Crew News 4.19.12

A Peak into Our Classroom:

 Renaissance has a special tradition of doing portfolio presentations at 3rd and 6th grade, where students have the opportunity to share their learning with a panel of parents and community members. Seen here is a picture of students working hard to publish to put in their portfolios.

 Thank you to those who came to the Life is Art for kids. I witnessed many proud moments of students sharing their art with their families. Awesome! We are so lucky to have Ms. Pam!!!

 Time to organize portfolios!

 

Announcements:

OLE Work Day: Saturday, May 5th

As part of our recent expedition, our third grade crews will be constructing an outdoor music area in the OLE. To that end, we will be actually installing all of the instruments and building our structure at the OLE work day on May 5th. Please visit the sign-up genius to sign up for a time to come help. Please only sign up for one time slot.  If anyone in your family has building or construction experience and would be willing to help, please contact me as soon as possible. This project requires some adult help, and we would really appreciate your time and support! 

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/60B0A4AA8AE2A1-oleworkday

SPACE IS LIMITED: HAVE YOU BOUGHT YOUR TICKETS YET?

Life is Art- Adults Only: Friday, April 27th from 6:30-10:30 pm

Come support our school's efforts to fundraise at the Life is Art event on Friday, April 27th. This event will be a blast-- there will be art, auctions, food, drinks, and live music! It will be at The Grange at The Meadows, and we hope to see you there. You canpurchase tickets online ($40 for a single ticket, $75 per couple). 

Portfolio Panel Sign-ups

As you know, third grade is a showcase portfolio year and we will need panelists! Unfortunately, third grade parents cannot be on the third grade panels. However, you can sign up to be on the sixth grade panels. Please consider signing up! This is an experience that is unique to REMS and is a wonderful growth opportunity for our students. Particularly for sixth graders, as it is their last year at Renaissance, it is a very meaningful ritual.

Reminder: 3rd Grade Portfolio Showcase on May 9th from 1:45-4 pm

Please ensure your child will be available and at our third grade portfolio reviews in the afternoon on Wednesday, May 9th. We will give your specific half hour time slot soon. It is a momentous occasion for students, and they are already very excited about it!

Spring Climbing May 21st-25th: We need volunteers to belay

Sign ups for the Training and to Belay for a crew are available onwww.SignUpGenius.com, click the "Find a Sign Up" tab and enter Mr. Doug's email,doug.baker@dcsdk12.org

Crew Learning Expedition: One of our learning standards is to learn local forms of government.  We did some research to recognize that government can be national, state, or  our local city. We learned more about the city council and then to tie this in to our outdoor music project, we had guest speaker Ms. Andrea talk about her experiences about being on the OLE Board. Students were able to distinguish the similarities and differences of the city council and our school OLE Board. HINTS AT HOME: Tell me about one of the following words: civics, democracy, voting, election, or representation.

Writing:  This week, students did some reflecting on what they know about themselves as learners and how they learn best. Students drafted, revised, edited, and published these reflections for their portfolios. HINTS AT HOME: What do you know about yourself as a writer? How do you learn best? How are you going to use this knowledge about yourself as a 4th grader?

Math: This week, students have learned a new algorithm for doing multiplication called the Partial Products Method (different than the tradition method). Additionally, today we began learning about factors. For example, the factors of 12 are 1,2,3,4,6,&12.  HINTS AT HOME: Keep practicing math facts. We will be doing end of the year assessments of multiplication facts in May.

Reading Workshop: This week, we have be holding our literature discussion groups of Byrd Baylor books. Students are showing good understanding of the process to prepare and how to have natural conversations about books during these discussions.  HINTS AT HOME: Read something with your child and have your own book discussion about it. What was your favorite part? What was the author's message? Were you able to make any connections?

Spelling: Spelling will come home in Thursday folders. Please remind students to study these patterns and do spelling homework due next Wednesday. Click Here for our Spelling List!

April 20: No school

April 27: Life is Art, for adults at the Grange

May 5: OLE Work Day

May 9: 3rd Grade Portfolio Presentation

May 21st-25th: Spring Climbing

May 28th: Memorial Day; No School

May 31st: Last Day of School