OCTOBER 15, 2010

SMASH PICTURE DAY - TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19
Everyone will be in their class photo and will have an individual photo taken for their school ID.
If you would like to purchase class or individual photos, please fill in and return the order form
that was sent home last week. There are additional forms available in the office.
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Dear SMASHing Families,
It was wonderful to learn together with the 55 people from SMASH and John Muir who were able to attend the Responsive Classroom training for parents Saturday, October 2nd. Thank you to our wonderful facilitator Margaret Wilson for being with us. For those who were at soccer games and other events, I am writing up my notes to share with you here.

FOUNDATIONAL IDEAS: Schools like SMASH that implement Responsive Classroom strive to create safe, challenging, joyful classrooms that merge social and academic curriculum. The greatest cognitive growth occurs through social interaction. We believe it is important to know students developmentally, individually, and culturally and that ALL children want to and can learn.

TEN TEACHING PRACTICES: Every day starts with a ritualized format, a Morning Meeting including a greeting, a sharing, an activity, and a message linked to the school day, that sets a good tone for our shared day and gives us practice with public speaking. Students and teachers co-create classroom guidelines that support a learning environment where we feel safe and can take risks. Teachers provide Interactive Modeling so that students have at least three positive mental images of productive ways to do something and spend time noticing what actions, behaviors, language go into making something successful (i.e. how to start a conversation, how to take turns in a conversation, or how to respectfully disagree). Students are given time for Guided Discovery where they explore how materials can be used to their most creative effect and also where they learn how to take care of them so they last. In order to feel fully engaged in learning, students have some Academic Choice, giving input into either what they learn or how they show they’ve learned a concept. Careful attention is given to classroom organization and problem-solving is a collaboration amongst students and adults.

Most of the 3 hour workshop focused on two more Responsive Classroom teaching practices: Positive Teacher Language and Logical Consequences. The workshop group agreed that the characteristics of positive teacher language apply to the language we use as parents at home as well:

LANGUAGE CHARACTERISTICS:
Be clear, simple and direct Not “It would be great if you came to the dinner table now” instead say “Time to wash hands and sit down for family dinner.” If you phrase something as a yes or no question, be prepared to accept a no.

Be genuine and respectful (Not gushing over them like they are babies. Not sarcastic.)

Be specific. Give them information they can use, not empty praise.

Focus on actions, not character. Say what they did and what then can do to make it better.

Be descriptive, avoid personal judgment.

Show faith in children’s abilities and potential. “Show the way you can practice _______. Stop ______ I know you can do it.”

TYPES OF LANGUAGE:
Reinforcing Language—Recognizes progress, not only mastery. Notices details that keeps kids engaged in their activities. Reflects important goals and values.

Reminding Language—Used when the adult and child feel calm and is brief.

Redirecting Language—Makes a brief statement setting firm limits. As writer Jane Nelson said, “Don’t teach a drowning child to swim. Go to her with a life raft and work on swimming lessons later.” When a child is acting inappropriately, briefly state what has to happen, then later when all are calm, reflect on what caused the misbehavior and agree upon other actions.

LOGICAL CONSEQUENCES:
We all break rules. Think about the rules you’ve broken as an adult (gossiping when someone wasn’t around, speeding on the highway, not returning emails) and the reasons you had for breaking those rules. The goal with children is to stop a misbehavior, let the child regain self control then guide the children to knowing how to fix their own mistakes, giving mistakes less power over them. We teach strategies for self-control, preserving
the dignity of the children and the group. There are three “legs of a logical consequence stool” and you need all three to make it a logical consequence instead of a punishment. It needs to be relevant, realistic, and respectful. If a child makes a mess in the kitchen, it is not relevant to lose tv time. It is relevant, realistic, and respectful to offer to help but insist he do the hard work of restoring the room. A logical consequence is not the ultimate fix for the behavior, it is just a part of helping children feel in control of repairing a mistake.
If you would like to learn more about Responsive Classroom, go to www.responsiveclassroom.org or ask a
SMASH teacher to borrow a copy of Yardsticks, a Responsive Classroom book that helpfully lays out the developmental milestones and ways to think about behaviors typical of each age group.

Also, in a month when the media has been full of dialogue about the movie Waiting for Superman and the troubles of public education, I was heartened by the news that a Responsive Classroom school principal won a nationally recognized award from the National Association of Elementary and Middle School Principals. These days, we don’t hear as much as we should about public schools where many things are going well. According to the reporter: “Egypt Elementary is such a place, and [Principal] Rita White and her staff deserve to be recognized for their accomplishments. The teachers are skilled and energized; the school’s climate focuses upon all aspects of children’s growth and development; the school serves parents and families as well as children…and test scores have gone up.”

If you’d like to read the complete article, go to “Memphis Educator Wins National Principal of the Year Award” Reported on 9/28/10 by: Joyce Peterson from www.myEyewitnessNews.com

Jessica

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SMASH & John Muir will participate with the state of California’s Great Shake-out with a full scale earthquake drill on Thursday, October 21 at 10:21am. Our gates will be locked for the duration of the drill.
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Do you have any high ticket items for the SMASH Rummage Sale?
Send a picture and description of your item to Catherine Lerer at clerer@mcgeelerer.com. We will list your item(s) on Craigs List prior to the Sale!
REMINDER
RUMMAGE SALE is SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 9:00am - 1:00pm
DROP your items on FRIDAY, October 22. 8:15am - 4:00pm
If you have any question or you would like to help, please let us know!
Contact Kelly at kebolance@yahoo.com or Jamee at tenzer@lifeworks4ucoaching.com.
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HOLIDAY SINGERS! Wednesdays, 3:00 - 3:30pm
Dian Andrews will once again offer free Holiday Singing sessions beginning Wednesday, October 20 All ages are encouraged to join. Meet in Core 1
Performance at Main Street Farmer's Market, Sunday, December 5 at 8:30am
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DATES TO REMEMBER

Tues, Oct 19 - SMASH Picture Day

Sat, Oct 23 - 9:00am - 1:00pm RUMMAGE SALE

Sun, Oct 24 - 11am-1pm - reDiscover Center - THE BIG DRAW LA
ReDISCOVER DRAWING with JULIANNA OSTROVSKY

Sun, Oct 24 - 11-am-4pm - SMASH/John Muir PRECINCT WALK

Fri, Oct 29 - SMASH-JOHN MUIR HALLOWEEN CARNIVAL
No Playground Access during carnival
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WEDNESDAY BAKE SALE DATES
CORE 1: Oct 20
CORE 2: Oct 27
CORE 3: Nov 3
CORE 4: Nov 10

TEACHER APPRECIATION LUNCH
CORE 2: Nov 5
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THINGS TO DO

Fridays 1:30pm - Grades 4-8. Cheerleading. Meet at the lunch benches

Sat & Sun Oct 23 & 24 - 11:00am - If You Take a Mouse to School, Morgan-Wixson Theatre, 2627 Pico Blvd, $6 age 12 & under, $8 age 13 & older. Come see our Zelda! www.yesplays.org or 310-828-7519

Sun, Oct 17, 2:00pm, Elemental Strings Benefit Concert - First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica; 1220 2nd St. A wonderful opportunity for students to get to see and hear great playing up close. Tickets: $15 students, $25 adults. All current Elemental Strings students will get in free. Tickets available at http://www.elementalstrings.com/ or www.brownpapertickets.com, keyword Elemental Strings Benefit Concert.

Sat, Oct 17 & 24 - reDiscover Center, 12958 W. Washington Blvd, LA - D.I.Y. Halloween Costumes. Call or email to reserve your space 310-393-3636 or www.rediscovercenter.org

Now through Oct 31 (Thursdays-Sundays) - Los Angeles Haunted Hayride. Ride down a dark wooded trail with scary scenes, ghost stories around the campfire & a haunted carnival. Griffith Park 877-342-6618; losangeleshauntedhayride.com

Now through Nov. 7 - Spider Pavilion. Natural History Museum, 213-763-3558; nhm.org
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NEEDED BY NURSE SANDY: SANDWICH AND/OR SNACK SIZED ZIP TOP PLASTIC BAGS FOR ICE!
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DON’T FORGET
SMASH BASH AND SMASH CAMPING SIGN-UPS ARE IN THE OFFICE
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Ocean Park's Annual Membership Meeting,
and Budget Discussion with City Manager Rod Gould
Monday, November 8
6:00-9:00 p.m. SMASH/John Muir Auditorium
This is the opportunity to let our City Manager know what issues are important to you, and how you believe our local tax dollars should be spent. You'll have a chance to see our annual city budget and learn what's being spent now and what's being projected for the next fiscal year. A light supper will be served.
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REMINDER: We are in a residential neighborhood. Please be thoughtful if you feel you must honk your car horn when picking your child up from the yard. Thanks!
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Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District
Meeting the Middle School Challenge: A Whole Child Approach
Presented by Dr. Deborah Wortham, ASCD Faculty
Former teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, superintendent
Saturday, October 23, 2010
8:30am –11:30am SMMUSD middle school Staff, Parents and Community
12:30am –3:30am Working Session with middle school Leadership Teams
Location: Professional Development and Leadership Center (PDLC); 2802 4th St. (4th & Raymond)
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Santa Monica High Choir’s Annual Fundraiser
Supper Serenade
Saturday, October 16 - 6:16-9:15pm
A wonderful evening of food, music and community. Please let me know if you'd like to attend. You can also support Samohi Choir by bidding on items from our attached auction catalogue.
Early auction bids will be taken via email up until Friday, Oct.15 at 6 pm. To bid early please send an email to Lauren@kidsave.org and include your name, item number, item description, and the highest amount you are willing to pay for that item. The auction then re-opens at 6:15 on Saturday Oct. 16 at the event. The Supper Serenade Silent Auction Catalog is online via our website: http://www.samohichoir.org/
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5th ANNUAL PICO FESTIVAL
SANTA MONICA
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16
11:00am - 4:00pm
SIDEWALK SALE
Music by SMC Jazz, Samohi Jazz and
Special Guests UNDERGROUND
CLASSIC CAR SHOW
FREE FOOD
Presented by the Pico Improvement Organization and the city of Santa Monica,
featuring art exhibitions, live art demonstrations, a photo contest, a variety of drawing opportunities for kids, musical performances, food, classic car show and a sidewalk sate.
For more information, visit www.picopassport.com
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ptsa news
president’s message

Dear SMASHing Parents,
I believe the most important vote on the ballot, for Santa Monica residents, in the upcoming election on November 2, 2010, is Propositions Y & YY. These Propositions are the only way we can generate the ongoing, reliable funds our schools and our community needs. Just last week the new State Budget reduced education spending by another $3 billion. If you think that Prop. Y & YY is easy to pass, the polling shows that fewer voters are inclined to vote on this than who supported Measure A, even though this tax will cost far less than the parcel tax would have for most of our families. Our school funding problems will continue if we do not pass Y & YY and we will LOSE talented, dedicated teachers in our school NEXT YEAR due to budget cuts the Board will be forced to make.

We need you to volunteer. There have been two nights where the SMASHing community was asked to volunteer for phone banking at the Prop. Y & YY headquarters in Santa Monica. Unfortunately, each of those nights generated only a few SMASH volunteers. We still need to remind more than 17,000 voters to vote by mail, where to vote and how to vote on these very important propositions.

In addition, like for Measure A, there will be community walks for families to knock on doors on
October 23rd, 24th & 30th, , throughout the various Santa Monica communities. SMASH/Muir will host a community walk on October 24th, where families are urged to walk the neighborhoods around our school on behalf of Prop. Y & YY. Many SMASH families, less than six months ago walked neighborhoods for measure A. Those of you who volunteered for Measure A know that it was a rewarding experience for parents and kids alike. It is recommended that families team up and walk together with our kids and participate in this important election.

We have less than 20 days until the election. We need to do everything can to assure that we maintain the quality of our children’s education.
Thanks,
Dan McGee

prop Y & YY
phone bank
• STOP what you are doing now and give two hours of your time over the next three weeks to help pass Y and YY. It will NOT pass unless we can make several thousand calls to those voters who support our schools but have not heard of Y and YY. Phone banking hours are 7 days a week, 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. It is OK to bring your kids. Even if you can only spare 15 minutes at a time, please participate.
• To reserve your spot contact PTA Council's Leg. Co-chairs: Thelma at tjfelstiner@aol.com or Margot at mimws@verizon.net. Or call Steve or Madeleine at the campaign office at (310) 562-6003. The campaign office space (which was donated) and parking are located at 3000 Ocean Park Blvd., Suite 3005, Santa Monica (behind the Wells Fargo Bank). Parking is validated.

Prop Y & YY
community walks
•Community walks throughout the voter precincts of Santa Monica are scheduled for October 23rd (JAMS & McKinley), October 24th (Roosevelt & SMASH/Muir) and October 30th (Grant). Team up with another family and walk the neighborhoods of Santa Monica on behalf of Prop. Y & YY.

ptsa annual family investment drive
• The SMASH Annual Family Investment Drive If you haven’t made a commitment for your Annual Investment, we ask they you please make a commitment today. We understand that many families cannot make a donation until later this year, or sometime next year. But, if you haven’t already done so, please make a commitment for whatever amount your family can afford. Donations can be made by check, Paypal or credit card. Annual Family Investment (AFI) envelopes are available in the office. Your investment helps pay for classroom teaching assistants, reading and math specialists, the SMASH fine arts program, science equipment, technology upgrades, professional development and so much more. If you have any questions, contact Marni Ayers Brady (marniayers@gmail.com) or Helga Schier (helgaschier@verizon.net)

SMASH Rummage Sale/Car Wash
•Volunteers are needed for the SMASH Rummage Sale and Car Wash, which is scheduled for Saturday, October 23, 2010. On Friday, October 22nd, volunteers are needed to sort and display the sale items. Volunteers will be needed on Saturday during the sale and car wash. Please contact Jamee Tenzer (tenzer@lifeworks4coaching.com) or Kelly Lance (kebolance@yahoo.com) to volunteer for the Rummage Sale and John Zemke (zemkejohn@gmail.com) to help with the car wash.

SMASH bash
• If you missed the sign-up last Friday to attend a SMASH Bash event, please note that many events are not sold out. Please contact Marni Ayers Brady (marniayers@gmail.com) at your earliest convenience and let her know what event you would like to attend. If you didn’t have a chance to experience a SMASH Bash last year, don’t miss out this year!

SMASHing meetings
• Our next PTSA meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 10, 2010, at 8:30 am., in the music room to the left of the cafeteria.

DATES TO REMEMBER:
Saturday, October 23rd, SMASH Rummage Sale/Car Wash
Sunday, October 23rd, Community Walk for Prop. Y & YY, SMASH/Muir Cafeteria, 11:00 a.m.
Friday October 29th, SMASH/Muir Halloween Carnival, 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Free family fun!
Wednesday, November 10th, 8:30 am. PTSA meeting in the music room.

GREEN TIP FOR THE WEEK
Don't Trash It, Terracycle It! Things we normally throw away are recyclable through Terracycle.net. Terracycling is also a fundraiser for SMASH. We raised $30 in September. A Terracycle bin is available at Snack and Lunch for students, and each Core has a Terracycle box for collecting the following items: all brands of toothpaste tubes, toothbrush/toothbrush packaging, all sizes & brands of chip bags/granola/energy/ cereal bar wrappers/cookie bags & candy/gum wrappers, all drink pouches like Capri Sun, all writing instruments( except wooden pencils), all antibiotic creams/ointment tubes, all Elmers Glue bottles/sticks, Starbucks coffee bags, all brands of Ziploc-type storage bags, all personal care/beauty tubes(i.e., lotion/facial wash/body wash tubes). You can also give your Terracyclables to Mimi Lichterman, Core 1 mom. For more info, email Mimi at mimilichterman@yahoo.com
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part of a series of city wide
THE BIG DRAW LA
reDiscover Drawing
With Julianna Ostrovsky
A SMASHing Arts Community Event
October 24
11am to 1pm
at the reDiscover Center
12958 W. Washington Blvd
Los Angeles 90066
310-393-3636
The first drawings didn’t use paper. They were made on cave walls or scratched onto the earth. Julianna will guide participants in a fun workshop to explore linoleum, wood, fabric,
tile, and other materials (maybe even the sidewalk!) to draw on. Drawing is a universal language, connecting generations, cultures, and communities. Children draw to make sense of the world before they learn to write. Yet most adults, given a pencil, claim: “I can’t draw!” The Big Draw aims to remove this barrier and create opportunities for people of all ages to discover that drawing can make us SEE, THINK, and INVENT.
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You are also invited: 1 - 4pm Halloween Costume Workshop
Bring your costume idea and a base (t-shirt, hoodie, pillow case) We provide recycled materials , tools and the expertise. $15 donation
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SAVE THE DATE
Friday, October 29, 2010
1:30PM to 3:30PM
SMASH/MUIR HALLOWEEN CARNIVAL
Family fun!
Donate $$$
so we can feed the Muir/SMASH community. Look for envelopes in your child’s classroom.
To volunteer, contact
Helen at 310-279-3671 or helenhkim2002@yahoo.com
Helga at 310-828-8421 or helgaschier@verizon.net
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CORE 1 NEWS
CORE 1 PROJECTS:
After much careful thought, the Core 1 teachers have decided to approach our project studies with three lenses – LOOKING CLOSELY (noticing the details), SYSTEMS (the way things interact and circulate), and INSIDE/OUTSIDE. No matter what topics we find ourselves delving into, these lenses will allow us to learn deeply about our topics and develop connections between them.

Candis has begun an investigation around WATER. The children began by exploring water with different materials. Our exploration will inevitably reveal opportunities for more focused exploration. Think about how water can be explored through the three lenses mentioned above. What does water look like when I look at it closely? What are unique qualities about water? How does water function in our outside world? Inside our body system? Inside plant systems?

Chrysta has begun a NATURALIST study, looking closely at our world (specifically, this week, what is outside our classrooms and inside our campus walls) through the eyes of someone who studies nature; and the systems that we see in the nature that we find—including the structures of plants and what every plant needs to survive. Did you know that we are growing broccoli, strawberries, and some sort of mystery squash on our campus? Did you know that there is an aloe garden with 350 plants in the front of our school? Neither did we until we started looking closely.

Graciela has begun a BUILDING study. We are looking closely at our very own Core 1 building. We have many questions about the inside and the outside of the building. Some of our questions are related to the process: How do they put the pipes up there? How do building connect to each other? Other questions are related to materials: How many different materials can buildings be made with? Is the pipe made of aluminum or stainless steal? their questions are related to SMASH history: How long did it take to build SMASH? We will be gathering information to share with you.

•Partners will be going on a Community Walk to Main Street on Monday, October 18, 10:45am-12noon. We will be looking for words around the neighborhood. Chaperones are needed. Please email Candis if you can come.

Dates to Remember:
Monday 10/18 - Partners' Community Walk
Tuesday 10/19- Picture Day (Get in your picture order forms, please!)
Thursday – 10:20am Earthquake Drill (We need extra help on this day, to help with this extensive Great California Shake Out Earthquake Drill, if you can be here. www.shakeout.org)
Friday 10/22 – 11:45am October Birthday Bash, Sign-up to bring a community snack if you have an October birthday child.

Chrysta, Candis, Graciela, Karin, and Jackie
Candis: cberens@smmusd.org
Chrysta: cwyse@smmusd.org
Graciela: gbarba-castro@smmusd.org
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CORE 2 NEWS
Advisory News: This week our Leadership focus was on the “S” in CARES, Self Control—the most challenging CARES skill of all! We have been reading about, discussing, and practicing how to handle our bodies, emotions, and impulses. One main focus has been to listen to signals and respond quickly to all directions. Another time to practice self-control is when we make good choices during lessons and on the rug, so we don’t get distracted or become distracting to our friends. Ask your child how and when they use their Self-control in Core 2. Family HW: Talk together about times when you have had to use self-control to work through anger, frustration or other emotions. Discuss ways you and your child can calm down or control impulses.

Literacy: We read in school every single day. Remember, reading looks passive, but inside our brains we are always thinking—making connections, predictions, and inferences with the books we read. We finished drafting on our first writing piece: a “quick” publish of a personal story, which will help us learn about all the steps of the writing process. Next week we will revise, edit, and publish our stories.
***RW HW: Core 2 students should be reading for at least 30 minutes at home each day (independent reading, reading aloud to a family member, and listening to a read aloud all count).
***WW HW: Core 2 students make a list of things you know about plants and put a star next to things you have learned during our Botany lessons with Mike and Nina, the books we have read, and the experiments we have done. We will use this info to start our “All-About” Books.

Math: Laura’s 3rd graders learned the activity, Capture 5. 3G Math HW this week is to prepare and teach you this activity. Everything, except game pieces, is attached. Keep the activity at home and return the ½ sheet by Friday, October 22. Tamara’s 4th graders continued practicing/memorizing their multiplication combinations (times tables) by exploring factor patterns among related numbers (12, 24, 48), playing games to test the ones they “just know” by heart, and identifying strategies for learning/remembering the ones they don’t know.
4G Math HW this week is to use the multiplication cards they are bringing home to continue practicing the combinations they are working on at home—as they learn them, the cards can go in the recycling! Encourage your child to use the various strategies to learn how to figure them out quickly rather than to simply memorize them.

Word Work: This week Jayme joined us while we worked on our drafts for WW and started our research for our Botany unit. Thanks to Maya and Nina, we all experienced the variety of apples that are in our local farmers’ markets, learned about how apple varieties are propagated, and did some apple tasting. Ask your child how many varieties of apples there are.

Field Trip: We will be taking the Big Blue Bus to the Morgan-Wixson Theater around 9:30 on
Wednesday, October 20 to see our Zelda in “If you Take a Mouse to School”. We have 3 parents from each advisory as volunteers to travel with us and we are asking for a donation of $10 per family to cover the expense of the bus fare and theater tickets and to add to our trip “scholarship” fund. The students need to bring a SACK snack to eat on the trip and a separate lunch from home (lunchboxes are fine) for us to eat when we return and dress for walking/waiting outside for the bus. The permission slip attached--please return the slip on Monday, October 18.

Dates to Remember:
Tuesday, October 19 – Picture Day, info was attached last Friday
Wednesday, October 20 – Field Trip to the Morgan Wixson Theater, 9:30 – 2:00
Go to the Farmers Market and explore the wonderful world of apples!

Tamara, Laura, Jayme, Nadja, and Karin
Laura: lsherman@smmusd.org
Tamara: tmugalian@smmusd.org
Jayme: jayme.wold@smmusd.org
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CORE 3 NEWS
Shout out to Kurt and the Catalina chaperones—Matt, Nikki, Heather, and Dan! Thank you!

10/19 Picture Day
10/22 Scholastic Book Orders last day! Class Activation Code: HBQCR, Username: smashcore3, password: smash
~Core 3 Book Exchange—while you're cleaning your houses out for the big SMASH rummage sale, have your child set aside good books for other Core 3 students! Since they are reading at least 100 pages a week, they are going through books at a rapid pace! Please bring in books for others to take and read!
~Plastic Sleeves Needed
~Cardboard for Art (have not received any yet)

We enjoyed meeting all the families in our conferences and know we will all work towards supporting your child's academic and social goals. If you haven't met with one of us and would like to, please email us.

6th grade Math w/ Carrie: Just a reminder that there is homework due on Monday. ACE problems 1-18.
6th grade Math w/ Erin: We had one day of math this week when students returned from their Catalina trip. Students spent the time brainstorming about how they can gather and graph data about what their fellow SMASH students are buying at the snack bar at recess. As teachers we have noticed that large amounts of chips and cookies are being consumed during this morning break. We are encouraging our 6th graders to put their math learning to real world use and find out just how much "junk food" SMASH students are consuming!

5th grade Math w/ Genie: We continued to work with number concepts, multiples, factors, prime, composite, square, and product and we took these concepts into larger numbers. These are important to help us understand the best and efficient strategies in solving double-digit by double-digit strategies. 25x19 doesn't need the traditional algorithm or using an open array if we use what we know about quarters and money—20 quarters equals $5 (25x20=500) so just take away one quarter so the answer is 475. We also explored the TRUE power of 10 because 6x4=24 and to use that knowledge to help us with 6x40=240, we aren't 'adding a zero' we are multiplying 6x4x10 [algebra's associative property—a (bc)=(ab)c]. It's the ten that moves the place value over. We used our new found power of 10 to help us in a multiplying card game using greater than > and less than <>Science w/ Carrie: This week most of the students did an experiment to see what substances work to clean pennies (some students were busy working on finishing their Periodic Table Basics and didn't get the chance to do the experiment). We tried vinegar, baking soda, corn starch, mayonnaise, mustard, Tabasco sauce, and salt. Ask your child what worked. Next week we will be doing an experiment on Monday and on Tuesday we will continue to develop our understanding of how the Periodic Table is organized.

Theme: Our houses are under construction! Most students were able to put their houses on their plot of land and start putting up the walls. It is very excited (and detail oriented) work!

Social Studies and Geography with Erin: This week in Social Studies we continued with our theme of community building and identity. Students created masks displaying what part of their identities they share freely with the world, and what part of their identities they keep more private (obviously they did not include anything they wanted to keep really private). In Geography students assessed themselves on their knowledge of the 50 states. Using a blank map, students filled in what states they knew already first. After writing these in, students used their atlases to complete the map.

Reading and Writing Workshop with Genie: As writers, we have been looking at our spelling, apostrophe use, and collecting ideas for our personal essays. As readers, we have been working on our responsibility to bring our book to school, log in our pages, and read a lot. We have also continued connecting to a shared text as a collective community which helps our understanding of what we are reading and to learn how to be more thoughtful readers. Keep supporting the volume of reading up!
Homework:
Carrie's 6g Math - ACE problems 1-18 due Monday, October 18
5g Math - Packet #6 is due Friday, October 22 (all others are overdue and need to be turned in)
Geography - Optional US Map practice. Students brought home blank US maps to continue practicing their 50 states over the weekend.
Reading - Read every day for 30min—Log in pages/write at least 1 question every day
Writing - Collecting ideas every day in notebook (1pg or 10min.)/be ready to choose personal essay idea
Genie: ghwang@smmusd.org;
Carrie: cferguson@smmusd.org;
Erin: dodgers44@hotmail.com

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