In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences. ~Robert Green Ingersoll

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Hello families,

Don't you just love Fridays? Hopefully, all students have completed their work for the week, although I do want to remind the 6th graders that they have a book to complete by Tuesday, September 20. We'll have an in-class book project to do that day. I must say, a few kids have put off their reading and therefore have a lot to do this weekend. (Children learn, if not through natural consequences, then through logical ones . . . ) Ask your child what the name of his/her book is and what page s/he's on.

What else did we do today? Read on. . .

Grade 6

• Completed all work in Spelling/DOL and took our first test of the year
• Completed a cool "test" to help determine learning styles
• Took a "listening" test. This test was easy; they'll get increasingly challenging as we develop these essential skills. (Interesting observation: many kids listen with their mouths -- talking over the teacher, either for clarification or for individualized attention. Meanwhile, others are talking over those kiddos to silence the din--with the opposite outcome, I might add. Sigh. Learning can become a cacophony of children's voices, reaching to be heard.
• Looked over our "Which Way, USA?" worksheets and collaborated with a friend on direction-finding activity.

Grade 5

I only saw these guys for Language Arts today. We're working on sentence structure, and gaining excitement about writing. Yesterday, we wrote a class story using a picture prompt, and it was awesome. Today, I projected the typed story onto the whiteboard (without any punctuation, capitalization, etc.) and they revised/edited it. Way to go fifth graders!

Their assignment was to look at another picture--this one of a tornado--and write three sentences about it that might be used in a story. I believe everyone turned it in before the end of class.

PARENTS OF FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS

Please have your child complete this Digital Wish Fall Survey if s/he hasn't already done so. It is information will allow us to monitor progress and growth over the course of the program, and perhaps allow us to secure future funding for grants.

Student Survey - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/StudentSurveyR2Fall2011Pre-Deployment

It is important that students take the survey before we get into this year's program/training.

That's about it for today. I hope you all have a safe and restful weekend. I will be seeing you all on the 28th for Open House!

R/
Teri