Hello Families,

  It’s hard to believe that we are approaching April vacation!  I actually love this time of year because the students are very engaged in their learning. 

The first round of MCAS testing is over.  I am very proud of the hard work and stamina many students exhibited.  Results should be mailed home to you in the Fall.

   We are finishing up our Geometry unit.  We will review in class on Monday and there will be a unit test on Tuesday.   We will begin to learn more about our town of Medway, beginning with Colonial Medway and comparing that to today’s Medway.  Next month students will be taken on a guided tour of Medway’s historical sites.  Permission slips should be going home after vacation.

Next week we will begin our “Research Clubs” unit in Reader’s Workshop.  The students will be in small clubs.  Each club will be studying about a different animal.  In this unit, students will learn to:

• Preview a collection of texts and order them from easier to harder
• Take notes on non-fiction in a smart way (boxes and bullets, time lines, sketches, etc.
• Grow their thinking with the facts they have learned about their animal
• Synthesize what they learn about a subtopic across texts

This unit is more than a unit on informational reading.  It is a unit on research and on “learning to learn” from reading.

   In Writer’s Workshop, students have begun to plan and draft an adaptation of a well-known fairy tale.  Some of the adaptation to original fairy tales include:

• Change the character from a boy to a girl
• Olden days to modern day
• small village to New York City
• going to a ball to going to a New England Patriots game

Wishing you all a great weekend~

Mary-Ellen G.