4th Grade - Rube Goldberg Machines

Rube Goldberg: A comically involved, complicated invention, laboriously contrived to perform a simple operation (Webster's New World Dictionary).

Our 4th grade students have been studying simple machines and have worked diligently on their Rube Goldberg machines. They have been having a great time planning, designing, testing, and adjusting the inventions that they have created.

Kindergartners Future Builders of America

Making the most of their early release day the kinder students had a chance to learn their shapes while building different creations.

100th Day of Kindergarten

On February 5 kindergartners in Mrs. Piper's and Mrs. Campbell's classroom celebrated the 100th day of school. Each student brought in a bag of 100 items and they weighed each bag to find the heaviest and lightest and they also counted out 100 snacks. The students also made 100th-day glasses as part of the celebration.

Dr. Seuss Week!

Dr. Seuss Week is Coming!

February 29-March 4

Dress Up and Show Your Love for Reading!

Mon., Feb. 29: My Many Colored Days – wear your favorite color polo shirt.

Tues., March 1: Fox in Socks- wear your crazy socks

Wed,, March 2: Wacky Wednesday- wear your hair wacky

Thurs.,March 3: The Cat in the Hat- wear your favorite hat

Fri., March 4: Oh the Places You’ll Go- wear a shirt to represent a college (color or logo). You can also wear a symbol of a job you like (i.e. a pin, a sign, a book, etc)

Reading Night is Thursday, March 3 from 6:30-7:30

Storytime, cookies, hot chocolate, and a free book

The Benefits of Two Languages:

How Strength in Spanish Can Help Your Child Succeed in English and in Life!

True fluency in Spanish can help your child now and in the future. Erica Ambriz of the Kuna Bilingual Education program will teach us why and how. She will give us practical tips we can use at home.

Come for pan dulce, hot chocolate and useful information!

Tuesday, February 23rd, 7-8pm

Sacajawea Library

(Session will be taught in Spanish. RSVP to 455-3333 if you want English translation.)

Learning Progressions Walking Tour - Professional Development at Sacajawea

Parents sometimes ask what we do when we have student free days for "professional development."  What exactly is that?  This is an understandable question, as we know it is an extra burden for parents to plan additional child-care, schedules, rides, etc on these days.

What do we do on these days?  We learn to be better teachers and to use more effective methods of instruction.  A couple big ideas we have been working on all year long, starting with book groups and conferences this summer, are "Learning Progressions" and "Success Criteria."

To learn effectively, a student needs to have a clear idea:

• What specifically they are learning
• Where they are in the learning progression (a sequence of skills from novice to more advanced in a particular area)
• What they need to learn next.
• How they will know or be able to prove that they have learned it (Success Criteria).

Our teams worked on a few important learning projects at Sacajawea on Thursday, including teaching scientific inquiry, personalizing reading practice and building better instruction in math and ELA (English, Language Arts).

One simple activity was surprisingly powerful as a learning tool for us.  Our instructional coach, Mrs. Knowlton, took us on a field trip up and down each hall in Sacajawea to see the different ways we have implemented "Learning Progressions," "Success Criteria," and the idea of the "Learning Pit" in each of our classrooms.  We walked to eight or ten rooms from kindergarten to 5th grade and learned so much from examples shared by our colleagues.

All of these examples really are up and used in our classrooms.  None of these teachers knew we were going to visit their classroom until a few seconds before we headed to their room.  They shared their real life instructional tools.

Professionals ready to learn from each other, clipboards in hand.

Mrs. Campbell shows us a writing learning progression for kindergarten writing from 1 star to 4 stars.

Mrs. Friddle shows us a 1st grade learning progression with examples from each level of writing.
They are posted on the wall so kids can compare their own writing.  

Mrs. Rohall shows us how she uses "Austin's Butterflies" as an example of working towards great writing in 1st grade.

Ms. Morton shows us her learning progression for 2nd grade addition and subtraction.
Students are eager to show that they can move from one level to the next more advanced level.

Ms. Burton uses this learning progression for 2nd grade reading fluency.
Students advance their avatar when they can prove they are at the next level.
They also use a similar progression for addition and subtraction fluency.

Mrs. Cataline shows us their learning progression for 3rd grade writing with examples at each level.

Mrs. Hoilien's learning progression for 3rd grade math.

Ms. Lovell shows us the learning progression they use for 4th grade writing.
They also use writing folders with rubrics and checklists for ARMS and CUPS (revision and editing).

4th Graders use this "I'm Lovin' It" tool to choose more effective words for their writing.

Mr. Thomas uses criteria to determine physical intensity in PE too.  

We use the concept of "The Learning Pit" throughout our school.
Mrs. Olsen shows how they have adapted theirs to also include different levels of cognitive demand and to include typical phrases or feelings that kids might have as they struggle through the learning pit and up the other side to understanding.

School Spirit Fridays - Start This Friday

For all those who ordered school T-Shirts, our shirts will be sent home on Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

"School Spirit Fridays" begin this Friday (February 19th).  Each Friday students and staff can wear a shirt with a Sacajawea logo or another school in the district (SMS, CHS, CSHS, etc) instead of a collared shirt.

What: Wear a shirt with a school or district logo each Friday instead of a collared shirt.

• Logo may be for Sacajawea or another school in the district (SMS, CHS, CSHS, etc).
• All of the rest of their clothes must meet the dress code requirements on spirit day.  

Why: To show school spirit at Sacajawea and around the community.
Who: Sacajawea students and staff
When:

• Fridays only, starting on February 19th.
• First Friday of each month will be “My Future Day.” 
• Wear a shirt with a college logo or a logo that represents the US military. 
• Sacajawea shirts can be worn on “My Future Day” as well.

**If you don’t have a school T-Shirt then you may just wear your regular dress code shirts. That is fine.
**Sacajawea sweatshirts may be worn as a sweater any day of the week if they have a collared dress code shirt underneath.

2nd and 3rd Grade Music Program

On Tuesday evening Ms. Chavarria led the second and third grade students in a beautiful night of singing. It was wonderful to see the children proudly singing their hearts out. This was Ms. Chavarria's first elementary school music program and she did a fabulous job. Thank you to all the parents of family members who came out to support the students.

The auditorium was packed with family and friends.

As a thank you for her hard work the 2nd grade students presented Ms. Chavarria with flowers at the end of the performance.

First Grade Geologists

First grade has been learning about Earth and all the different layers that make up this planet.
Mrs. Rohall's room created mini-models of Earth beginning with the inner core, then the outer core, mantle and finally the crust with the oceans and continents

Reading Night is Coming- March 3rd

Save the Date

Reading Night

Thursday, March 36:30-7:30

Wear your pajamas and enjoy stories and reading games

Cookies and hot chocolate in the cafeteria

Free books and a surprise visitor!