Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Reminders (CMS TRANSITION MEETING TOMORROW)

  • CMS Transition Meeting 
Thursday, March 24th
for KES parents 
with Melanie Faulkner (CMS Assistant Principal)
6-7pm 
at KES
  • Please do not sign your child up for lunch while we are at Sargent Camp (April 11th-15th)
  • Please email me with a time you can meet for the 3rd report card conference.  (If you haven't done so already).
  • Please send in your child's permission slip and payment for the Boston Brass field trip on Friday, April 1st. (If you haven't done so already).

Friday, March 18, 2011

3rd Quarter Report Card Conferences


5 Small Minions 3rd Quarter
Report Card Conference Sign up Sheet

Report Card Conferences will be held on April 4th, 5th, & 6th.  It is up to you as whether or not you would like your child to attend this meeting.   Please email me (rsmall@sau16.org) your first four choices.  I will schedule appointments on a first come, first serve basis.  Thank you!

Monday, April 4th 
12:00pm-12:20pm
12:20pm- 12:40pm
Tuesday, April 5th
9:00am-9:20am
9:20am-9:40am
12:00pm-12:20pm
12:20pm- 12:40pm
Wednesday, April 6th
9:00am-9:20am
9:20am-9:40am
11:30am-11:50am
11:50am-12:10pm
12:10pm- 12:30pm
12:30pm-12:50pm
12:50pm-1:10pm
1:10pm-1:30pm
1:30pm-1:50pm
1:50pm-2:10pm
2:10pm-2:30pm 
2:30pm-2:50pm
2:50pm-3:10pm
3:10pm-3:30pm
3:30pm-3:50pm
3:50pm-4:10pm
4:10pm-4:30pm
4:30pm-4:50pm
4:50pm-5:10pm
5:10pm-5:30pm
5:30pm-5:50pm

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

5th to 6th Grade Transition

Below is a message from Bill Perkins, an administrator from CMS.  After watching it, I thought I'd pass it along.

CMS Podcasts is a student created and produced, online, interview show. Recently, our 6th grade reporters interviewed 2 parents about the worries they had about sending their children to CMS. If you believe it to be helpful, please let inquiring parents know of its existence. Currently, it is featured on the CMS homepage under March Podcasts (  http://cms.sau16.org/5th%20to%206th%20Transition.mp3  ). After a week or so, it will be archived under "Student Life-> Student Publications".


As an FYI, all our reporters use pseudonyms.

Edmodo

A colleague of mine introduced me to Edmodo a couple of weeks ago.  Edmodo is a secure social learning network.  We've begun to use it as a class and I believe it is a lot more effective and user-friendly than Moodle.  If you would like to access your child's Edmodo page, please email me (rsmall@sau16org) and I will give you an individual parent code.  The website is: http://www.edmodo.com/

All homework is posted and updated on Edmodo.  Students turn in their word study homework on Edmodo as well.  It's a great place for students to ask questions.  If I don't answer their questions right away, most likely other students will.

Poetry and Inferences

We have begun our unit of study on reading and writing poetry as well as the reading comprehension strategy of making inferences.  

Below is the rubric used to assess students in making inferences.
INFERENCES
1          No response/inference.
2          Attempts a prediction or conclusion, inaccurate or unsubstantiated with text information.
3          Draws conclusions or makes predictions that are consistent with text or schema.
4          Draws conclusions and/or makes predictions and can explain the source of the conclusion or prediction in text.
5          Develops predictions, interpretations, and/or conclusions about the text that include connections between the text and the reader's background knowledge or ideas and beliefs and that enhances the overall meaning of the text, make it more memorable to the reader.

We are reading the books Love That Dog and Hate That Cat as a class.  Students are independently reading poems and trying to find their favorite poets. 

In writing, students will be expected to use the following revision strategies on their required six poems:
o  Power of I
o  Leads: Begin Inside
o  Conclude Strongly
o  Line Breaks
o  Stanza Breaks
o  Poetic License for Punctuation
o  Cut to the Bone
o  Use Repetition
o  Figurative Language (2 things at once)

I will post each revision strategy on Edmodo as well as mentor poems (examples) with effective use of each strategy.  

Also in the poetry project, students will be expected to turn in three double entry journals which show me their ability to think about their thinking, as well as the inferences they create during their reading of poetry.  Students will write a letter to their mentor poet that describes why they enjoy their self selected mentor poet and what writing qualities the mentor poet taught them.

It's a really fun and meaningful unit.  We're all enjoying it thus far.