Oct 13 Update

 Hello! Kon'nichiwa!

We had a great 1st week focusing on one of the languages represented in our classroom - this week, Japanese! Students got to: learn key everyday phrases in Japanese and hear a book read in Japanese by 2 of our students and translated by Mrs. Ito, our bilingual aid! We also explored origami as 2 students led us in making cats and dogs on Wednesday! We explored how the English script (English alphabet) is both the same and different from the 3 scripts that Japanese uses. Lastly, students had a "share time" to share some special pictures and items from home representing their Japanese language and culture. Students (and teacher!) loved the week of exploration and learning more about Japanese!

Next week - American Sign Language! 

Here is the current plan below to cover the 9 languages, in addition to English, that are spoken in our classroom. If you have something to share, read or help us GROW in our learning of these languages, or others, please please reach out! The students LOVED this week and I look forward to seeing how this experience grows and develops!!

10/9

Japanese

10/16

American Sign Language

10/23

Arabic

10/30

Spanish

11/6

Hindi

11/13

Korean

11/27

Punjabi

12/4

Marathi

12/11

Telugu

I also forgot to mention last week that a Columbus Blue Jackets reading tracking paper came home for students that want to track their reading minutes at home for the month of October. We are participating in the Blue Jackets reading program (with a prize at the end!) : ) this month. All qualifying minutes for the prize will be done in class during our independent reading time. However, if students are excited about tracking their minutes at home, you can track them on that calendar and I told them they can bring it back in to earn some gems for the class! The home tracking is absolutely optional. Some students really love that kind of thing. Others do not. Whatever is best for your family!

Cardboard Challenge - Next week our school is participating in a Cardboard Challenge to engage in problem solving, teamwork and creativity skills.  Click here to learn more about this. We are asking families to send in clean cardboard AND any type of tape (masking, packing, scotch). Thanks! 

Apples: We will be exploring apples in science, math, reading and writing next week! If you would be willing to donate apples to the class, we will need at least 3 red, 3 green and 3 yellow apples. If we have more, that's great too! Please send any apple donations with your student on Mon or Tues, and I will go shopping for whatever we still need on Tues night for our work with them Wed and Thurs! Thanks!

Buddies! We will have 4th grade buddies this year with Mrs. Risner's class. Our first buddy event included some wish list making and reading in the library with the book fair. We look forward to getting to know our buddies and more and more as the year rolls along!

Harvest Parties: We will be having our annual Harvest Parties on Friday, Oct 27th from 2:30-3:15. If you are interested in helping with your child's grade level celebration, please complete this quick survey. For student safety, only parents who complete the survey and are assigned to volunteer will be permitted to attend the harvest parties. Students may choose to come to school in a costume however, we will not be changing into and out of costumes so it must be something they can be comfortable in all day. Additionally, costumes must be school appropriate and not scary in nature. This includes no masks, no weapons of any kind, nothing scary/gruesome and no inflatables. Costumes are totally optional. The parties will be focused on a fall/harvest celebration. Due to student allergies, PTO will be providing Oreos, Smart Pop and juice for all students so no additional food will be permitted please.


It was great to talk with so many of you at conferences. If you have any follow up questions or didn't get to attend a conference this week, please reach out and I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thanks,
Wendy
Our first parent guest reader came in this week! Mrs. Samblanet introduced us to a great new book and character!





Working on our origami cats and dogs!









Our first "buddy time" with Mrs. Risner's 4th grade class - in the library to work on wish lists and then read. 












To end our exploration of Japanese, 2 students shared a book with us this afternoon: The House In The Night. One student read a page in Japanese, and then the other student read that same page in English. It was fun to explore how the illustrations were the same but hear the differences in the 2 languages as they told the same story. A big THANK YOU to Mrs. Ito for assisting us in this and some other Japanese activities this week!
The below pictures should highlight the "rhythm" of hearing a page in Japanese and then English. 











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