Hawaiian Stars News: February 8, 2007
The Hawaiian Stars are working hard on their test prep materials twice a week. The third graders are doing an especially thorough job on their workbooks, and I am very proud of them. We go over all the questions and correct them each time we meet. I checked every student's book and found that the work is being done very well. The handwriting books are also worked on at each session. They are getting a nice review, and most are doing an outstanding job. They will not take the SAT like the fourth graders will in April, but we wanted them to have test-taking experience, so they are doing their workbooks like the fourth graders. Ms. Holzman works with the fourth graders.
Our book report presentations were very well done, and most people got four or five stars. We just need to have one more presentation. The quality of the visual aids and speeches gets better every time. The Hawaiian Stars are feeling more confident as presenters and doing a fabulous job. My husband and I will hang the new posters up this Sunday. We normally come in on a Saturday, but there will be admissions testing, and I'm attending an all-day diabetes conference on Saturday.
The HTY production of A Thousand Cranes was enjoyed by everyone. Although the story of Sadako is a sad one, the children learned about the peace monument which was constructed in her honor in Hiroshima. It depicts her carrying an origami crane in her hand. The crane is significant because it gave her hope for a cure for her leukemia and also hope for peace in the world. Unfortunately, she was not able to fold all of the thousand cranes herself, so school children help. Many thousands of school children around the world send folded origami cranes to the monument each year.
Many thanks to everyone who responded so quickly to the t-shirt and Zip-pak order forms. Our class is always the first to have a 100% response. The two t-shirt designs which won the contest were created by Sachi Clark and Justin Kaneko. I think you will like them.
Our work continues daily, and we finally have three students who have completed their Wordly Wise books and are finishing up corrections. Everyone else should be finished before Spring Break.
Our math geometry game is really helping everyone to learn the vocabulary for this area of math, and there is so much more confidence among the students as they play the game. We will be solving geometry problems next week and in the future. Of course, we are continuing our work with multiplication and division. The CML problems continue to challenge everyone, but the children like working with partners to share their strategies and solve the problems.
Our Writer's Workshop stories are being created with more details, and several have been published this week. We will begin practicing our Grandparents Poems for the Grandparents' Day program on February 28th. Grandparents will be visiting the classroom and eating lunch with us. This is always an exciting time for everyone!
Expect a packet of information about the Big Island trip in the white envelopes next week. I am currently working on room assignments and chaperone assignments so you can receive that information. Flight assignments, the packing list, and the final itinerary will all be included in the packet.
Posted on February 8, 2007 6:23 AM | Permalink