Welcome Ms. Daniel

The below email concerning my maternity leave replacement was sent out this morning. I am thrilled that Beth Daniel will be taking over for me. She is wonderful; dynamic, kind, talented and warm. She will be spending time in our class between now and my leave, in addition to attending February conferences. I am incredibly confident your amazing children are in fantastic hands!

Please do not hesitant to contact me with any questions!

Dear Parents of Highcroft Campus Fifth Grade Students,

I’m pleased to share that Beth Daniel, Blake Campus 5th grade teaching assistant will serve as Maia Poling’s substitute teacher this spring from April 4 until the end of the school year. Beth brings a unique blend of experiences, having worked in public, urban, suburban, and independent school settings. Beth has taught in Minneapolis, Tampa, and Seattle elementary schools. She holds a master’s degree in elementary education from Hamline University, and last year she served as a 4th grade long term substitute teacher on the Blake Campus. We are thrilled to have Beth join our Highcroft community this spring!  

Please be sure to welcome her to our community. 

Thank you,
Raymond

Happy New Year

It was great to see your children on Wednesday. Despite the short week, we were back at it! 

Highlights From The Week

• Wow....our understandings of fractions is really taking off. It was great to see that students retained their learning from early December's launch of adding and subtracting unlike fractions. We were able to start where we left off, working hard to add and subtract mixed numbers. This is a multi-step process, that the kids mastered with ease.
• We launched our new SCIENCE unit....THE HUMAN BODY.....muscles and bones. This week we began to discuss how bones and muscles work together to help us move. We learned about pivot, hinge and ball and socket joints. We are continuing to work on reading non-fiction text with attention to details, taking reading notes as a way to organize the material we are learning.
• DRAMA started this week.  The students were thrilled to continue their work with Ms. Hector. In fact, Ms. Hector sought me out after class on Thursday to share what a wonderful and productive time was had! The students will spend an hour with Ms. Hector in half groups on Thursday mornings. These half drama groups allow me to teach math on Thursday in smaller groups, which is a wonderful opportunity to work closely with students
•  We began our second class novel of the year this week, Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. Students will be responding to the reading in a variety of forms, both through writing and whole group and small group discussion. Students will be using an E- Journal written response model to share their thoughts, ideas and learning. Access to GoogleDocs at home will be imperative for the next five weeks.