Hawaiian Stars News 11-9-06
The Hawaiian Stars have been working very hard this past week and have accomplished a lot of work. Most are doing a terrific job on their Wordly Wise corrections and new work. All of the third graders are now working on their second books and most of the fourth graders are on lesson 12 or higher. The students have been diligent in their quest to get all of their corrections done and move on to new work. They love working with a partner and have been doing that cooperative learning very efficiently. Our goal is to complete all of our books before we go on the Big Island trip in March 2007. We will have other tasks to complete on the trip and after we return.
The Northwest Hawaiian Islands research is going well with lots of good information being gathered and shared every day. Our questions have been challenging, but we have worked hard to read our books and find the answers to them. We have written several pages of notes and also summarized what we know about the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. We are interested in finding out how this marine sanctuary will help to preserve and protect all of the interesting wildlife on the islands. Knowing that there has been official legislation passed about creating this sanctuary has been discussed, and everyone thinks it's a good idea. Learning about all of the government agencies which have responsibility for this sanctuary gives us an idea about how large a project it is.
Our math work continues, and we have spent some fun days measuring our classroom and furniture. Using different measuring tools taught us that some work better than others for different tasks. Our CML and computation practice also continue, and we are doing a good job of keeping up with our daily corrections. If your child does not bring papers home to work on them, that means the work is all correct for that day.
Our reading is moving along nicely with everyone reading challenging books. Their Reading Log entries continue to be detailed and articulate accurately their understanding of what they have read. Their response choices have been especially creative.
Our Writer's Workshop work continues with some poetry and more stories. We have begun to share some of our work and enjoy the positive comments and suggestions we have received.
Our portfolios are being added to every day with selections and reflections to show how we are doing as learners. Using rubrics to explain what we are doing has made it easier to explain our objectives.
We will have a meeting for parents about the Big Island trip soon. Chaperone requirements and an oppotunity to sign up for the trip will be available to attendees. We are currently working on a tentative itinerary for our trips, and that will also be shared at the meeting. Our reservations at Kilauea Military Camp have been confirmed, and I will work on final details as soon as we have accurate numbers about how many will go on each trip. Meal counts need to be accurate, and I will notify the camp of our needs. I have been in touch with Marian and Denise from their reservations department quite regularly. I will keep you informed once we have made more detailed plans for the trip.
Posted on November 9, 2006 6:16 AM | Permalink