Monday, November 14, 2016

Welcome to T2!

Families,

Welcome to Trimester 2! Here are a few updates and reminders:

In English this week we launched our next big unit, inspired by StoryCorps's The Great Thanksgiving Listen. Over the next two weeks, your student will interview a friend or family member (preferably one who is at least 40 years their senior). We will use these interviews as inspiration to write biographical narratives. Please review the project launch information with your student and discuss who they might choose to interview. Students need to select an interview subject and contact them to set up a time to conduct the interview by this Thursday. Interviews need to be completed by Monday,  December 5.

You can learn more about The Great Thanksgiving Listen (and even participate yourself!) here. Please note, we will not be using the StoryCorps app to complete this assignment as most students are under the age of 13.

As we round the corner into a new trimester, please encourage your students to turn in their work on time! Many students found themselves scrambling in the last week to complete or turn in missing assignments. Starting this week, you will see "LATE WORK BY... " in the descriptions for assignments in Classroom to indicate the last date that late work will be accepted for that assignment. We will not be accepting late work any more than 2 weeks after the assigned date.

Please also remind students to bring a book for Silent Sustained Reading each day. We read for 10 minutes at the beginning of Social Studies every day. This is a great way for students to make progress on their Independent Reading challenge for the year. Students should also be reading for 20 minutes at home Monday-Friday.

As always, please feel free to email anytime with questions.

Let's explore!
Mrs. Ellis
mellis@westlakecharter.com