Weekly Update 9/27

What a wonderful week we've had! We've been seeing kids collaborating, asking questions, and immersing themselves in some fabulous learning! The highlight of the week was the community panel discussion on Wednesday.  We had 5 members of the Stratham community come together to share how they get involved to make Stratham a positive community.  The kids asked some incredible questions and were inspired to get involved in their own communities.  We brainstormed and shared things that they can do personally, at home, in their neighborhoods, at school, and beyond.

We also began taking a closer look at the 9 learner dispositions that we are focusing on this year.
Students worked with a group to define their disposition, come up with a motto and symbol that represents it, and made a short skit to show the disposition in action.

• Taking responsible risk, being kind, self awareness, learning together, managing impulses, questioning, optimism, persisting, thinking flexibly.

We will be using the dispositions all year as a way to help us reflect and set goals.

In math, both grades are starting a unit on place value. We will be exploring how our number system works.  Third graders will be working with numbers up to the thousands place and 4th graders will build on what was learned last year to work with numbers up to the millions place.

On Thursday SMS Wolf Pack advisory groups met for the first time this year.  Each group developed a definition of community.  This ties in perfectly to what we have been talking about in our classes!

Here are some questions to ask your child:

• What disposition did you work on? Tell me about the skit you made.
• Who is in your Wolf Pack? How did you define community?
• How can you be involved in your community?
• Tell me about the panel discussion.  What were some big takeaways you had?

Upcoming events

• October 2- Gundalow field trip
• October 3- Open house 6:00-7:00