Odyssey Charter School | Jamie Leigh Freeland RSS

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:24:04 GMT

Room 12 is currently reading Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins. If you are unfamiliar with the book, it is based on the true story of the "Lost Woman of San Nicolas." The Lost Woman lived on alone on San Nicolas Island, just off the coast of Santa Barbara, from 1835 to 1853. She was one of many American Indians who inhabited the island long before the Christian era. The Lost woman was found 18 years after the rest of her tribe moved off the island. She was brought to the Santa Barabara Mission, where she died only 7 weeks later.

While following the main character's story of survival, Room 12 students will be learning and practicing essential comprehension skills. So far, we are "growing our ideas about characters" by:

making a movie in our mind, drawing on the text to envision and become the character.
using our own experiences to help us walk in the character's shoes, inferring what the character is thinking, feeling, and experiencing.
revising our mental movie as we get new details from the text.
predicting what will happen next by making a mental movie, and telling it bit by bit.
thinking about what has alreading happened, then use what we know about the characters to imagine what they will do and how they will do it.
drawing upon our personal knowledge of similar experiences to make connections, predictions, and have empathy for the characters.

Island of the Blue Dolphins is not only a great book for practicing our reading strategies, but will also give us insight into the lives of California Indians and the local wildlife. We will learn how the Chumash lived their day to day lives and how they used natural resources. We will also learn about the many fascinating land and sea creatures that appear in the story. We will use this website in the computer lab to further develop our understanding of these topics. Feel free to check it out, but be careful not to jump to far ahead and spoil the ending!

Stone Soup Day is Tuesday, November 22nd!

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:25:45 GMT

Stone Soup Day is a favorite Odyssey tradition. The inspiration for this celebration is the tradition stories of Stone Soup. We are reading several versions of this folktale from different cultures, comparing the story structures and themes of sharing and community.

The OCS Stone Soup Day is a time to celebrate how rich we are as a community and the value of each individual's contribution to our metaphorical "soup' - celebrated, of course, by making actual soup! Each classroom makes their own soup, then at lunch time we share our soups and eat together. Families, board members, firefighters, police officers, the city council... EVERYONE is invited to eat with us!

Every student is asked to contribute 1 specific ingredient to the soup. When all ingredients are combined, we will have a delicious soup to share! Look for your child's ingredient in this week's Thursday Packet. For example, your child might bring 2 potatoes, or 2 carrots, or 1 quart of vegetable broth, etc. Ingredients are due Friday, November 18th. Perishable items will be stored in the refrigerator over the weekend. Room 12's soup will be vegetarian. If you are unable provide your child's ingredient for any reason, contact me or Jessica Bilandzija at mamamiafitness@gmail.com ASAP.

We will begin cooking on Tuesday promptly at 8:15 in order for food to be ready for lunch time. We would love to have you join us for cooking in the classroom and/or for lunch! You are welcome to take you child home with you after lunch, just be sure to sign them out in the front office before leaving.

Word Study Groups Started This Week!

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:53:47 GMT

Students began working in differentiated Word Study groups this week! Students are placed in groups based on the spelling patterns they need to work on.

I meet with 1 group each day of the week to start them on the their word sort. After learning their sort, the group receives a copy of the sort to study at home. Each group completes specific activities with their words for next 4 days, the last being a "Spell Check" assessment.

If you would like to know what day of the week your child will receive a new sort or have an assessment, please email me.

Some Word Study activities we know how to do:

using the words in meaningful or "story" sentence
a "blind" sort to remember the spelling of each word
write the words in rainbow writing

Word Study activities we will learn:

conduct a word hunt to find more words that fit the spelling patterns
"operate" on the words to create similar words, by subtracting or adding 1 letter at time
play student-created board games in which students must spell words correctly to move forward

Geography

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:02:02 GMT

Room 12 has fully launched our first Social Studies unit on Geography! We will learn all about maps before zooming in on California and it's distinctive landscape.

We began our studies by becoming cartographers ourselves. We carefully mapped our school to understand the challengest that face map-makers. We answered critical questions: what do we include? How do I translate what I see into a drawing? How do I make the sizes/shapes of buildings and objects look right? How do I color the map so that it's easy for someone to read?

We started by sketching what we know about the school. Then we took ourselves on a tour, filling in the "blanks" on our sketches; adding and changing things along the way. We returned to the classroom and worked with partners to create a final draft of our maps. We folded the paper to divide the space. We used pencils and sharpeners like blocks to "build" the campus and trace it. We used color to separate spaces and buildings, then added labels, and some even included a legend!

As we move forward in Geography, we have learned about the cardinal and intermediate directions. We proved that the North Field really is in the north by making our own compasses out of paper clips and magnets. Ask your child WHY this works - they should be able to tell you all about it!

Some of the other map skills we are learning:

How to read a compass rose on a map
What are hemispheres?
Latitude and longitude

Next we will shift our focus to California Geography and get to know its 4 main regions: the coast, central valley, mountains, and desert. We learn where the capital is as well as other major cities. We learn how each region influences industry and the development of cities. In the last 2 weeks of October, we will express all of our learning by creating 3-dimensional maps of California out of salt dough. We love to have you join us if you would like to help us form the maps and paint them!

Thank you for attending the Meet & Greet!

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:46:23 GMT

Thank you everyone for attending the Meet & Greet Thursday evening! Ithink the kids enjoyed showing you what their day looks like and all the work we have done. And I would like to extend a big thank you and congratulations to our Room Parents, Jessica Bilandzija, Samantha Peale, and Lisa Lansing for planning and organizing a successful event!

I noticed that our Writers Workshop area seemed to be a main focus the tour. We are now fully immersed in our Personal Narratives. Student chose "seed ideas" this week and we are now developing our small moments into chronological stories, stretching out the action by including small details, dialogue, and the character's thoughts. Your children's lives are so full of rich moments - I can't wait to hear the full versions of their stories! We will celebrate our first publish work on Thursday, October 20th. For this first celebration, it will be just the Room 12 students and I. We will extend invitations to families for our second published personal narrative.

Thank you again for attending, your donations to the Annual Campaign, and for supporting the OCS community! It would not be such an amazing place without you!

Fiber Arts: Finger Knitting

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:28:26 GMT

Room 12 learned a Fiber Art this Friday - finger knitting! This is a fun, portable craft that give a creative outlet to busy minds and antsy hands!

Finger knitting is a simple form of knitting in which yarn is weaved around 4 fingers to create "loops." It that can be used to create all kinds of projects - scarves, ties, bracelets, bag straps, or weave several together to make a blanket!

Sometimes this takes a bit of practice to get the hang of the pattern, but once you do, it's addicting! A few students borrowed yarn to practice over the weekend. Please ensure that your child returns the yarn and their knitted items back to school on Monday.

CLICK HERE for a good video "how-to" if your child gets stuck or if you want to try it yourself.

CLICK HERE for an article on how to finger knit.

Have fun!

Writer's Notebook

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 12:05:01 GMT

This week, each student began working in a new writer's notebook. This will be an essential tool for our Writers Workshop throughout the year. In this notebook, we will practice "living wide awake lives" and record our observations, thoughts, and wonders. Some students were so inspired by this notebook, they chose to write during free choice time!

For our first notebook entry, students wrote continuously for 2 minutes, not allowing the pen to leave the page. As thoughts wandered, students began to stumble upon some "big ideas" that might be a source for a personal narrative or essay later in the year. Some were so lost in thought, they couldn't stop writing even after 10 minutes! We learn more "notebooking" strategies in the next few weeks.

Each student will need to personalize the outside his or her notebook with artifacts that are a resource for memories and stories. Photos, drawings, and tickets are a good place to start. The notebook does not need to be completely covered right away - leave some blank space for some items you might think to add later.

WEEKLY HOMEWORK: write 1 notebook entry each week. Be sure to write the date at the top of the entry. The length is not as important as the content. A quality notebook entry shows thoughtfulness and includes complete ideas.

Supply List

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:39:23 GMT

Consumable Items:

#2 pencils

erasers

covered pencil sharpener

wide-ruled loose leaf notebook paper

colored pencils

thin markers

glue sticks

blue or black pens

surface sanitizing wipes

unscented hand sanitizer

Classroom Items:

Pull-down world U.S., and California maps

donations toward magazine subscription for classroom (National Geographic Kids, Ranger Rick, Ask)

children’s dictionaries and thesauruses (such as Scholastic)

floor pillows

gift cards to Staples and Target

Science Supplies

This year, the ¾ classes will be studying ecosystems. I would like to provide multiple experiential opportunities for students throughout the year, but I can’t do it alone! We will need supplies and volunteers for:

§ Vermicompost bin (worms!)

§ Artistic expertise or support

§ Classroom pet (amphibian or reptile)

§ Print, digital, or video resources on food chains and specific habitats around the world

Books from Amazon Wish List are always appreciated! http://amzn.com/w/3IJ6J5NSK1ZZ0

Welcome to Room 12!

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:25:18 GMT

Room 12 News

Welcome students and families to Room 12!

My name is Jamie Leigh Freeland and this will be my 6^th year teaching elementary school, and my 4^th at Odyssey Charter School. I am looking forward to getting to know those of you who are new to Room 12 and to the OCS community. And of course, I am excited to get reacquainted with our returning students and families. I hope you all had refreshing summer break and are ready for new learning adventures!

Throughout the year, we will stay touch in a variety of ways.

§ Look for newsletters, announcements, and student work in the weekly Thursday Packet. You may receive your Thursday Packet news by email or in print.

§ Email is a great way for us to stay in touch or to arrange a time to meet in person. Please feel free to contact me through email at jamief@ocsmail.org.

§ I am typically available before and after school, and I happy to meet with you, however meetings are most productive if we can arrange them in advance.

§ Check my teacher’s page on the OCS website for updated information at http://www.odysseycharterschool.org/jlfreeland/.

Ways to Get Involved

There are many opportunities to participate in your child’s education at Odyssey. We are always looking for volunteers to work with students, help in the classroom, and assist with school events. Be sure to attend the Parent Orientation and Back to School Event on Saturday, Sept. 10^th for information on our parent group (OPPG) and for classroom information.

Can’t make it on campus, during the school day? There are many ways to help from home, too. We always need assistance with prepping materials, sending emails, or gathering supplies.

If you would like to be involved in Room 12 activities, please get in touch and let me know what you are interested in. Thank you in advance for all of your help and support!

Classroom Volunteers

O OCS does not have volunteers in the classroom for the first 6 weeks of school while we build our classroom community. During these six weeks, not only will I learn about your child, but I hope to learn about you as well! I welcome you to share your expertise and family traditions with our community. Please contact me and look for more information in upcoming newsletters.