Every child can learn...
Expeditionary Learning School
Oakhurst Elementary is an Expeditionary Learning School. ELS is a curriculum designed to promote critical thinking, skills and habits, academic achievement, and personal development through the use of in-depth investigations that engage students in community, projects, and service. An expedition brings experts into the classroom, takes students into the field, and engages students in real world learning experiences (Practice). "At a successful Expeditionary Learning school, teachers, parents, staff, and students work together to create a school culture of collaboration, respect, and high expectations"
The comprehensive curriculum can be viewed in further detailed at the Expeditionary Learning website. Please visit our school's website for FAQs and more information.
Hey! Put that comic book down and read a chapter book! Have you ever said this before? Well, let me be the first to admit my prejudice towards what I believed were ‘just’ comics. As it turns out, graphic novels are the great equalizer among young & old readers alike. I will be introducing graphic novels to the class in February and we will delve into a special world of reading. This in no way means the students will be putting down their favorite books. To the contrary, we will simply be adding another delicious genre to our buffet of literary experiences. Together we will discover how chunked text (speech bubbles), pictures, context clues, onomatopoeia, figurative language, and many other reading skills can be absorbed from reading such incredibly satisfying, highly interesting graphic novels. There is an interesting article on graphic novels from the School Library Journal.
Also, read The Best Comics for Kids 2009.
The First Six Weeks of School
As part of our focus on Expeditionary Learning, we are using the text The First Six Weeks of School by Paula Denton and Roxann Kriete. This will help us create a caring and supportive classroom and school community. The first six weeks of school will be an important time in the elementary schools in Decatur. Teaching the skills of cooperation and collaboration and establishing a productive learning climate enriches and enhances learning throughout the year.
Detailed information regarding the curriculum can be found at the Georgia Performance Standards site.
Number Sense
We will begin our focus on reviewing the basics of addition and subtraction. I’ll add more here later.....
Our Reading Lives
During the first weeks of school the students will be exploring and sharing their reading lives. The class will bring in a collection of books to share and show their fellow classmates. We all read a wide variety of material and some items may not even pop out to you at first. For example, we read recipes, backs of boxes, instructions, magazines.....
We will have grand discussions on what it means to be a good reader (and writer) and we will begin our partnerships with fellow classmates. How to build strong reading habits along with establishing reading responsibilities will be another part of our learning. We will examine how readers are thinkers and how we can make connections to our world while reading. The student’s will appreciate the purpose of becoming a lifelong reader in our classroom throughout the year!
TIPS FOR READING COMPREHENSION...
Types of Retelling
Simple retelling
The student can:
•identify & retell the beginning, middle, and end of a story in order.
•describe the setting.
•identify the problem and the resolution of a story.
More complete retelling
The student can:
•identify and retell events and facts in a sequence.
•make inferences to fill in missing information.
•Identify and retell causes of actions or events and their effects.
Most complete retelling
The student can:
•identify and retell a sequence of actions or events.
•make inferences to account for events or actions.
•offer an evaluation of the story.
Change of plans
If there are any changes to your child’s after school transportation please send in a note in a timely fashion.
If a call is received late in the afternoon it can be difficult for the written message to make it to the teacher before the end of the day. Please be conscientious of the busy school day by sending in a note with your child or calling early in the school day for a change of arrangements.
Shopping
Are you looking for ways to support your school system?
If you purchase your books from Amazon, go through the link below and Amazon will donate a percentage to the Decatur Education Foundation! Just Click the link below to start shopping!!
Shop Amazon.com thru this link & purchases result in a contribution to the DEF.
