Weekly Wrap Up

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!

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’ll be asking the kids to help me brainstorm a list of things they’d like to have in the classroom or that need to be replaced. From that list I’ll created an Amazon wishlist and send home the link in the next newsletter. 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, or feel we need, in their classroom.

On Wednesday we’re 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:

• Social Studies: Cultures Across CT
• Science: Matter experiments
• Math: Multiplication
• Reading: Unit 2 pretest on nonfiction (information). Begin looking at nonfiction (information) text features.

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!

Slime Fun!

As part of the wrap up of our science unit of study on matter, we made slime today (and noted how it's a chemical change)!  What a wonderfully, messy, fun time the kids had!  :)  Here's the recipe we used.  If you try it at home, and don't want it runny, it takes A LOT more Borax than the recipe calls for. I used about a box and a half for the four groups, with all of the other ingredient amounts staying the same.