Welcome to March

First, I would like to say THANK YOU for supporting our community and our school budget!  WOW!  We are so fortunate here at SCS to be surrounded by such a supportive community!!! Thank you!

Also, I hope that your child came home yesterday and shared with you about the special guest that visited us!  His name is Sam Drazin and he is actually a 3rd grade teacher in Bradford, VT.  He came to SCS and spoke with all 4/5 teams about growing up with a "facial difference" because he was born with Treacher-Collins syndrome.  This is especially relevant to students right now because of the immense popularity of the book Wonder.  In Wonder, Auggie, the main character, has Treacher- Collins syndrome and the book shares his experience as a 5th grader, and the perspectives of some of the people in his life.  Wonder is a fantastic book with a very important message.  Sam Drazin wants to share his story and experience to help pass on the message.  He wants to remind kids that: everyone deserves a chance, don't ignore people just because they're different, and that their actions and reactions impact the people they interact with.  It was a very powerful presentation and I certainly hope it provoked discussion at home.  If you want to find out more, you can check out:

RJ Palacio website: http://rjpalacio.com/  
Sam Drazin has a non-profit called Changing Perspectives, and you can find out a bit more at his 

website:http://www.cpne.org/. 

Additionally, Wonder is the 2014 VT Reads book so you can find out more at the VT Humanities website:http://www.vermonthumanities.org/WhatWeDo/VermontReads/tabid/158/Default.aspx.  

Things we're working on this MONTH:!

New Math Unit - 4- Multiplication, Division, and Fractions - http://bridges1.mathlearningcenter.org/resources/materials/parents/parents5.  Students did well on the Unit 3 post-assessment!  I hope your child came home and told you some of the highlights of their test.  The tests will come home with report cards.

Writing- Research Reports - US History - We will be focused on using our non-fiction reading to write a research report about a significant historical event in Early US History.  We will begin this unit with a brainstorm about what we already know and students will create "All About" Books to start. 

Reading - In addition to reading non-fiction while we study US History, students will soon start historical fiction books related to the Revolutionary War or the events leading up to it.  This will tie in nicely with all of the work we are doing and should help to deepen their understanding of the vocabulary of our History unit, and the important people, places, and events in US History.

US History - You've already heard about our Plymouth Plantation reenactment!  This will continue over the next week or so.  Students are really enjoying this work and learning a lot!  Afterwards, we will move into the major events leading up to the Revolutionary War and learning more about the colonization of the US.  
Additionally, this year the PTO is sponsoring the FLYNN Words Come Alive program as the artist in resident program.  This is targeted at 5th graders so we will enjoy 4 sessions with Flynn professionals.  In our work with them, we will be dramatizing what we are learning about US History!!!