school before the Christmas holiday. It is also the day of our annual Christmas Program. The program begins at 6:00 pm in Bakken Auditorium. Please check the Thursday packet for information regarding report times and attire. We will also have a class Christmas party on that day from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm. We will not be exchanging gifts, just enjoying each other in the holiday spirit. 

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Reasons for Sharing

Thanks to everyone for coming to support our learners during their first inquiry presentation of the school year. I was so pleased to see so many of you there, as were the children. I was very proud of the children and their performances. In preparation, the children and I discussed what a good presentation looks like. They knew that they needed to use a loud, clear voice, use expression, make eye contact with the audience , show enthusiasm, and create an attractive, informative visual aid. They practiced several times to hone their skills. For the first graders and new students, this first inquiry is really an exposure to the inquiry process. As should be expected, I’m sure you saw a wide range of ability as the children developed these skills. Besides learning presentation skills, sharing their information is important in several other ways:

 

• The class continues to construct knowledge or concepts as they listen and make connections during sharing.
• Sharing not only gives the children a chance to review their work, it also enables them to become teachers and to see each other as teachers.
• Sharing lets children sort information and decide what is most important or relevant to communicate to others.
• Children learn to communicate more effectively.

The children are now reflecting on the inquiry process and their learning. They are also completing rubrics to evaluate their group work and thinking about how they might do things differently next time.

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