This week in writing, the kids focused on writing powerful endings. We worked on a couple of collaborative endings (to stories) and the students also had the chance to go back and change some of their own endings. This allowed them to try and implement taught strategies. It was great to see that so many of the kids wanted to share their work with the class. I love the confidence that so many are feeling.
Wednesday had us looking at the final Minh Le book, The Perfect Seat. "This book has a child and their parent embark on a playful search for the "perfect seat" to read a story, exploring various options that are too rough, too slippery, too high, or too low, ultimately discovering that the best spot is right in the parent's lap, highlighting the comfort and closeness of laptime storytelling." After the students read the book, they each created their ultimate chair. They had an unlimited budget and could go wild with their ideas and designs. These will be completed next week and hung in the hallway outside our room.
Last week we had finished our science unit on Moon phases, the sun, and shadows. After the Thanksgiving break we will focus on the stars in the sky. This week I used the "between units" time to have the kids take part in a STEM Challenge. They worked in teams of three to each design and then build their own catapults. The goal is to be able to have their catapult launch a candy corn 10 feet. As you can imagine, when ever kids can fling things the engagement and excitement rises considerably. Next week we will have our challenge of hitting the target at 10 feet, learning how to make changes, and then documenting their learning in their science notebooks. 
TRADITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS: As I have mentioned many times, this year's social studies curriculum focus is traditions and culture. We will use next Tuesday afternoon to learn from each other and write about how families in our classroom celebrate Thanksgiving. The kids will share their family traditions. In order to help with this, I ask that you please fill this Google Sheet out. It will help me guide the discussion and help them write too. If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, now worries. We will always talk about why people choose that too. That way we learn from each other and gain an understanding of differences within our classroom community. This form will need to be completed by 11/25/24.NOTES:
*I will be sending out a December book order. In order to receive them by 12/19/24, the due date is 12/3/24. Please see the information below to order:
Shop Our Class Page: https://orders.scholastic.com/K3277
Shop Flyers: https://clubs.scholastic.com/all-flyers
*There will be no homework bags sent next week. Please remember that Tuesday is our last day of school.
That is all for now. I hope you all have a great weekend.
Peace,
Mr. Young
