Mr. Ro Update Week 11

Student Led Conferences 

I am looking forward to seeing all students and parents over the next two Wednesdays for Student Led Conferences. If you haven't signed up, please do so through Veracross.  These conferences provide an opportunity for our students to be active agents in their learning. Student Led conferences ensure that children are responsible for their learning and are actively involved in the learning process. Students have the opportunity to discuss what has taken place within the classroom setting. The conferences also help the students build their organization and communication skills. This direct student involvement helps the children become more reflective about their work, and set realistic goals for the future.  During student-led conferences, parents focus the conversation on their children and reflect on their work with them. They look at samples and listen to their children’s explanations and reflections. Then, they ask how they can help and what the students need from them. Some of the best questions that parents can ask center on homework environments and a student’s classroom efforts. This way they can participate in developing strategies to support their students and then remain consistent long after the conferences end. This also helps them to be open-minded about their children’s areas of improvement and to support their goal-setting process. For parents, it’s important to embrace the student-led conference format and allow children to take the reins so they can act as responsible learners.

Reading Workshop with Dr. Purcell

Last week, Dr. Purcell came in for a lesson on nonfiction reading. Students learned to use a boxes and bullets graphic organizer to find the main idea and details of informational text. 

Our Class Read Aloud

We recently finished Stone Fox and the students are now loving The Wild Robot.  Reading aloud is the foundation for literacy development. It is the single most important activity for reading success (Bredekamp, Copple, & Neuman, 2000). It provides children with a demonstration of phrased, fluent reading (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996). It reveals the rewards of reading, and develops the listener's interest in books and desire to be a reader (Mooney, 1990).