Hello Families,

Thank you for  your support of your children on their first day of Reading Log homework yesterday. We discussed again today that the homework calendar will be a place where we write homework assignments each day at school, so kids and families know what has been assigned.

The instructions for this are also on the cover for future reference - this is the blue laminated reading journal. Students are asked to read a book at their level for twenty minutes. This can be independently or with an adult. They should then complete the box that corresponds to that day (today they'll fill in the Tuesday section on the page marked Week of August 21). We completed four sections of the blue sheet towards the front of the journal after classroom read-alouds together in class to be used as a sample.

A note on this - if your child is ever absent or forgets his/her reading journal, it would be just fine (and quite responsible - a trait we're working on!) to complete it on a separate piece of paper.

A quick clarification, because today's math is not a straightforward "page ___":

Today we had a great math period in which students folded papers with the following directions:

Blue: Fold the paper to make a square that is one fourth the size of the original square paper

Green: Fold the paper to make a triangle that is one fourth the size of the original square

Students volunteered to show what they came up with, and to defend their claim. They did a great job, with statements like "This is a square. I know because it has four sides of equal length. It is one fourth of the paper because it is one of four equal squares. I know because when I fold the paper, they cover each other perfectly."

We had great conversations about fourths, eighths, and how to defend a claim. We even had students volunteer to share what didn't work - what a powerful lesson, and opportunity for a brief discussion about the fact that brain researchers have found that it is in times of struggle and making mistakes that our brains grow!