Week 4

Weekly Greetings!

To start with, I want to make sure you know about some important things to remember this week. On Thursday, there will be an early release at 2:15pm, and then no school on Friday or the following Monday for moose hunting days. That makes for a four-day weekend from September 14 through 17. The week that the student return from the moose days, we will start the fall MAP testing Wednesday through Friday. I will share more about that in next week's parent letter.

Starting last week, the students have been focused on individual progress in reading by using Lexia® Core5® Reading. It is a fun computer-based program that is focused on developing reading skills in six areas: phonological awareness, phonics, structural analysis, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. 

In addition to the computer reading program, we are continuing with grade level spelling and vocabulary. Also, we started a book unit and will be reading Stuart Little in small groups. 

On Wednesday, we checked our germ experiment and found that the potato handed with dirty hands last week was much more brown and beginning to mold. The potato handle with clean hands had less spoilage. Then we discussed the best way to keep germs and sickness away by washing our hands well. The students each made a poster for the steps in washing hands properly. 

The STARS pod classes have been a highlight for all the students. There are a few third graders taking the Alaska Native and local Culture class that I am teaching in the 1st Quarter pod. Amanda Attla joined us again. She showed the class how the brackets for competing works as the class competed for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place positions.

Then on Friday, the pods group made cranberry nut bread from the low-bush cranberries we had harvested a couple of weeks earlier. 

The class will continue in much the same way in core subjects this week, with a Math test on Thursday closing out Chapter 1 in MyMath. 

Have a wonderful week!

Kind Regards,

Julie Brown