International DayInternational Day 2019
Volunteers Needed Dolvin’s International Day is coming up on Wednesday, February 6th. Don’t miss out on your opportunity to volunteer at this great event! If you are from another country or know a lot about a certain country, please come share this information with our students! General volunteers are also needed to help out with the activities throughout the morning and to set up a USA table. If you are interested in volunteering, please sign up using the links below. Please sign up on the links by January 30. Please email us if you have changes after that date. For more information go to esolrivera.weebly.com and click on the International Day tab. If you would like to represent or help represent a country, please sign up here. If you would like to be a general volunteer, please sign up here. Week of January 14Dear Parents,
I hope you had a nice weekend, using this crazy weather to enjoy some much needed rest time! Topics this week: Reading: We are continuing to create goals, read uninterruptedly in class, and answer questions with our book club books! Thank you so much for supporting your child's love of reading by talking with them about their book selection. We will continue working on comparing themes, topics, and pattern of events in pieces of literature. We will then relate this back to myths, legends, folktales, and fables. We are also continuing to determine the allusions behind myths. Last week we discussed what it means to open up "Pandora's Box." This week we will discuss what it means to have the "Midas Touch" and what our "Achilles Heel" might be. Writing: This week will be reviewing their two Write Score Opinion Essays. Write Score has given each student feedback on their essays and students will take the time to compare their two essays, make edits & revisions, and reflect on how they can improve. Next week we will begin informational writing. In grammar we will continuing learning about relative pronouns and add relative adverbs to the mix. A practice homework assignment is being sent home as homework this week! Reminders:
That's all for now! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns by emailing me directly at [email protected]. Have a wonderful week! Jenn Shaffer Dolvin Elementary School E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://mrsjennshaffer.weebly.com Twitter: @mrsjennshaffer Week of January 7 - 11Dear Parents,
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful and restful break. We took the kids to Disney World for Kyle's 2nd birthday, the beach, and spent a lot of time reorganizing the house. I hope you enjoyed your time off as well! It was a nice break but I was so happy to see the kids smiling faces as we began the third nine weeks today! Topics this week: Reading: We will review where we left off in our book club books! Thank you so much for supporting your child's love of reading by helping them find a copy of their book. We will continue working on comparing themes, topics, and pattern of events in pieces of literature. We will then relate this back to myths, legends, folktales, and fables. This week we are going to read and listen to the story of Pandora's Box and determine the allusions behind what it means to "open up Pandora's box." Please feel free to use this vocabulary in language at home as well. Writing: We will be reviewing the scores from their two Write Score Opinion Essays. Write Score has given each student feedback on their essays and students will take the time to compare their two essays, make corrections, and reflect/set goals on how they can improve as writers this nine weeks. We will begin a new grammar unit this week. First up are relative pronouns! We will begin learning about relative pronouns on Tuesday. I will pass out a notes sheet and a practice homework assignment for the week! Reminders:
That's all for now! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns by emailing me directly at [email protected]. Jenn Shaffer Dolvin Elementary School E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://mrsjennshaffer.weebly.com Twitter: @mrsjennshaffer Week of December 17Dear Parents,
Can you believe first semester is almost over? We have had a blast learning new things together. Topics this week: Reading: As students finish their book club books we have started choosing books for their next book club which will begin in January. I know some students have already started getting their books. Thank you so much for supporting your child's love of reading by helping them find a copy of these books. We will continue working on comparing themes, topics, and pattern of events in pieces of literature. We will then relate this back to myths, legends, folktales, and fables. You should see notes on this in the reading tab of your child's binder. There is a packet with notes we have been working on in class. We will continue this unit when we return from Winter Break. We will assess this in the 3rd nine weeks. Writing: We have our final Opinion Write Score this week! We will be taking the test online and students will have plenty of time to work on this. Students will have to read two texts, answer a constructed response, and write an essay. I know they can do it! Since I was out on Friday we did not take our Grammar test. Students will be taking it on Tuesday or Wednesday. They did a review with the sub to help them study. The test will cover progressive verbs, helping and linking verbs, prepositions, prepositional phrases, object of the preposition, and order or adjectives. The accelerated test will also include interjections and perfect tense verbs. There are notes on all of these topics in the language arts tab of your child's binder, our website, and Google Classroom. Students will take the test when they are ready on either Tuesday or Wednesday. Reminders:
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me. Have a great week and HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Jenn Shaffer Dolvin Elementary School E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://mrsjennshaffer.weebly.com Twitter: @mrsjennshaffer Week of December 10Jenn Shaffer
Dolvin Elementary School E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://mrsjennshaffer.weebly.com Twitter: @mrsjennshaffer Week of December 3Hello Parents!
Wow what a crazy SEC championship game on Saturday! It's not the ending my family was hoping for, but congrats to Alabama! I hope you had time to enjoy the beautiful weather on Sunday. Topics this week: Reading: We are starting to dive into our new book club books! I've never seen a class so excited to READ! I love how they are enjoying digging deep into a text. After all, our goal is still to build a foundation and love of reading. We will begin our new literature unit on Folktales, Fables, Myths, and Legends. When I told this to the students, I received a bug "YAY!" We will be working on a notes page which will be added to the reading tab of their binders by the end of the week. Writing: We will be reviewing the unit on Opinion Writing. We are still finishing up our Opinion Essays in class and typing them on Google Classroom! Ask your child about our Opinion "Dance!" This week we are starting a "practice write score" to get them in the habit of reading two texts, answering a constructed response, and writing an essay. I will be helping guide students, but my goal is for them to complete this on their own. I know they can do it! Grammar: We will be continuing out unit on Prepositions, followed by the Order of Adjectives. If you haven't already, please have your child look on Flocabulary for the Preposition song and complete the "quiz" for homework. This is a great review resource! I will also be passing out a homework assignment on prepositions and prepositional phrases on Monday. Reminders:
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me. Have a great week! Have a great week! Jenn Shaffer Dolvin Elementary School E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://mrsjennshaffer.weebly.com Twitter: @mrsjennshaffer Week of November 26Dear Parents,
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break with friends and family! Topics this week: Reading: Students are choosing their new books for book clubs as they finish their current book. Students will be looking for new books based on their Lexile, reading style, reading goals, and personal interests. They are more than welcome to research their choices at home and discuss this with you! I would love if students had a copy of their book by the time we get back from winter break. Some groups may start sooner that that but all groups will have new book club books before we leave for break. Students can either check it out from the Dolvin library, a local library, order a copy off Amazon, Walmart, or even use an Ebook! If there is an issue, please let me know and I am more than happy to find a copy for them as well. Ask your child about their new book club choices! We are nearing the end of our unit on DRAMA, POETRY, and PROSE We will have a test on Friday, November 30th! There are notes located in your child's binder, as well as my website! The test will cover the three genres of literature: poetry, drama, and prose. We will be doing review all week, including a "Escape The Room!" Writing: We will be reviewing the unit on Opinion Writing. We are still finishing up our Opinion Essays in class and typing them on Google Classroom! Grammar: We will be learning about Prepositions this week, followed by the Order of Adjectives. Please have your child look on Flocabulary for the Preposition song to practice at home. I will also be passing out notes on Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases this week. Reminders:
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me! Have a great week! Jenn Shaffer Dolvin Elementary School E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://mrsjennshaffer.weebly.com Twitter: @mrsjennshaffer Week of November 12Dear Parents,
Next week is Thanksgiving break and we will be out of school all week. I hope you all enjoy some much deserved time off with your friends and family! Topics this week: Reading: Some students are ready to choose a new book for book clubs. As students finish their current book club book they will take a quiz on the book and we will work together as a group to choose a new book that best fits their Lexile, reading style, reading goals, and interests. They are more than welcome to research their choices at home and discuss this with you! I would love if students had a book chosen to bring to group and share! Just like last time, students will come home with a slip of paper with the book title they chose and they can either check it out from the Dolvin library, a local library, order a copy off Amazon/Walmart/Wherever, or even use an Ebook! If there is an issue, please let me know and I am more than happy to find a copy of the book for them as well. We are nearing the end of our unit on DRAMA. We will have a quiz/check for understanding on Tuesday! There are notes located in your child's binder, as well as my website! The quiz will cover stage directions, characters, descriptions, and other elements to a drama. We will be comparing and contrasting poetry, drama, and prose. This is such a fun unit and the kiddos really seem to be enjoying it! **Special Note - because of Write Score the quiz was changed to Wednesday. Writing: We are finishing up our first opinion essay. Students are starting to revise and edit their rough drafts and started typing these up on Google Classroom. The students are really motivated to write about their opinion topics! Ask them about our opinion class essays. We will be taking Write Score on Opinion Essays all week! There are lessons in Google Classroom and on my website to support students as needed if they want to review. In grammar we are completing our unit on VERBS. We have covered action verbs, progressive verb tenses (past, present, and future) helping verbs, and linking verbs. **ACC - has also covered perfect tense verbs (past, present, and future) Students have notes in their binders and there are some great resources on my website as well! We will have a quiz to check for understanding on verbs on Wednesday! Reminders:
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me! Have a great week, and HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Week of November 5Dear Parents,
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed your extra hour! Topics this week: Reading: Some reading groups are starting to finish their books and they will be given an opne book quiz to check for comprehension. We will continue our unit on poetry and will be starting DRAMA! We will be discussing the a script, stage directions, characters, descriptions, and other elements to a drama. We will be comparing and contrasting poetry, drama, and prose. This is such a fun unit and the kiddos really seem to be enjoying it! Writing: We have started writing our opinion rough drafts. The rough drafts are hand written and the final drafts will be typed on google classroom. The students are really motivated to write about their opinion topics! We will continue learning about Progressive Verbs, but also be discussing the importance of the helping verb. Students were assigned a Flocabulary video and "quiz" on Helping Verbs for homework this week. Reminders:
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me! Have a great week! Jenn Shaffer Dolvin Elementary School E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://mrsjennshaffer.weebly.com Twitter: @mrsjennshaffer Week of October 29Dear Parents,
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Topics this week: Reading: We will continue our unit on poetry and have a notes page of all the elements located in the READING tab of the binder. This week we will also be reviewing figurative language. I will pass out a notes sheet on this topic on Monday. This will also be kept in the READING tab of the binder. Writing: We will narrow down our opinion writing topic and begin writing the introduction and body paragraphs this week. The rough drafts will be hand written and the final drafts will be typed on Google classroom. We will continue learning about Progressive Verbs. There is a notes sheet located in the LANGUAGE ARTS tab of the binder. We are also reviewing how a helping verb is "BFFs" with a progressive verbs and they are almost always together! Reminders:
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me! Have a great week! Jenn Shaffer Dolvin Elementary School E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://mrsjennshaffer.weebly.com Twitter: @mrsjennshaffer |
Mrs. ShafferMy name is Jennifer Shaffer. I have been teaching for 16 years now. I have taught a variety of different grades and levels. I graduated from the University of Alabama with my undergraduate degree. While there I did my student teaching abroad in Australia. After college I loved learning so much that I continued my studies at Piedmont College where I got my Master in Early Childhood Education and my Specialist in Teaching and Learning. I have taught at a variety of schools around Georgia and have had many experiences to observe in unique classrooms. In 2008 I went with the Japanese Consulate to Japan to study their educational system and culture through the International Educators to Japan (IEJ). Weekly E-mail/BlogArchives
May 2019
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