It was a busy week here at WHES! The students began a project in which they had to research a musical instrument. In our Literacy unit we have read several pieces about how people use instruments and music to express themselves. Along with Mrs. Selby's help the student were assigned an instrument and given two websites to find the information needed. They are looking for the history, the family, when it was invented and an interesting fact. Once they have the information they take that information to make a Power Point Page. So far they have done a fantastic job with this project. We hope to finish it up next week during our computer time.
We have been reviewing skills from Unit 3 in order to prepare for our scheduled Unit 3 Assessment next week. The students will take the assessment over two days. Tuesday and Wednesday morning of next week.
This week in math we finished up unit 6 and will begin unit 7 on Monday. In and effort to boost the kids confidence with their math facts I gave them a timed practice and told them if they beat their practice by at least one problem they will earn a homework pass for the improvement. It is amazing what this little incentive did for their scores!!! About 94% of the class increased their score most of them by 5 or more problems. I'm trying to teach them that with EFFORT they can continue to improve each time. So you may see these homework passes in their red folder. I also made it very clear that they are responsible for their pass. I'm also trying to give them a sense of responsibility and if they loose their pass they will not receive a new one. This not an incentive that will be given each time they take a timed test but from time to time I will give them the opportunity to earn another pass.
This week we read Groundhog Gets A Say. It's a cute book about Groundhog day from the groundhogs' perspective. The students wrote about whether they want the groundhog to see his shadow or not see his shadow. Of course we all are in favor of spring getting here as quickly as possible, we've all had enough of this "Polar Vortex" for this year. Here is a picture of some of the groundhogs.
The student earned a compliment party this week. So today we watched "The Wizard of Oz" as our reward. They had a choice of 4 video's and I was pleased when they choose one of my all time favorites. Well I hope you all enjoy your weekend!!
Anne Taylor
