Artifact 5: Weekly Highlights Emails
My weekly highlights parent email provides me with valuable reflection time and gives parents topics of conversation to bring up with their child. While some students love to go home and share many details of their day. Others live in the moment and may not be able to recall some of the specific topics and lessons of the week. These emails help to build our positive classroom culture because they share our classroom experiences with my students’ families.
From: Brynn O'Connell
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2018 4:46 PM
To: Brynn O'Connell
Subject: 4th Grade Highlights
Hi 4th Grade Parents!
A few highlights of the week:
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Reviewing our class mission by choosing daily goals/individual focus areas. Choices included, "gain knowledge", "be a creative artist and writer", "be an innovative scientist", "be joyful", "be honest", and "persevere".
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Playing with intooba blocks to solve perimeter and area mathematical challenges. Using multiplicative comparisons to solve a problem about dogs (open response). Practicing multiples and multiplication. Applying our multiplication skills to convert measurements of time. Any multiplication fact practice at home is more than appreciated. I will share resources for multiplication practice at conferences.
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Reading Night of the Gargoyles by Eve Bunting, Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold, Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. Using these texts as examples of fiction (exploring inanimate objects coming to life, real versus imaginary, interesting characters, and character development through dialogue). Brainstorming the many interesting people in our own lives. What character traits do these interesting people have? Which of these character traits might we want to add to the main characters in our fiction stories?
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Discovering how wondering and questioning can increase our comprehension of text. Wondering and questioning about early American Indians in Colorado Story during the Paleo Indian period, Archaic Indian period, and Ancestral Pueblo period.
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Brainstorming questions we want to explore with our wave buoy: How can we create graphs to share with other students and our 1st grade buddies? How can we create our own graphs using technology (Google)? How is our buoy feeling out there (blog)? How can we show a wave through art (and who is the audience for this art)?
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Choosing one of the 4 questions to answer and embarking on a very creative science time at the end of the day Tuesday and today. The classroom was a wonderful wild mess.
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Creating Halloween specimens. Big thanks to those who organized supplies for this hugely successful holiday craft project.
Please be in touch with any questions, concerns or celebrations. Have a spectacular weekend!
Brynn
Brynn O'Connell
Fourth Grade at Crested Butte Community School
(970) 641-7720 ext. 6316
This message may contain confidential or privileged information. If you have received this message in error, please advise me by replying to this email and please delete this message. Additionally, under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA), all messages sent by me or to me on this school district-owned email account may be subject to public disclosure. Thank you.
From: Brynn O'Connell
Sent: Friday, February 8, 2019 4:25 PM
To: Brynn O'Connell
Subject: 4th Grade Highlights
Hi!
A few highlights of this week:
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Supporting peers. I am deeply appreciative of the compassion and empathy your children show to their peers. Of course, there are always a few disagreements at recess or during any choice time. But, overall, they watch out for each other. They advocate for each other and they try to help out and pick up anyone who is feeling down or behind. What an amazing crew to be able to spend the day with!
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Inferring with poetry (My Man Blue by Nikki Grimes).
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Reading (non-fiction, historical fiction, and maps) and taking notes about the Oregon Trail. Using our notes to answer research questions about life on the Oregon Trail.
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Imagining life in a wagon trail headed to the Colorado Territory in Quilt Walk by Sandra Dallas.
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Editing persuasive letters and offering peer feedback. These are in the mail!
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Adding fractions and mixed number.
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Using a growth mindset, factors, multiples and many different strategies to solve the "Penny Collection" problem today from YouCubed. https://www.youcubed.org/week-inspirational-math/
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Ski/SB for PE - our second powder day!
Have a phenomenal weekend!
Brynn
Brynn O'Connell
Fourth Grade at Crested Butte Community School
(970) 641-7720 ext. 6316
This message may contain confidential or privileged information. If you have received this message in error, please advise me by replying to this email and please delete this message. Additionally, under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA), all messages sent by me or to me on this school district-owned email account may be subject to public disclosure. Thank you.