February Fun

Here are some pictures from February! We wrote Conversation Heart stories with our 5th grade buddies, celebrated the 100th day of school, and decorated Pet Rocks~

Robert Munsch

Our author study for January was Robert Munsch. The students really enjoyed listening to and reading his books. I promised the class I would add a link to his website where students can listen to him reading his books. His books are available at the Canton and Plymouth Libraries if you would like to check them out so students can follow along while listening to him. Listening to reading helps develop fluency by providing a model of what "good reading" sounds like. Mr. Munsch is particularly animated in his readings which really illustrates how to pay attention to punctuation, pacing and expression while reading. As part of our Writing Friendly Letters unit, students are writing a letter to Robert Munsch telling which of his books was their favorite and why.

Portfolio Picnic!

Thank you for coming to Portfolio Picnic this evening. The students were very excited to share their success and growth with you!

Fostering a Growth Mindset

One of my New Year's resolutions is to foster a Growth Mindset in my classroom. A Growth Mindset is one in which a person believes intelligence is developed through hard work and practice. One way I am developing a Growth Mindset in students is by giving specific feedback so they can see how their effort is producing positive results. Students are also actively involved in setting personal goals and we discuss the steps they can take to reach that goal. One of my favorite goals they are setting is in writing. I meet with each student and we discuss what they would like to do better as a writer. I write their goal on a sticky note that they keep in their journals. Each time we meet after that, we review their writing to see how they are progressing towards their goal.  Recently, one of the students came up to me and said, "Mrs. Magyar, I want to trade in my sticky note for a new one. I reached this goal and I need something more challenging!" How powerful is that? The research on Growth Mindset was done by Dr. Carol Dweck. Below is a short video about how to develop a Growth Mindset at school and home.

Thank You from The Creature Conservancy

  Our class donated $95.84 to The Creature Conservancy. Thank you to everyone for their participation in this project. I visited Mr. Steve last week to give him the money and he showed me where the iguana is currently living. It looks like he is going to have a very good life in his new home.

Some of Our Friends on Multicultural Night~

Harvest Day!