On Monday, I will be out, but Mrs. Goodwin will be here in my place. She is a wonderful sub who has been on our campus many times throughout the years. Most of the kids know who she is already. I will be back on Tuesday though, as that is the day the campus technology instructor will be here to help teach my classes all the ins and outs of the Google Drive.
On Veteran's Day, teachers were in training. Mrs. Sposeep, our librarian, hosted a great training that helped us dig deeper into the many uses of the Google Drive. We dove in Tuesday and Friday beginning to explore the uses with each of my classes.
There is no choir practice next week.
In Writing, we will begin reviewing some of our skills taught thus far as we begin some new writing pieces. We've been looking at all the patterns that spell the long /e/ sound in our fourth grade non negotiable words. The kids have really done very well with writing main idea sentences with good supporting details. We are still working on making those details flow a little more smoothly. Our MOY Writing benchmark will be early December. As the new STAAR writing test has moved from a 2 day test to a 1 day test, so will the benchmark. Yay! This year students will read a couple of passages and answer revision and editing questions. They will also be expected to follow the writing process to answer an expository prompt. The benchmark will be a fantastic indicator of strengths and areas to continue work in the spring.
In Social Studies, we have finished up our lessons on the Spanish and French explorers. We will be learning about the Spanish missions now, which will be even easier for the kids to understand now that we have gone to Goliad to visit a mission. We should be getting to the Texas Revolution just about the time of winter break.
That's it for now. Thank you for your help and support with getting money turned in for our first field trip, and to Kelly Newhall and Mike Hoover for chaperoning the trip with me. It was a fantastic trip with perfect weather! I hope each of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your friends and family.