Kind of like a Friday?!?!

In honor of the Jewish New Year, we do not have school tomorrow... We do have school on Friday, though!

I really enjoyed seeing so many parents at Back to School Night last night. I hope you found it informative...and possibly a bit entertaining?!?! We really do have a great group of kids and I KNOW it is going to be a fabulous year!!!!

Today, in math, we took our first formative assessment. All assessments are used to drive instruction. The main difference between a formative assessment and a quiz is that a formative is NOT graded and recorded in my grade book. The students grade their own formative, with a "special" marking pen, and we discuss good answers as we review it. I am trying to give a math formative every Wednesday and then a follow up quiz (which will be graded) on Fridays.

After math, my homeroom went to the media center to continue their Cynthia Rylant author study and discuss "mood" in fiction. Then they went to PE, lunch and recess...not a bad morning!

This afternoon, we will read The Listening Walk, and discuss hearing as a sensory image used in writing. We will also try to incorporate sensory images into our writing. Following that, we will use patterns in fingerprints to solve a "crime". It's going to be a fun afternoon!

There will not be any homework tonight due to the holiday!