Tuesday, November 1st, 2016 –Small Moments, Night Terrors, Sound Challenge Paparazzi, and Boomerangs…
IT’S TIME TO SHARE THE WORK! Please go to the SHOWCASE: WATSON’S WINNERS WORK! Page (https://cwatsondps.wordpress.com/about-2/ ) to check out our students in action. First you will find each student’s unique Small Moment story. Writing a Small Moment teaches a writer to “pause the plot” – to stop the action and use unique vocabulary and figurative language to describe the setting, add some sensory details, or share any internal thinking of the characters. Writers also learn how to embed a life lesson or theme into their story, so that the reader can understand what the story is REALLY about. We hope you enjoy!
Below the Small Moments you will find our Whole-Class Halloween story for 2016 – NIGHT TERRORS… This is another great writing exercise, in that the story has a brief and open-ended beginning, and each student is asked to write an entry that extends the story (using only their knowledge of the last two entries written). When their bit is complete, they then tap the shoulder of the next student on the list and it grows from there. (We just squeezed this activity in between all the other subjects…)
In exciting Science news, students just presented their Sound Challenges, and you can get a sneak peek at them thanks to the pics we posted! It was a sold-out event and we had two intensive days in which the students played the roles of Teachers, Learners and QUESTioners in every stellar performance. The Paparazzi were swarming as you can see…
Finally, I’d like to introduce a new (and hopefully monthly) work-sharing process – THE BOOMERANG FOLDER! This feature falls under the Watson’s Winners Family Communication Category. I’ve been collecting a sampling of student work across the curricula – some scored/graded/commented on, some just clean samples of things they did over the last month or so. Sometime this week or next, each of your kids will bring this work home in his or her “Boomerang Folder” – so named because it goes home…and then it comes back! The contents is meant for you to look at and keep (so THE WORK DOES NOT COME BACK TO SCHOOL). There is a chart inside as well that just asks you to date and sign to confirm you’ve seen the work. There’s also a brief space for comments or questions if you’d like to write something (not that you have to, but you can). Your child will then bring the folder back to school by the due date and we’ll keep it here to fill up again. My goal is to have this become a monthly event, so that, between this folder and the work samples on The Blog, parents can see a splash of their child’s work in reading, writing, math, science, and social studies (yes, all subjects if possible – but the timing may not always be right to catch every subject every month). Here’s to starting new traditions!
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