Welch Crew News: October 28, 2013

Expedition Express

The story of the transcontinental railroad is one with triumph as well as defeat, danger and excitement. With the help of the graphic novel: “The Building of the Transcontinental Railroad,” our crew has been able to learn more about this historical event from the perspective of the railroad’s leaders. This includes: The Big Four, Theodore Judah, railroad crew managers and more. As we read this story as a crew, we are able to focus on the strategy of determining importance. In order to execute this strategy correctly with nonfiction text, crew leaders explicitly and systematically teach how to pull the most important information from the book. While it can be difficult to determine important information from interesting, our scaffolded approach will help crew members when it comes time to support their own understanding with other nonfiction texts they read.

Questions to ask your child about the Transcontinental Railroad:

Who were the Big Four?
What were some of the problems encountered when the railroad was built?

Crew News

Introducing Katie Groden, Student Teacher: As most of you know, we are pleased to have Katie Groden, a Truckee native in our crew for 6 weeks. She spent the first 6 weeks of school with the McMains crew.

Goal Setting Conferences: Thanks to all of you form making our Goal Setting Conferences a successful part of your child’s education. Coming prepared to discuss your child’s strengths and challenges was very helpful.

Reading at HOME: Please remember the best way to get better at a specific skill is to PRACTICE. It is important to remember that RE-READING is a skill we encourage. Having your child re-read familiar books increases their fluency. Chunking 3-4 words together at a time, reading with inflection, and correcting miscues are all areas we are working on in class. Your child should sound as if they are telling a story when they are reading.

Snow Clothes: OK – it’s starting. The unpredictable weather we all know and love here in Truckee. Please be sure your child has proper clothing for outside weather. We send kids outside to play everyday, so it is important to have jackets, snowpants, gloves, hats, and snow boots.

Indoor shoes/slippers are recommended: Sending a pair of indoor shoes or slippers to school for the winter makes the learning environment more comfortable. Send in a pair of rubber soled shoes for your child.

Fieldwork/Outings: The following fieldwork and outings are scheduled for our crew:

November 7: Walking to Nevada County Library
November 8: Arts for the Schools

SELS News

Expeditionary Learning National Conference: Last week, David Manahan, Julie Brisbin and myself attended the Expeditionary Learning National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. We spent 3 days learning new protocols and strategies for “Digging Deeper into the Common Core.” I presented literacy strategies for reading closely non-fiction and informational texts and incorporating academic vocabulary into our Expeditions.

Annual Bear Walk: Thursday, October 31, SELS will hold their annual Bear Walk from 10:00 – 11:30 am. This is a walk-a-thon designed to raise classroom funds for the “little extras” for our crews. Students received donation envelopes last week and should be asking for per lap donations. Students may wear costumes to school as long as they are appropriate for young children. Please no masks or bloody costumes.

Tardies: School begins at 9:15. That means they should be at school ready to line up by 9:10. There are a lot of students strolling in around 9:20 or later. This causes a disruption to our Morning Meeting which is a large part of our character building time in the classroom. Please make every effort to have your child to school by 9:10.

Dates to Remember: