With so many students absent over the past two weeks, I've needed to revise lesson plans so as not to leave half the class behind. The silver lining has been the opportunity to spend a lot of time in writing workshop. Only a handful of students have completed their final draft, but we'll pick up in January and get those personal narratives published, then invite our families to a Publishing Party at 8:00 one morning. Watch for details here (our class website) and in the Thursday folder and agenda.
I Love My Neighborhood poster contest - The annual contest for artwork to be used for next year's Thursday folder has begun. This year's theme is:
- Be The Change & Recycle!
Hour of Code Week - Last week was the International Hour of Code, designed to promote computer coding with kids. The website Code.org (on which your child has an account as we use Course D as part of our technology learning) has a number of activities specifically for Hour of Code. Students who were at school last week worked on two activities:
- Flappy Code - students wrote code for their own game
- Dance Party - students coded their own dance party, including music, characters, and dance moves
Common Sense Media - If you haven't checked out this independent, nonprofit source of information about all types of media (e.g., video games, online games, movies, books) you should. Click here to check out their expert reviews, objective advice, and helpful tools.
Children are getting their first cell phone at younger and younger ages --- my sons received their first cell phones the Christmas before they went to college. How times have changed! Many (but not all) students in our class have cell phones. If you are considering a cell phone for your child, you might consider this article worth reading.