March 27

From Gwen and Lulu: 

We hope you liked our dance performance! We also hope you like the science fair. We watched a video called Bizarre Foods. It was fun at times, and a little weird at times. It was about China foods and it helped with our social studies on China. We had image center again on Thursday. Everyone was happy! We went to the Armory on Tuesday and some of us even ran a mile. We started reading a book called Look What Came from China. It was fun learning what came from China. Did you know that kites and noodles came from China? In our biographies work we resumed our book club books. Everybody was excited to resume our book club books. While that is all that is happening, in our math we started learning about clocks. It’s been fun for us. In our writing we are publishing our essays.

Check back later this weekend for the video of a few highlights of our dance !

Here's what to expect for the upcoming weeks:

• Next week will be a shortened week due to the beginning of Spring Break. Schools will be closed and we will return on April 13th. The ELA exam will take place on the 14th, 15th and 16th. The State Math test will take place the following week on the  22nd, 23rd and 24th. We have been practicing test taking skills and familiarizing ourselves with the test language. There will be an optional packet to help your child review if you choose to use it. Because it is so close to the vacation, it is important to help your child by keeping them to a consistent schedule so that they return from the vacation refreshed. If you choose not to use the packet, please make time for your child to read so that he/ she keeps up good reading habits.

Have a wonderful weekend!

March 20: Third Marking Period Begins

My thanks to all the families who came to Parent Teacher Conferences. Despite a few of us being under the weather, it was important for us to have the conversations about how best to help our learners. I appreciate your patience and support. Already, I can see that many of our children have come back with a renewed sense of purpose and many students addressing goals that were set.

One topic of discussion was the upcoming ELA tests. Please be aware that they will take place  on April 14, 15 and 16, which is the week we return from Spring Break. Each session will be 70 minutes long and children will be asked to read passages and answer questions. In class, we have prepped for this all year long by becoming strong readers. We have looked at some passages from the previous year's test and practiced how to tackle them. A very necessary reading habit is the ability to read carefully and re-read when necessary.  Many parents have asked how they can help and the best answer is to keep your child reading. You may discuss the content with your child to encourage careful reading or read together with your child. Above all, please help your child maintain perspective by remembering that it's only one test.

Here's what to expect for next week:

• Due to my absences and the PTC's we were not able to make a new instructional video this week or have our regular reporters report. We will resume that next week. 
• We have our Dance performance this Monday. You have received a flyer this week encouraging your child to wear black, gold, red or yellow for the performance. This performance will take place in the MMR from 9- 10 am. Please join us if you can; the kids are delightful!
• Science Fair Project are due on Monday. Please have your child bring the project to the classroom and the the MMr as we will be performing there!
• We are headed to the Armory on Tuesday. Please have your child wear sneakers.

Have a wonderful weekend!

March 13

Here's the second report from our reporters Gwen and Lulu: 

In Dance we've been working on a ribbon dance. Our performance is March 23, 2015. Please remember to not wear tights on Mondays. For the performance, we are being asked to wear clothes that are red, black, yellow or gold. 

In class we are working on finishing our essays. We are mainly working on literary essays. In our reading we have been working on training ourselves for the big state test. This week we have put a temporary pause in our book club books, but next week we will resume them. (Check out our new writing video with Henry and Phoebe!)

 In our math we started a new unit about areas, so we moved on from fractions. 

In Social Studies, we have been studying pictures of things in China such as factories and homes with our book  clubs. We enjoy the image centers because they had images about China so there are many ways to look at it, instead of  when you just read descriptions with only one way of making ideas about it. 

In science, we have been working on marshmallow and uncooked spaghetti structures.  One for each table. Just as a reminder, the Science Fair is on Monday, March 23, 2015 also.

Here's what to expect for next week: 

• We will have Dance on Monday. 
• Report Cards will be distributed on Wednesday.
• Parent Teacher conferences will take place on Thursday. Students will be dismissed at 12 noon. Conferences will begin at 1:00 for the afternoon session and start at 5:00 for the evening sessions. Please return the Conference request form with your child if you have not already done so. 

Have an excellent weekend!

March 6: Readathon Begins

This week we began our school wide Readathon. Please help us by keeping track of your child's reading times during the weekend and logging it into the Readathon sheet. As always, we appreciate any sponsors. These contributions help us fund our amazing enrichments!

We have a new feature on this blog starting this week. Our blog reporters, Lulu and Gwen will report on the weekly events our our classroom. Here is their first entry:

This week we spent a lot of time on equivalent fractions.  We also spent some time learning about the Chinese New Year Zodiac and the Lion Dance celebrations.  In our biography independent work we’ve learned to tell what made our subject do what they did, what made them extraordinary, and what happened to them in the process of doing it. In our group reading, we learned about Michaela DePrince and Neil Armstrong. In our writing work, we are writing essays and one we are writing (on our own) is about Muhammmed Ali. The claim is challenges can be solved with wits. We are making a  “Who is…" book cover about ourselves. We drew and colored the cover in art, while writing a description of ourselves in class. This rounds out our biography unit. 

Our "Who Is…" covers look great!

Here's what's happening next week:

• We will have Dance on Monday. We are coming to the end of our Enrichment program and there will be a culminating event on March 23. Families will be invited to attend a performance. Please keep an eye out for more information as it becomes available. 
• We will have our Unit 9 Math test on Tuesday. This test will focus on the work we've done on comparing and ordering the value of a fraction. Please encourage your child to check out the games on the IXL link in the Math section. The games under the Compare Fractions section match our work best.  Games U.1,  U.2 and U.6 will be most helpful. 
• We will visit the Armory on Tuesday. Please hve your child wear running shoes.
• Check in next week for our newest student video! 

Our thanks to the parents who showed up to Family Friday this week. Mrs. Harris led a planting activity which the kids enjoyed immensely. Afterwards we played our Equivalent Fractions Memory Match game. A very exciting start to a Friday!

Have a beautiful weekend!