After spending a couple of full days at The Massachusetts Teachers Association Annual Meeting, I'm happy to be heading back to my typical teaching/learning role tomorrow. In the meantime, today my husband and I will host a farm/soil expert Kathy Huckins at Stearns Farm CSA in Framingham, MA. She'll discuss "The World Under Your Feet." If you happen to be in the Framingham area, please join us at 2pm for this event. A $5 donation is suggested. Donations contribute to giving speakers an honorarium for speaking.
The week ahead is filled with science study and play practice including the following events.
Play Practice
There are a number of days where we have one to two hour all-grade-level-students practices. I'll have to bring my iPhone to film some of the wonderful songs and acting that students practice.
Massachusetts Audubon Classroom Visit
Audubon naturalists will visit fifth grade classrooms as part of the SUASCO River Studies Grant to introduce students to river habitat animals and information through stories and hands-on activities.
Naturalist Guide Training for Parents, Educators, and High School Students
Early Tuesday the Audubon Education Director will lead a naturalist guide training at the high school.
Composting Classes
Students will engage in a composting class on Tuesday.
High School Naturalist
A high school naturalist will visit the fifth grade to talk about her work with Roots and Shoots.
Endangered Species Expert
Dr. Bryan Windmiller from Grassroots Wildlife Conservation will visit to discuss our endangered spadefoot tadpoles and how to protect those and other local endangered species.
Science Review and Study
Students will have the chance to study science facts and information during any time left. We'll also find the time to do another weekly observation of the spadefoot tadpole in our science teams.
Science MCAS Test
On Thursday and Friday morning students will take the science MCAS test.
RTI Reading/Writing
Students will have a chance to meet with their RTI groups.
Biography Research
We'll devote Friday afternoon to our biography research and study. Students are doing a great job researching like detectives to find out all kinds of facts, anecdotes, and other information about the person they chose to study. I'm learning a lot too as I work with each child.
DESE Meeting
A couple of leaders from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education are coming in later in the week after school to talk about DDMs. I'm looking forward to the conversation and hope to learn more details about this process as well as the long term plans with regard to changing rules and mandates due to The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) which will impact our work at the school and system level in the years to come.
It's going to be a busy week of study. As noted before, this heavy emphasis on science is a great match for spring.
