Happy Columbus Day!

Welcome back to school after a nice, long weekend! I hope that everyone enjoyed their day off. Reminder: We're taking our field trips to the East-West Cultural Center this Tuesday (5M) and Wednesday (5B). The students will get a little bit of extra exercise these two days as we'll be walking to EWC from campus. I hope that everyone had a chance to visit www.eastwestcenter.com for a brief overview of the Yup'ik exhibit we're going to see.

Our first Independent Book Projects were very successful and enjoyable! Thank you to all parents who were able to attend. In the future, I plan to videotape the presentations and post them on the web, so all may enjoy! Check our photo gallery later in the week for pictures of our individual presenters and their book projects.

We’re using this first IBP to develop a rubric (criteria) for future IBP presentations. After each day’s presentations, the students wrote examples of student work that was Excellent, Good, and Needs Improvement. I will compile their comments to develop a rubric that students will use to 1) guide the completion of future projects, and 2) score their own and a classmate’s project.

Throughout their 5th grade year, the students will use the computer to publish writing pieces and inquiry reports, as well as to conduct internet research. The students have been encouraged to purchase flashdrives so that they can do their work both at school and at home. It’s a great investment and will allow your child to do work more efficiently. Please label your child’s flashdrive with his/her name.

The students primarily use Appleworks for its word processing and drawing programs. AbiWord is also available and is Word compatible (for all you PC people). We have a new program called Pages that will enable the students to do much more than before. It has templates for newsletters, reports, and journals.

We will be looking at Pages this week and will explore the invitation template. Look for an invitation by the end of this week or early next week to our first Writers’ Luncheon, to be held on Friday, October 20. What is the Writers’ Luncheon? Participants and guests are invited to enjoy their lunches while listening to students share their published writing. Our first Writers’ Luncheon will showcase the students’ haiku and odes. Students are required to participate in one luncheon per semester. The second Writers’ Luncheon for this semester is scheduled for Friday, December 8.

At the culmination of the students’ culture inquiry projects, each student will be required to compare their individual inquiries with other cultures. This Tuesday and Wednesday, the students will visit the East-West Cultural Center to see an exhibit on the Yup’ik Eskimo culture. Hopefully they will be able to make connections to their own research. Soon they will hear from a prominent member of the Samoan community and Mid-Pacific Institute’s family.

As a follow-up note, with regard to internet research, the students have been encouraged to first start with www.worldbookonline.com. Each student has a handout explaining how to log into this resource. They were reminded that this is a resource available to Mid-Pacific families ONLY. This resource is great, not only for the information it provides in its articles, but also for the links it has to related articles and websites. It takes a little while to learn how to use, but once that’s learned, what a great tool! I’ve also given mini-tutorials to individual students on www.searchebscohost.com (also on the handout for Mid-Pacific families ONLY) and to www.honoluluadvertiser.com.

Reminder: The 5th grade teachers are available after school to help the children with homework and projects. We encourage the students to ask questions and to use the time we’re offering for help. I suggest making 3:00 a regular pick-up time (unless, of course, there are afterschool activities that are taking place). Your child can meet you in the turn-around area in front of Wilcox.

Thank you to again to Mrs. Meyer for providing supplies for a fun Halloween craft activity that the 5th grade and Kindergarten buddies can share with their adopted grandparents. The buddies are finishing their Halloween stories this week. The 5th grade buddies are typing and formatting the stories for their Kindergarten buddies to illustrate. We will share their stories and crafts next week when we meet our “grandparents” for the first time! Everyone is excited!