Weekly Update

Dear Families,
Our Iditarod Reading Race is over. The students did an amazing job, reading and writing throughout this race. As you know we followed real mushers in Alaska as we read our own books, reaching check-points along the Iditarod trail. Thank you for all of your support at home. I hope you witnessed the growth of your child's ability to write thoughtfully about the books read.
The students finished a Voicethread on the Iditarod Reading Race. It is here for you to see. Thank you. We hope to invite other classrooms from our team, who also participated in this reading celebration.


Regular reading logs resume next week (they are still inside your child's homework folder). Some children, however, have asked if they can continue using the Iditarod Reading Logs. Of course they can, but they will no longer count towards the Reading Race. Your child can print any reading log on our wiki, if he/she chooses. I have also adapted the Iditarod Reading Log to say Ocean Reading Log. The title of it changed; otherwise it is identical to the Iditarod reading log. You can find them all linked on the wiki, under printables. WOW, I am so impressed with these young learners!

Our new science unit started this week. As discussed in earlier posts, we will study the ocean for the next few weeks. The students will rotate through different workshops provided by the teachers on Team Harmony. In Ms. Crowley's class, teh students will learn about the food webs. In Mrs. Thyng's class, the students will learn about the layers of the ocean, and in Ms. Munt's class, the students will investigate the geography of the oceans of the world. In my workshop, entitled "What harms the ocean?", the students will explore how over-fishing, garbage & pollution and run-off all contribute to the harmful effects we see in our oceans today. We are very excited about the opportunity to learn alongside our team-mates once again. In addition to participating in these workshops, the students will also write an animal report. We will give you more information about these when we get closer. All the writing will take place in school.

The students on Team Harmony participated in yet another wonderful 4 Winds class earlier this week. We learned about woodland deer and had the opportunity to examine hooves, jaws, and teeth a little closer. It was very interesting and the students learned a lot. They even had the opportunity to see how high and how far a deer can jump by using yarn. Amazing! Pictures will be posted shortly.

Thank you for signing up on our parent-teacher conference wiki already. It is linked in this blog's sidebar. If you have not yet signed up, please do so as the slots are filling up soon. Let me know if you need other times. I am happy to make other arrangements with you and your family. I am very excited about sharing your child's learning again.

Thanks for all of your support in your child's education.
Have a great weekend.
Maria