Weekly Wrap Up

As the holiday season approaches, we often spend a great deal of time thinking about giving to others. At this time of the year, students and their families often like to give gifts to their teachers. This is certainly a very thoughtful and well-appreciated gesture. However, I feel that when one gives, the more people that can receive, the better. So this year, if you and your child would like to give, instead of giving me a gift please consider giving the classroom a gift that all of the children can enjoy. If you want to do this, but need ideas, I’ve asked the kids to help me brainstorm a list of things they’d like to have in the classroom. From that list I created an Amazon wishlist. You can find it here: https://amzn.com/w/NWRDR35SH61C - Please don’t feel obligated to get anything from that list, I just wanted to put together something from the students that has what they wish they could have in their classroom.

Lots of new pictures have been added to our class photo album, you can find it here. Stop by and peek into your child’s life at school!

Remember, conference forms are due soon! Please let me know if you need another copy.

Here's what we're learning about next week:

• Reader’s Workshop: Reading for information and main idea/supporting details

• Math: Topic 6, Multiplying by 3, 4, 6, 7, 8

• Social Studies: Create Native American villages and learn about the first Thanksgiving.

This is the time of year when we often pause to reflect on things we are thankful for. I want you to know that I’m so very thankful to have a class of children who are genuinely nice, care about and help each other, and work hard to learn new things each and every day. It is truly a joy to come to work each day and spend time with your children! They continue to put a smile on my face and make my heart sing! I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. I also check email frequently. Together we are partners in your child’s education!

Weekly Wrap Up

Thursday is our trip to Indian Rock. We leave about 9:00, and return around 1:00. Most of our time is spent outdoors and walking through wooded trails, so it’s important that your child be dressed for the weather and wearing appropriate footwear. All drinks and lunches need to be in labeled, disposable containers. There will not be snack time on the trip, so just their lunch and a drink are needed.

Remember, Curl Up and Read is from 2:45-3:15 on November 20. Join your child in the classroom for a special half hour of reading together. Let them share some of their favorite classroom reads with you, and see a little of what they’re learning in action! Siblings from other classes are welcome to join us, as long as you send a note to their teacher. Also, if you want your child to leave our room and go to a sibling’s room, please send a note.

By mid-December we should be done with multiplication and starting division. Division can be tricky for students who don’t know their multiplication facts. So, it’s really important that your child keep working to learn their multiplication facts. It doesn’t matter whether they are memorizing facts written down, playing games, or using an app, do whatever works best for your child. It’s just important they are working on it.

A couple of reminders...

• Notes are needed each week a student brings electronics for Fun Friday.
• We have gym every Wednesday. Your child should be wearing sneakers on that day, or bringing them to change into.

Here's what we're learning about next week:

• Reader’s Workshop: Reading for information and main idea/supporting details
• Writer’s Workshop: Personal narrative assessment, then information writing.
• Math: Topic 6, Multiplying by 3, 4, 6, 7, 8
• Social Studies: Northeast Woodland Native Americans

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. I also check email frequently. Together we are partners in your child’s education!

Veteran's Day 2015

Weekly Wrap Up

Please try to set aside time from 2:45-3:15 on November 20 for Curl Up and Read time here at school. Join your child in the classroom for a special half hour of reading together. Let them share some of their favorite classroom reads with you, and see a little of what they’re learning in action! Siblings from other classes are welcome to join us, as long as you send a note to t!heir teacher. Also, if you want your child to leave our room and go to a sibling’s room, please send a note.

Earlier in the year I told the kids that after Halloween they could bring in electronics for Fun Friday so long as it’s okay with their parents. I wanted them to first spend some time playing with another human, and getting to know each other.  :)   So, now we’re past Halloween, they can have electronics. If you want your child to bring something in, the only thing I ask is that each week they bring a note from a parent saying it’s okay. Without a note, I won’t let them use it. All electronics have to stay either in their locker or in a container in the classroom closet until Fun Friday time. Don’t worry if you don’t want your child to bring in electronics, there are many classroom games and activities they can enjoy.

Don’t forget, Scholastic book orders, both online and paper forms are due Friday, Nov. 13. Please don’t send cash, check only or order online. Thanks!

All students are encouraged to wear red, white, and blue on Wednesday for Veteran’s Day!

Here's what we're learning about next week:

• Reader’s Workshop: Review of skills taught in unit 1 and assessment of unit 1 skills
• Writer’s Workshop: Finish small moment stories
• Math: Multiplying by 0, 1, 10, and multiples of 10
• Social Studies: Northeast Woodland Native Americans

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. I also check email frequently. Together we are partners in your child’s education!

Weekly Wrap Up

A few times a year I send home a Scholastic book order. This is just one of many ways to find reading material for your child. Please don’t feel obligated to purchase anything, but if you do want to buy a book, you can either order and pay online, or you can send in the form with a check (please do not send cash). A larger selection of books is actually available online. The order link and our class code are on our class website. Online orders are delivered to the classroom and distributed to your child. They do not get sent to your home. Click here for the link on the class website for Scholastic Book Orders. Online and paper forms are due Friday, Nov. 13.

This week we started learning about the meanings of multiplication. Next week we start with the facts. Our math program does not do them in order (0-10). Topic 5 covers multiplying by 2, 5, 9, 1, 0, and 10, in that order. I also throw in 11 since it’s so easy. Late in the week ask your child to show you the nine’s trick with their hands. I’ll also tweet out a video of the trick on the day we learn it.

Once again we are collecting treats for troops. This is a great chance for your child to be a Goodness Gorilla (ask them what this means). Please send in a bit of extra Halloween candy next week. It will be distributed to our troops serving around the world

Here's what we're learning about next week:

• Reader’s Workshop: Review of skills taught in unit 1
• Writer’s Workshop: Continue revising and typing small moment stories
• Math: Multiplying by 2 ,5, and 9
• Social Studies: Northeast Woodland Native Americans

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. I also check email frequently. Together we are partners in your child’s education!

Weekly Wrap Up

On Wednesday we begin learning about multiplication! It’s first introduced through the concept of repeated addition, such as 4x2=8 is the same as 4 groups of 2, or 2+2+2+2=8. We will also learn about it through arrays. An example of an array is shown on the attached family math letter. Another way that we’ll learn about multiplication is through skip counting. If your child can count by 3’s six times, then they’ll know that 3x6=18. Next week a skip counting chart and a multiplication chart will be sent home. Your child will likely need to refer to those while doing his/her homework.

Along with studying addition and subtraction facts, your child can begin studying multiplication facts. The website multiplication.com (http://www.multiplication.com) has some great games that kids tend to love. The “Just for Kids” page on our class website has many resources listed by topic, as well as basic fact sites. One thing I find is that in their excitement to learn something new and “grown up” kids often fall back in their subtraction progress as they focus on multiplication. So, they’ll need to keep circling back to study subtraction facts (and addition too).

Today your child is bringing home a sheet with of all of their logins and passwords for the various sites we use in school. This is so they can login from home if they want, and so you always have access to what we’re doing in school. If you ever have questions about these sites or want help with them, don’t hesitate to ask!

I realized that I never sent home the math test scores from Topic 2 last week. I’m so sorry! The kids took the test on the Chromebooks, and they can’t print from them. I meant to print them, and then it slipped my mind. They’re coming home today.

Friday we are making slime in class! It’s a VERY messy activity. Your child is very likely to get it on their clothes. Please don’t send them to school in good clothes that day.

Here's what we're learning about next week:

• Reader’s Workshop: Strategies to read and understand meanings of tricky words and phrases (including figurative language, synonyms, and antonyms)
• Writer’s Workshop: Typing small moment stories
• Math: Test topic 3 and start Topic 4- meanings of multiplication
• Science: Physical and chemical changes of matter

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. I also check email frequently. Together we are partners in your child’s education!

Weekly Wrap Up

Next week we start Topic 3 in math, which focuses on 3-digit addition and subtraction with regrouping (what we grew up calling carrying and borrowing). We’ve actually already been working on addition with regrouping as part of our morning work, so our lessons will be focused more on subtraction with regrouping. By late in the week we will be doing what’s called subtracting across zeros. This means doing problems like 400-127. To help students with this, there’s a great free iPad app we use in school, Number Pieces Basic. If you have an iOS device at home, you may want to download it for your child (there doesn’t appear to be an Android version, but there might be something on the same idea). It can also be accessed on the developer’s website: http://www.mathlearningcenter.org/web-apps/number-pieces/.

 Did you hear the news? We blogged AGAIN this week! Last week your child wrote their introduction blog post. Today your child blogged about the favorite book he/she read in September. Please take a minute to read your child’s blog, and comment. Feel free to share their blog with every relative you have, and have them comment!, too. :) The kids LOVE it when people comment on their writing, and it is highly motivating.

 It was a techie week. Along with blogging, the children created their first Educreations slideshows on the iPads as a review for math. Each group had to choose whether to teach how to round numbers to the nearest ten and nearest hundred, or teach about the three properties of addition. A couple of the presentations are in the next blog post down.

 As you might have noticed this week, your child does not always have some type of worksheet to do for homework. I only send worksheets home when there’s been a skill taught in class that day (or sometimes that week), that I want them to practice and apply their new knowledge to, reinforcing their in-school learning. Even when there’s not a worksheet, they still need to be doing their home reading and math facts, and recording on their logs. 

Here's what we'll be learning about next week:

•  Reader’s Workshop: Strategies to read and understand tricky words and phrases (including figurative language, synonyms, and antonyms) 
•  Writer’s Workshop: Putting together all the pieces of personal narrative writing. 
•  Math: Addition and subtraction of 3-digit numbers with regrouping. 
•  Science: Matter 

 Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. I also check email frequently. Together we are partners in your child’s education!