Franklin Discovery Engage

Narrative writing is the name of the game in Literacy this block. All grades are working on refining their storytelling craft through writing, games, and activities that promote proper narrative writing. All grades are learning the basics of narrative writing correlated with their grade level. 1st and 2nd grade are learning how to tell a story that stays on topic, while 3rd - 6th grade are practicing the elements of plot and learning how to use them to produce narrative stories. Choice is a big part of the curriculum this block; with the exception of 1st and 2nd grade, who are focusing on dinosaurs, the kids have the opportunity to write about whatever they like as long as it is school appropriate narrative writing. Each grade has a lens through which they are studying narrative writing: 1st/2nd - Dinosaurs 3rd - Narration 4th - Setting Development 5th - Character Development 6th - Conflict Development Planning conflict and resolution Learning the elements of plot

Who wants to Dissect Owl Pellets???     Students in the previous block had the opportunity to dissect and analyze the contents of owl pellets. A pellet is fur and bones that are regurgitated by owls.  Owls cannot digest the bones and fur of their prey so they are spit back up in a pellet.  Other birds of prey spit out pellets, including hawks. However, hawks can digest the bones so hawk pellets are fur only.    The students bleached the bones they found and then had the opportunity to count the number and variety of animals in the pellets.  Several students found multiple complete skulls.  One student even found a bird's beak.   Despite many students feeling this project was "gross,"  by the end of the exploration the class was fascinated and said they learned a lot of new information about birds, especially owls.

Hello Franklin Discovery Families! Well, we have had a very busy 2017 so far.  As you know our Science Fair was April 19th.  I want to thank the FSO and all the families that helped with materials and supplies for the fair.  This event could not have been without your support.   The kids had a wonderful time and the fair was a great success.  You should be so proud of your children!  We are looking forward to the 2017-2018 Science and STEM Fair in the Fall. This block we are working on a variety of skills. First, since we finally have some consistently nice weather, the first and second grade classes have begun constructing our outdoor planters.  I know many of you have expressed interest in our school garden.  There is a lot of work ahead of us in this space.  Please be on the lookout for a meeting announcement regarding prepping our garden space this summer. Third grade classes have been focusing on Earth and the ...

We are excited to present Annie. We have three performances for Parents. There is also an assembly for students on Wednesday.  There are three shows for Annie Performance #1 Wed. 4/12 at 7pm https://www.facebook.com/events/2015525752007912/ Performance #2 Thurs. 4/13 at 7 pm https://www.facebook.com/events/122318991642454/ Performance #3 Fri. 4/13 at 7 pm https://www.facebook.com/events/265964623851168/

I apologize if it's been too long since my last post; life gets hectic, and sometimes I don't want to school after school hours.  Anyways, today I'll explain how my Tuesdays and Thursdays are going this term, and give a preview of what's to come.  Buckle up!  This post will probably end up taking a while! My Tuesdays and Thursdays start with French, which we have combined with Mrs. Kenter's Spanish class.  Some of our kids are excelling at learning language.  Many of them have completed more than 20% of the language (as scored by Duo Lingo, which is our online language program) this term .  I only have 9 students, but they are mostly flying.  In fact, I recently gave the students who have completed 20% of the language the chance to learn other languages.  The kids are having fun, and I enjoy seeing them learn. Next is my Mesopotamia and Egypt class, built for 1st grade students.  This class is a Core Knowledge curriculum class.  These ...

1st/2nd Grade Reader's Theatre: Reader's Theatre has been a blast so far; we have been practicing our reading skills under the guise of fun stories and acting! Recently we've been practicing our prosody (reading with expression) using childhood favorites such as Judith Viorst's  Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day . The kids have gotten great at adding inflection and feeling to their reading; a key component of reading fluency. We just started working on adding actions to the stories we are reading. We spent a day practicing with Mercer Mayer's  There's a Nightmare in my Closet , using the text and picture clues to help us decide on actions that fit the story. Acting out a story helps support reading comprehension. This week we will continue practicing prosody and adding appropriate actions with the fable  Rumpelstiltskin . 4th - 6th Grade Spanish: The Spanish kids are soaring through lessons in their new language! With the help ...