Greetings Families! After reading your feedback on last year's survey I have decided to move away from Weebly and adopt a different platform for communication: Bloomz. With the Blooms app I will be able to post newsletters, field trip updates, and other announcements, while also allowing for your instant feedback. The application can be downloaded on smartphones, tablets, or desktops, and can even be texted to you. Once you have downloaded the Bloomz app, use the access code 6EFAGQ to join the class.
Thus, our Weebly site will not be updated on a regular basis and will be slowly phased out. As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, or celebrations at [email protected], on my cell at (907)406-0236 or in person!
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Thank you all for your support during these times of summative assessments (end of year formal testing!) Our first state-wide PEAKS assessment has passed into the history books, though the results will likely not be available until next fall. Contrarily, this week we will be doing our traditional AIMSweb reading and mathematics assessments that our district has been conducting 2-3 times a year for many years. Thankfully, AIMSweb provides instant results and consists of only two 8-minute math tests and 3 minutes worth of reading assessments, all in the classroom setting. Much more manageable!
Next Monday and Tuesday we will wrap up all the mandated testing with the district’s new and more detailed benchmark assessment called MAP (Measures of Academic Progress). This online assessment is a 1 hour math and 1 hour reading test and will eventually replace AIMSweb. The results are anticipated to go home with 4th quarter report cards. For more information please go to: https://www.nwea.org/assessments/map/ On the reverse of this newsletter are instructions on how to complete a practice MAP assessment online. Last week we got to host Senator Murkowski in a school-wide assembly. This event was originally part of our Government unit last quarter but she needed to reschedule to the current congressional recess. Log into our website to see pictures. We are now moving deeper into our rights as citizens of the world, transitioning from the Bill of Rights to human rights. This will wrap up with our nation’s civil rights movement. In science, the sixth graders will continue to prepare for their Kenai Fjords field trip. We will be meeting at Denali at 6am for a prompt 6:15 departure. We are expecting to return between 6pm and 6:15pm on Wednesday and will call the office before we leave Seward to give the most accurate update possible. Please make sure your sixth graders are dressed for windy (and wet) conditions. As I (and Mrs. Riley) will be the teachers in charge for the Kenai Fjords trip, our fourth and fifth graders will be split between the remaining classrooms for the day. In reading we have passed the climaxes and are coming across the falling actions in our novels on the way to resolution. It has been a lot of fun reading these and has been difficult to make sure students aren’t reading ahead! We’ll follow up the novels with a small project. On a separate note, the snow has completely cleared from the playground, yielding new surfaces to play and run on! One new surface, mud, serves as a reminder of the importance of having outdoor shoes/boots that can be worn to and from school and during recess, and a separate pair of shoes that can stay in the classroom/gym. Montessori classrooms do a lot of work on the floor so we try to keep it as clean as possible. As always, please feel free to call/text/email/or stop by with any questions, concerns, or celebrations! This week we are taking our state mandated language and math online PEAKS assessments. What can you do at home to help? Make sure children get lots of sleep each night and a full breakfast each morning. Monday’s test only took an hour and is likely one of the longer assessments of the week.
Besides our testing, we will be working on our novel studies, getting through some more rising actions in Hatchet and possibly reaching the climax in I Am Malala. Students seem to be really enjoying the adventures of Brian Robeson, while the I Am Malala group is tackling some deep issues in their autobiographical reading. Ask your child what is happening in their story. We’ll also be doing some math work in geometry, statistics, and graphing. All valuable skills that need a frequent follow up and polishing. In language, we’ll attempt to get started on idioms but we will finish that up next week. In science, we’ll look at life cycles beyond our already studied cycle of salmon. In addition, sixth graders will also begin their preparatory work for their Kenai Fjords field trip next week. Preparations include a Know-Before-You-Go packet that will be a large part of their homework this week, as well as 3-part nomenclature matching cards on animal identification of likely species we’ll find in Resurrection Bay. The chaperone meeting for the field trip is Wednesday evening at 5:30 (there is a cost of $50 per chaperone). You’ll find attached a survey for parents so I may learn how to best build and maintain our vitals lines of communication and partnership. Your time is very much appreciated on this short survey. Last week we had the Peace Concert which was a ton of fun and I saw about a third of the class there! Choir and cellos did an awesome job representing Denali! As always, please feel free to call/text/email/or stop by with any questions, concerns, or celebrations! Barring any further unexpected changes, fourth graders will truly have tested in science by the time you read this. Next week the entire class will be testing in mathematics and language arts. Tests have been taking between 15 and 90 minutes typically per day, so fatigue should not be a concern thankfully, though students should still make sure they’re getting all the rest and nutrition needed to be physically ready as well as mentally ready for these very important assessments.
This week for homework we won’t be practicing any new spelling words to allow time to become familiarized with test taking tools and questioning that may be encountered in the PEAKS exams. You will need to use Google Chrome to complete these practices. In class we’ll continue through our normal routines. Our novel study is finding some good rising actions in both I am Malala and Hatchet. In addition to reading and small group discussions, students are completing comprehension brochures (Hatchet) and packets (I am Malala). Ask your child what they think thus far. This week in STEM we will have a returning guest speaker, retired ADF&G fish biologist Doug Molyneaux (he led the salmon dissection last semester). Fear not squeamish stomachs, dissections are over for a while…this time it is a simulation. We will be learning how biologists take samples of salmon fry and smolt to judge the survival rate, and will be using actual data from a Kuskokwim tributary, and manipulatives, to simulate a field study. This is a three-part activity that will incorporate math as well as the scientific process. Finally, Thursday is a do-not-miss event, Denali’s annual Peace Concert. This is a fundraiser for our sister school in Malawi, Africa and features a choir performance and dessert auction. Set-up for this important event begins at 6pm, while the concert is from 6:30-8pm. As always, please feel free to call/text/email/or stop by with any questions, concerns, or celebrations! Well hello April! By the time you read this, fourth graders will have taken their PEAKS assessment in science. Give them a high five for their effort and hard work! Our next state-mandated tests will assess the entire class on math and language arts and will be the week of April 17th.
Did you know PEAKS has a way for students to practice the tools used on the computer test and provides a small number of sample questions? To check it out, you must use Google Chrome and copy/paste the link: https://wbte.drcedirect.com/AK/portals/ak If you have time and the means, please check this out at home. We will also spend class time practicing the tools. This week we will be fine tuning our math skills in various applications we are likely to find in our assessment while forging ahead in our studies of fractions, measurements, and geometry. Ask your child what they are doing in math (and then ask them what factors and multiples are). In STEM we narrow our study of adaptations from the dissection table to the ability of salmon to find their natal stream. In language/writing we’ll begin looking at metaphors (comparing two things WITHOUT using “like” or “as”). Our cultural studies continue to look at the U.S. Bill of Rights. In reading we’re continuing with our novel studies, I Am Malala and Hatchet (the book Winn-Dixie got bumped for another time). Ask your child which book they’re reading and what the story is about. As always, please feel free to call/text/email/or stop by with any questions, concerns, or celebrations! Dear Families,
It is already the last week of March! The snow is quickly melting in the sun so I hope you’re getting out your final winter playtime before break up swamps us! I made use of the sunshine to get in some ice fishing over the weekend…which just made me that much more excited for summer fishing! This week in class we’re going to ramp up a bit from last week by launching our cultural studies unit on the U.S. Bill of Rights. We’ll be matching descriptions and examples with each amendment while analyzing the unusual language that is sprinkled throughout. This week we’ll also begin a novel study. Our class will be divided into three groups between the books I Am Malala (Young Reader’s Edition) by Malala Yousafzai and Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet. Throughout the novel study we will alternate days between partner reading and group reading/discussions. In order to ensure discussions are most meaningful for the entire group, students will be asked not to read ahead. In science we will be looking at different adaptations we find in the world around us. As part of this and as mentioned in last week’s newsletter, we will be participating in a dissection of a sea otter on Friday afternoon. Sea otter adaptations include their thick fur coat used for survival in cool ocean waters, flippered feet for swimming, and giant lungs for buoyancy. Our look into figurative language will begin this week as well. We’re going to start with similes (ex: the player was as tall as a skyscraper). We’ll also be working on some skyscrapers dealing with classifications in addition to our weekly graphic organizers for practice in sequencing and compare/contrast in reading comprehension. Math this week we’ll see 4th graders adding and subtracting fractions, 5th graders multiplying and dividing fractions, and 6th graders working with units of measure. Additionally, the entire class is doing the second part of a project on mean, median, mode, and range where they collected data from peers or faculty; this week they will organize the data onto a histogram. As a reminder to our fourth grade students: next week is our state assessment in science, on Monday April 3rd. (All other tests for our class are during the week of April 17). These are computerized tests produced by a new-to-Alaska company, PEAKS. For more info, please check out ASD’s information on the tests at http://www.asdk12.org/peaks/ . Finally, on Friday evening our choir is performing for our Fine Arts Night, 6:30-8pm. As always, please feel free to call/text/email/or stop by with any questions, concerns, or celebrations! I hope you had a great Spring Break and found some rejuvenation in the Alaskan sunshine or by traveling outside! I found some extra peace (and cold) skiing out to Portage Glacier and tent camping. Though the days saw hundreds of visitors, by night the glacier hosted only my companion and me!
Now that school is back in session I am excited to get going on our final quarter! Report cards will be going home this week to reflect on the progress each student has made over the previous quarter while being used to set goals for the fourth quarter. If you have any questions, concerns, or celebrations, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Before spring break the class addressed a distraction that was disrupting the peace: mechanical pencils. In a secret vote the class overwhelmingly decided that they would no longer allow mechanical pencils in their community in an effort to better foster the peace. Therefore, we will exclusively be writing with the dozens of wooden pencils that families so graciously contributed at the beginning of the year. What will we be writing with our conflict-free pencils? This quarter we’ll be looking into all the fun forms of figurative language (alliteration, idioms, onomatopoeia, poetry, etc.). We’ll also analyze different sentence structures, finish our skyscrapers, and continue reading comprehension exercises. Yes, reading…we’re going to take on a novel study this quarter as well. In math and science this quarter we’ll continue on our trajectory of progress. In science we’ll complete our unit on interconnectedness and adaptations with different lab experiments including observing a live sea otter necropsy performed by one of our parents, Verena Gill, and a salmon sorting math simulation hosted by retired fish biologist Doug Molyneaux. Additionally, fourth graders and I will be preparing for the state’s standardized science test for fourth graders. Our math for 4th and 5th graders will continue to explore fractions for a while and continue to pop into geometry. For 6th graders we will finish up percents and move through units of measure and into algebraic expressions while practicing geometry. This will all be done while keeping an eye on the clock (I’ve covered up the digital clock in the classroom, forcing students to use the analog clocks…they need the practice!) In cultural studies, although we have concluded our unit on the different types and levels of government, we will host Senator Murkowski in April as she had to reschedule last quarter. Our new unit will explore the Bill of Rights, Civil Rights, and the movement towards equality in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Finally, this Thursday, the Denali Student Council is hosting a community dance for all Denali family members. Every student must have an adult family member accompany them while in the school. Please contact the office with any questions. I hope you all had a great spring break! As always, call/text/email/stop by with any questions, concerns, or causes for celebration! Don’t forget spring pictures are tomorrow, Tuesday, March 7! Students should bring smiles and info for the photographers if you are planning to purchase. Please contact the office for any details.
In addition to spring pictures (and the Iditarod beginning), we’ll be wrapping up third quarter before the much anticipated spring break. Any outstanding projects like our “Tree of Government” poster (featuring three main branches), form of government written summary, and our verbs work, should all be completed by the end of the week to make it on report cards. Ask your child the status of each of these projects. New lessons this week will close out our months long look at verbs by tackling regular vs. irregular verbs. In math we’ll continue learning about fractions and percents while also looking at the Iditarod to explore mean (average), median, and mode. We will also try to explore the erosive properties of water upon soil using turkey pans of wheat grass we started growing last week. Besides that, catch up and make up time will be allowed for during this short week (Friday is an in-service day for teachers). Next week is spring break and we are all so excited! I am, however, hoping that students that work with Math-Whizz are still allowed and encouraged to continue their 90 minutes of weekly usage by working at home next week. Testing is coming up. Indeed, I have signed our class up for the big state standardized testing the week of April 17 – 20. Additionally, fourth graders will be taking their standardized science tests on April 3. This year, Alaska’s assessment tool is called “PEAKS”; more information can be found at https://education.alaska.gov/tls/assessments/peaks.html I hope you all have a great spring break! As always, call/text/email/stop by with any questions, concerns, or causes for celebration! It was great meeting with so many of you last week to discuss each student’s progress and goals! I look forward to continuing on this journey with each of you. As always, please call/text/email/stop by with any questions, concerns, or causes for celebration! If you have not been able to schedule a conference yet, there is always time to do so, even if just over the phone!
We have two weeks left before spring break and thus 2 weeks left of third quarter. In addition to finishing up language and cultural units, we will be pushing on to new explorations. This week in cultural studies we’ll begin wrapping up our government/civics unit by analyzing our national government and the 3 branches of government that all of our other levels are government are modeled off of. In language we’ll look at the voice of the verb (active vs. passive). In reading we’ll be testing out our skills on our graphic organizers in addition to practicing our words-per-minute rate building (4/5 graders) and SRA’s (6th graders). In math our fourth and fifth graders will mostly be separate again for their lessons, though they will all be exploring fractions! Our sixth graders will look at percents. Additionally, all students in the class will be pressed to deal with analog time telling on their homework this week, as state-wide testing is approaching and it definitely demands utilization of traditional, normal, analog clock time telling. Next Tuesday is spring picture day. Please watch for more info/packets to make their way home as they are distributed to teachers. I wanted to send a big thank you to those of you able to donate books from the book fair or if you were able to volunteer to staff the fundraising event! If you were not able to contribute with the fair but would like to help the classroom in a different way, although nearly three quarters of the school year are over, it seems our classroom may need a few supplies restocked. I held off on a winter resupply notice in hopes of making it through the year but alas, here we are out of grid paper and low on Clorox wipes. If you are capable of donating these items, our fractions and health would greatly appreciate it! Additionally, as always, our classroom hosts an online wishlist as a means of donating items, at http://a.co/8jM0qUg and/or through our class website. This weekend Fur Rondy and the Iditarod Ceremonial Start make our community an active place! I hope you all have a great week and enjoy the weekend ahead! As always, call/text/email/stop by with any questions, concerns, or causes for celebration! A short newsletter for a short week, conferences week.
This week Tuesday is a full day, Wednesday and Thursdays are half days, and both Monday and Friday there is no class. That being said, Tuesday and Wednesday will not have many new lessons. We’ll do some geometry, STEM, and writing, but it will mostly be spent as catch up time. There will be no homework or spelling this week. Thursday, a half day, will be a read-in. Students are allowed a pillow, blanket/sleeping bag, teddy sort of animal, pajamas, and must have at least ONE chapter book. After the short week we have two full weeks left of third quarter in which we need to bring focus and dedication back into the classroom. If you did not sign up for conferences yet, please contact me or of the office to do so, as online scheduling is now disabled to avoid conflicts. Students are invited and encouraged to be part of this meeting, though it is not necessary depending on your own personal preferences and availabilities. I hope you all have a great week! As always, call/text/email/stop by with any questions, concerns, or causes for celebration! |