11/2/12
Dear RiverRun Families,
This week has been dedicated
to writing, as your children pushed to meet a deadline I set for them to get a
story completed. Their stories will be
evaluated on a rubric rated 1-4. During
Writers’ Workshop we had many mini-lessons on character and setting development,
as well as creativity. This writing
assessment was a chance for the children to show what they have learned and to
author a complete story. The rubric will
evaluate each story for its setting, character development, creativity and
neatness. At the next parent-teacher
conference you can take a look at their work.
Many of the stories featured
dialogue, so I had to spend some time showing how to use quotation marks. I was not expecting this to be a technique so
many of the children would use in their stories, but they did. Therefore, lessons
had to be given.
Debbie and I work to give
the children a sense that they are part of the larger community outside of the
school. Last year we launched the Hearts
to Help campaign to help our neighbors in Schoharie County. Given Hurricane Sandy, we felt this was an
opportunity for the children to again feel like they can help. Using water color, sand art, and wax as
mediums to decorate starfish cutouts we will again sell packets to adorn
Thanksgiving tables. On the back we will
have conversation starters about being helpful or thankful. Included will be a story by an unknown author
which goes as follows:
A rough storm came up one night and left
a sandy beach strewn with starfish. The
next morning a child walked along the shore stopping every few feet to pick up
a starfish and fling it out into the sea.
An old man watched the child and finally
shouted at him, “Why bother son? There’s
too many starfish to make a difference.”
With that the boy picked up another starfish and looked at it intently
before heaving it out to sea. Then,
turning to the old man he said, “It makes a difference to that one.”
We will be selling the
starfish to raise money for the Red Cross during Election Day. If any parents are able to come on Tuesday to
help, we would appreciate it.
Have a great weekend,
Amy
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