Weekly Wrap Up

Do you know if your child knows his/her address and your phone numbers? How about whether or not they know how to leave you a voicemail? I recently did a quick check, and found quite a few of them don’t know this. Many of them also don’t know how to use a traditional telephone, or what a dial tone is. As your child is getting a little older and more independent you might want to make sure they can do this in case of an emergency. Also, if your cell phone is locked but has an emergency access, you might want to show them how to use that.

For all you parents of summer birthday kiddos, your child is welcome to celebrate this month or early in June. We have 11 summer birthdays in our class, so it’s going to take some coordinating so that each child has their own special day. If your child is a summer birthday kiddo, and you want to celebrate in school, please pick a day that works for you, and let me know as soon as possible. 

Can you believe there are only 15 days of school left this year?  Wow!!!  Since we are at the point of starting to wrap things up, we are wrapping up math fact logs. This is the last week I will ask for math fact logs to be kept. That doesn’t mean your child is done studying his/her facts though. They should keep it up all summer long or they’re likely to forget the facts. The week of Memorial Day will be our last week for keeping reading logs. Just like math, keep reading over the summer to avoid back slide in levels!

Are you aware of what your child is doing online? Do you know what apps they have and might be using to communicate with others? I’ve been listening to some of the discussions the kids are having about apps they’re using, and I urge you to not only be aware of what they have, but also know how they’re using them and how they’re communicating with others, and potentially with strangers. I teach them digital safety with the programs we use in school, but some of what I see and hear about the apps and the potential of them really goes beyond that. Please look at your child’s devices and talk with them about them, discuss how to stay safe online, and what your family rules are for safety and privacy. Also, explore their apps, look for ways to leave comments or messages, and look for the use of hashtags. Hashtags mean they can click them and see things others posted with the same hashtag, even people they don’t know! It may or may not be appropriate for your child. If you need resources to help you, I recommend http://www.netsmartz.org and https://www.commonsensemedia.org/app-reviews  (this one is good for app reviews).

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

Reader’s Workshop AND Science: Animal Research Clubs/Habitats

Writer’s Workshop: Fairy Tale Adaptations

Math: Elapsed Time and End of Year Review

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

If your child has a summer birthday, and would like to celebrate later this month or early in June, that’s fabulous. We have 11 summer birthdays in our class, so it’s going to take some coordinating so that each child has their own special day. If your child is a summer birthday kiddo, and you want to celebrate in school, please pick a day that works for you, and let me know as soon as possible. Thanks!

Is someone in your house is handy at fixing broken things? Is so our class could use your help. One of our electric pencil sharpeners is no longer sharpening pencils. The motor runs, but the pencils aren’t getting sharp. Before I buy a new one I’d rather try and see if this one can be fixed. If anyone is willing to take it apart and see if it that’s possible, let me know and I’ll send it home with your child.

We’re getting very close to taking our end of year math fact tests, including addition and subtraction! Students are expected to score at 80% or higher in order to be considered proficient in their facts. Thanks for helping monitor your child’s continued practice of their math facts!

Our class will be taking the SBAC tests the mornings of May 10, 11, 13, 18, and 19 from 9:15-11:00ish. Please try to avoid scheduling appointments that will require your child to be out of school any of those mornings.

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

Reader’s Workshop AND Science: Animal Research Clubs/Habitats

Writer’s Workshop: Fairy tale adaptations

Math: Measurement of Volume, weight and mass

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

How is it we only have about 35 days of school left this year? Yikes! There will be lots of special events and activities that take place over the next month and a half, but our learning continues. Homework still continues on, and it gets a little harder now for some children to manage their time when they have school events, sporting practices, and various other activities. Even though your child has been doing homework all year, they might need a little extra help from you now to budget their time between homework, events, and just being a kid and playing. 

We’re getting close to doing our end of year math fact tests. Students are expected to score at 80% or higher in order to be considered proficient in their facts. Some children are coming home today with specific facts they need to work on. Please ask your child what he/she needs to memorize.

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

Reader’s Workshop: Comparing and contrasting characters across books

Writer’s Workshop: Persuasive Writing and assessment

Math: Area and perimeter review

Social Studies: Plainville

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

What super hard workers your children were this week! I wish you could have been a fly on the wall watching them write amazing 5 paragraph persuasive papers, thoughtfully discuss the books they have been reading, and carefully calculate area and perimeter,. One way you can help your child with area and perimeter at home is to help them measure and calculate the area and perimeter of their room, a small rug on the floor, the dining room or kitchen table (if they’re square or rectangular), or even just a book they’re reading. This week they learned the “secret formula” for area is length X width.

Now that spring has arrived, many of the children are talking about their spring sports, games, and upcoming recitals. Any time your child has a special event in his/her life outside of school, feel free to send in a picture or email it to me so they can share it with us. Short videos are okay too. I’ll put it up on the SmartBoard so your child can share his/her events with their friends in class. No show and tell tickets are required for this!  :)

Students do not need to keep track of their home reading and home math fact practice during our April vacation next week. I’m sure they’ll keep practicing those facts, and still read, But, it’s vacation, so enjoy and don’t worry about keeping the logs!

Here's what we'll be learning about after vacation:

• Reader’s Workshop: Comparing and contrasting characters across books
• Writer’s Workshop: Persuasive Writing
• Math: Area of Irregular Shapes
• Social Studies: Plainville

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

Now that warmer weather is arriving, please try to make sure your child has a water bottle for school. They are outside 2-3 times a day between wellness and recess, and are quite thirsty when they come in! Also, with the warmer weather can come fluctuations in the classroom temperature. A sweater or sweatshirt kept in the your child’s locker might come in handy once the AC is turned on.

I want to let families know that I’m going to be out of school on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of next week (March 30, 31, and April 1) for minor oral surgery. I’ve already written detailed plans for the sub, so your child’s regular learning will continue! Please know that next Friday there will not be a newsletter or a progress report. There will be homework throughout the week, and home reading and math fact logs should continue. I will check them when I’m back the following week.

A few reminders:

• Students need to have a note from home each week to use their electronics during Fun Friday. 
• Sneakers should be worn on Wednesdays for gym.
• Recorders and music need to come back to school on Tuesdays for music.
• Please do NOT send foods with peanuts, tree nuts or seafoods at snack due to food allergies.

Here's what we're learning about in the next two weeks:

• Reader’s Workshop: Book Clubs
• Writer’s Workshop: Persuasive Writing
• Math: Perimeter and Area
• Social Studies: Plainville

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

Since we have two short weeks, this newsletter will be for the weeks of March 14th and March 21st.

As you begin to take out spring clothes for your child to see what still fits, or are buying new things, please keep the dress code in mind. Shorts and skirts/dresses should not be any shorter than the tips of fingers with arms hanging at side. Spaghetti straps or strapless tops should not be worn, and sandals should have heel straps. More info. on the dress code can be found in family handbook, located in the back of the school calendar.

Today we began our new math unit on geometry. Since there are a number of terms that you might not have seen since your days in school (Who remembers scalene triangles or obtuse angles?) the vocab cards for the unit are attached. Students also have a copy in their math notebook in class. We will be using our new knowledge to design towns applying various terms (ex: two streets must be parallel). There won’t be any math papers for homework, but students need to work on memorizing the meanings of the topic vocabulary words.

If you haven’t yet done the parent communication survey, please take a minute to fill it out. It’s linked off the front of our class website. Thanks!

Here's what we're learning about for the next two weeks:

• Reader’s Workshop: Book clubs 
• Writer’s Workshop: Persuasive Writing 
• Math: Geometry Town
• Social Studies: Connecticut

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

I’d love to get parent feedback on the various methods of communication I use to share information from the classroom. If you get a chance over the next few days, please take a few minutes to fill out a really short communication survey I put together. It’s linked off the front of our class website:  https://sites.google.com/a/plainvilleschools.org/carnevalea/ 

Our field trip to the New Britain Museum of Art is on Friday, March 11th. Since we are leaving before our normal lunch time, we’ll picnic in the classroom before we leave on the trip. Students can still buy their lunch, or bring it, the same as they would any other day.

New pictures from January, February and early March have been added to the class photo album page on our website!

Look for the conference appointment slip, with your conference time on it, to come home on Monday in your child’s Jungle Book! Please let me know as soon as you can if you need to change it.

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

• Reader’s Workshop: Book clubs 
• Writer’s Workshop: Persuasive Writing 
• Math: Fractions
• Social Studies: Connecticut

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!