The Weekly Update #4

Students are doing a great job accessing Destiny Discover to search and find books. This allows them to look ahead of time for books they may be interested in. Students in grades 2-5 participated in a scavenger hunt to learn how to locate books around the library.

• November 5th: Battle meeting
• November 19th: MOCK battle!
• December 3rd: Last battle meeting
• December 10th: FINAL BATTLE!

Students can use the Battle of the Books website to prepare for the battle!

We have had a wonderful start to the school year in the STEM room! We kicked off the year with engineering challenges and team-building activities. Students are now exploring coding through a variety of hands-on and unplugged activities.

Here’s what we’ve been working on by grade level:

• K–1: Engineering challenges inspired by books and building activities. For example, after reading Creepy Carrots!, students designed and built fences to keep the carrots from escaping!

• Grade 2: Engineering challenges and unplugged coding activities that help students develop problem-solving and computational thinking skills.

• Grades 3–5: Unplugged coding, Scratch programming, and an introduction to LEGO float challenges.

Building Typing Skills

Students in grades 2–5 have also started using TypingClub in the STEM room! Students are challenged to complete their typing assignments with their hands covered so they can practice typing without looking at the keyboard. They have embraced this new challenge, and we are already seeing progress in their typing abilities!

If your child uses a typing program at home, we encourage you to try this strategy, too. Any piece of paper placed over the hands and keyboard will work. With practice, students will build their confidence, accuracy, and typing speed!