October 18, 2012

I'm sorry I have not been able to publish the students' Ecuador video yet. There's been some technical issues with uploading it to the internet, but Ms. Perkins and I are working on it and will have it up as soon as we are able. The students worked really hard on it, and I'm anxious to share it with everyone! In the meantime, here are some pictures of the artwork we've done:

The class is going on a field trip on Monday, October 29 to see The Magic Flute, which Lyric Opera of Chicago will be performing at a local high school. The Lyric Opera has been generous enough to donate books for all the students with information about operas, Mozart, and The Magic Flute. I encourage you to look at these with your students, since I think the students will get more out of the experience if they see the opera with some prior knowledge!

We've started drafting our Day of the Dead paragraphs, honoring loved ones who have passed away. These should be finished by October 31. We'll have time in class on the 26th and 31st to create our ofrendas for those we honor. Please make sure to send in a shoebox and any other pictures or mementos you and your child would like to include.

We have a few tests coming up: the religion test on the first three commandments is on Wednesday, October 24, and the science test on ecosystems and food chains is on Monday, October 29. We will also have an English test and social studies test in about 2-3 weeks. The end of the quarter is Friday, October 26, and conferences will be on Sunday, November 4.

October 1, 2012

We're in the midst of two exciting projects right now: Hispanic Heritage and Day of the Dead! Students have finished researching our country for Hispanic Heritage month, Ecuador, and are busy creating posters of famous people and writing their scripts. We'll begin filming our movie this week, and hopefully, I'll be able to post it soon.

I also passed out letters today about our Day of the Dead project. Students need to choose one relative who has passed away to honor, and they need to interview two people about the person they are honoring. The first interview is due next week on Tuesday, and the second interview the Monday after that. We'll then begin working on our paragraphs about these people. Students also need to bring in a shoebox so we can create an ofrenda, or altar, for that person, along with photographs and mementos to place in the box. We will have time in school to work on these, and I can provide the students with construction paper, feathers, and glitter, but anything else they'll need to bring from home. We'll create the altars on the 26th and 31st of October. If you'd like to see examples of projects from previous years, feel free to look at last year's blog entries!

We began to talk about the economy today in social studies. One aspect of this unit is to talk with the students about their own financial decisions. We discussed today the difference between needs and wants, and how some things we need to save to buy and some things we can buy now. We'll work in the next few weeks with tracking spending and creating savings plans. I encouraged the students to discuss with you at home something they wanted that they could save for, and it would be great if this could become something they do at home and actually save for and buy, instead of just something we discuss in class!