Dear Crew Families,

Our fall expedition, Redcoats and Rebels, is off to a great start! We have conquered our first case study about the establishment of the 13 Colonies (“Colony Vs. King”). The students can describe the similarities and differences of the 13 original colonies and are investigating the political, social, religious, and economic motivations that lead to the revolutionary war. The student are currently putting final touches on an opinion writing piece with use of evidence of learning from our different protocols we have done this past month. We have done peer editing within our crew and met with 8th grade buddies who also helped in the edit process. Moving on with the rest of our expedition, we have been dancing every Friday with the Brisbin Crew learning social dances of the Revolutionary War time. George Washington loved to dance minuets and our students are doing a amazing with the dance steps! We can wait to show you on our Celebration of Learning night!

Our first field work  to Long Lake was successful and we are lucky to have beat the smoke. The crew drew colors out of a hat to find out if they were on the red (Redcoats) or blue (Rebels) team. We started our 13 challenges with a tug -a-war “battle” and continued on with different team building games to simulate battles to take over the 13 colonies! Favorites were the camouflage game and night time glow-in-the-dark Bocce! I cannot thank the parents enough for our successful field work! From the organizers of drivers, food shoppers, parents who hiked in with breakfast/ lunch and the parents who spent the night with us! Thank You! Thank You!

Our next field work will bring us to Verdi Stables for experiencing how the colonist traveled back in the day- by horseback. We are also so excited that Changing Strides will join us for some team building with students alongside of horses. I have shared our SIERRA norms with Changing Strides and they will use them with their protocols. We will go this Wednesday, October 8th and again on October 29!

We’ve been reading Ben and Me. I can say parents and students are all so surprised by Benjamin Franklin’s words, experiments and inventions! We have used the learning targets: I can create a personal collection of maxims based on reflection and goal setting. And I can compare and contrast the SIERRA norms and Ben Franklin’s  13 virtues to determine the importance of fostering character. Maxims are starting to cover our walls in our room!

Our crew has  been busy writing during our Writer’s Workshop time and students are in the middle of creating their small moment’s narrative story. We have delved deep into a favorite memory and then it broke down even further to find the perfect small moment to write about for their first piece. Books are about to be published! So Exciting!

Math crews started the first day of school. The 4th graders are with me and 5th graders head over to Mrs. Brisbin’s daily. Both groups are into unit 1 of Bridges Math with side project assignments. The 5th graders are working on their Million Dollar Room project and 4th started presentations of their Everyday Array projects.

We have an exciting fall still to come with some upcoming important  dates, please see box above.

I look forward to meeting with everyone to create our fall goals during our goal setting conferences  starting October 7 through the 15th.  We will use our SIERRA norms to find a goal within Habits of Work, Academics  and Character Building.

Happy Fall!

Mrs. Akers