Hooray! The homework that is being submitted is fantastic, and the benefits are beyond what was hoped. Thank you for your consistent efforts at home. Next week, we will begin two week homework packets with some attached worksheets. The hope was that you would be at a solid comfort level with what has been coming home, so the adjustment would feel easy and natural to include a few reinforcement activities as well. The two week period is allow for more in depth discussions based on the research the children are sharing.

Did you notice the new page right after "Flipped"? It includes videos suggested by families that relate to and extend what we are learning. There are two embedded that are ready to be enjoyed by your child.

This week is P.E.A.C.E. Week. The big idea is to focus on how to treat everyone with kindness, respect all people, and value/appreciate similarities and difference. An emphasis is on anti-bullying, how to handle ourselves when faced with a problem, and how to take care of our own needs (safety focus). Just a reminder that tomorrow the colors are yellow and green. :)

Below is a list of concepts or ideas that were discussed, reinforced, and/or practiced today. Your child should be able to fill in the details. :)

- writing a solid paragraph - must include a topic and concluding sentence
FYI - The topic sentence is the main idea of what will be read by the reader. It should set up the paragraph by telling what the paragraph will be about. The concluding sentence is the sentence that sums up what was just read and should basically rephrase or paraphrase the topic sentence. Please look at your child's feedback on the homework that was returned today.
Expectation - All former Weaver friends should be able to write at least one solid paragraph with a topic and concluding sentence. The details and subdetails/examples between the topic and concluding sentences will vary depending on experience.

- reviewing grammar - a quiz on Monday after we finish our first round of "Newscaster of the Day" opportunities
FYI - Your child will be quizzed on an activity created specifically to assess whether or not your child was attending to and has learned what was taught during this morning routine the past 20 days (24 as of Friday :)).

- reviewing/practicing decomposing numbers - as part of a rocket your child created

- language of the discipline - as part of the rocket
Expectation - Your child should be able to speak about robots and/or space using the advanced vocabulary of robotic science, engineering, and/or space exploration - with examples to support the ideas.

- Jiji Lab and music class were today

- reading groups

- nouns - changing singular to plural (common rules: drop "y" and add "ies"; adding -s or -es - next will be the change in the "f" when making a noun plural)

- homework examples of new ideas to inspire your child or simply to show him/her the possibilities/expectations - shared :)

If anyone is interested in having your child Skype with the children in China this year, I am coordinating our sessions. They will take place every other week but may switch to once a month after enlisting our "buddy class" to switch off the sessions. The first session will be next Tuesday, September 18th in the media center where we have the strongest internet signal. Many lessons were learned when we tried it for the first time last year. This year, it will be planned, focused on topics each time, and will include objects for your child to essentially "show and tell".
Date: Tuesday, September 18th
Location: Media Center
Time: 4:30
Topic: favorite sport or game
What to bring: sports related items, games, or other objects to show and explain

After making a discussion planner, we will practice what to say in class to be prepared for a true discussion. They will also have the same topic, so hopefully the focus will be on what we all have in common although we are on opposite sides of the Earth. The topic was chosen in my afternoon meeting (by me thinking it would be easy as a first topic). If there are any changes after discussing it with the teacher leaders in China, then a new discussion frame will be created and you will be updated. Jennifer (the person who took us to China and organized my friends from Taiwan) expects it to work well both here and with our soon to be Skype Friends in Beijing. Please send in a note if you want your child to be pulled from Kids Korner to participate or if you will return to school with your child to participate. (It might be a great day for a park or frozen yogurt play date after school if some parents are working and others are not - just an idea.)

Jiji update: It was approved. We hope to see it arrive at the Apple Store some time this week. Let's see who finds it first. :) :) :)
FYI - We had a discussion about how the Mars Rover teams had to keep trying when creating prototypes. This linked to the MIND Institute (Jiji team) choosing to "keep trying and never giving up" when first denied by Apple. Feel free to use that information any time. :)



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