Hello parents,

We have some exciting things going on in our class this fourth quarter. I want to take this chance to talk about two of them.  I also have a volunteer opportunity.  If you are interested, read the first paragraph about Literature Circles.

We will be doing Literature Circles beginning next week.  There will be four groups, each reading a different novel in the genre "Mystery/Adventure."  All of the reading will be done on ibooks with the school's ipads.  (How fortunate we are to have this technology available to us!)  After completing the assigned reading, the groups will participate in structured discussions.  They will each be responsible for contributing to the discussion.  One person will share the unfamiliar vocabulary, one will share personal connections, one will be responsible for asking the questions, one will analyze the characters, and one will make predictions.  The roles will change with each discussion.  This is where I am looking for help.  I would like to have extra adults in the room to sit with the groups and help facilitate the discussions.  We will be doing the reading and preparation on Mondays and Thursdays, and the discussions will take place on Tuesdays and Fridays.  It will all take place in the mornings, probably from 8:30-9:30  If you are interested, please email me.  This will be going on for approximately 4-5 weeks.  You can be involved as little or as much as you wish and are able.

 I hope you all got the information about the Wax Museum.  If you haven't already done so, help your child choose an important person to research.  Someone famous, American, possibly a Hoosier, someone they don't already know a ton about, someone who made a contribution to society in some way- just a few guidelines.  Check out biography.com for help.  Once your person is chosen, be researching and completing the packet that was sent home.  Remind them to keep track of all websites and books on the references page.  The completed packet is due this Wednesday.  They will have an opportunity to do some research in class Monday afternoon.  The rest is to be done at home.

Thanks for all your support!!!
-Amanda