Wednesday, March 12

 Hi parents,

We had another pretty good day today. In the morning, we started one of my all-time favourite projects - it's a personal Novel Study, where each student picks their own chapter book from our school or classroom library. Then, we spend 15-20 minutes doing silent, independent reading each day for two weeks. Students also have the option to read their books at home. After each reading, they fill out a quick tracking sheet, to record how many pages they read, and what the main events of those pages were. Finally, when the book is done, students start working on the 'Book in a Box' portion of the project, in which they choose 4 items that connect to the text, put them in a box, and write paragraphs for each one to explain its significance to the plot, characters, setting, or theme.

So anyway, today we started that project by visiting the library and choosing books. Ms. Smith and I helped the students find chapter books that were at a good reading level for them. 

In math, we continued to explore division using concrete materials. We're staying on this 'concrete' phase for a while to really ensure kids have a solid grasp of the concepts, before we move on to the slick division algorithm.

In Writing, the students received a very informally written paragraph about Montessori, and were tasked with re-writing it in a more informative, formal way.

We started planning Leprechaun Traps (or Treats), and will start building them tomorrow. 

Have a nice night,

Zac

Students will be visiting the book fair next week! They will fill out their Wish Lists, and can bring money on Wednesday or Thursday for purchasing.