McFarland-Mayberry-Begley Bulletin

for the week of November 3, 2014

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Reading Workshop

We are continuing with identifying signposts in The Fourteenth Goldfish, and this week more and more students showed an increased confidence level with identifying those signposts in their own reading — which is the whole point, to deepen their thinking about what they read.  I’m happy to see this development!

     Please note that the reading expectation is at least 25 minutes per day (still a minimum of four different days per week).  This change should be reflected on students’ logs to be handed in on Monday.  

Writing Workshop

Writers finished their supporting idea paragraphs for the first flash-draft.  Now, we are moving on to another essay.  Kids have decided on their own thesis statements, though if they’re not yet ready to branch out on their own, any child can share my thesis statement, “Everybody should have more recess time at school.”  I’ll use this claim as the basis for the mini-lessons, and writers will be applying those concepts to their own work.  There is a great variety out there, from having pet days at school (no way!) to kids being able to use the soccer nets at recess.

Math

This week we continued to work on basic multiplication facts and explored the concepts around factors and multiples. In addition we worked on fact families for both multiplication and division. 

Please continue to work with your child on basic multiplication facts through 10. Students should be focusing on multiplication and some students still need frequent practice with subtraction facts at home. The standard is to complete 50 facts in three minutes with a score of 90% or higher. 

Spelling

This week we focused on blends again.  We also participated in a word building activity.  Finally, we learned about irregular past tense verbs.

Theme

This week students learned about Popham Colony, which existed at the same time as Jamestown.  We used a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the two colonies.  Then, we spent two days studying the voyage of the Mayflower to the New World.  After reading several books and watching a virtual tour of the Mayflower II, students are quite the experts!  Lastly, we read several books including Sarah Morton’s Day, Sam Eaton’s Day, and If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, to learn about what life was like as a Pilgrim.

     Next week we will start the Pilgrim simulation.  In this activity (which will last about 2 weeks), students will form their own colony and be guided through several activities meant to mimic things that the Pilgrims experienced.  Students will keep journals from the perspective of a Pilgrim.  This is a favorite of students year in and year out.  I expect you’ll hear lots about it in the weeks to come.

Due Dates / Upcoming Events:

Monday, November 10th - Reading logs due / Swimming

Tuesday, November 11th - Veterans’ Day - No School

Wednesday, November 12th - Full Day

Thursday, November 13th - Spelling due 

Friday, November 14th - Study link due / Picture retakes

Due to the holiday, spelling will be assigned on Monday, which will give kids an extra night to get it done.  It will still be due on Thursday.

School Photos are in homework folders today.  Retakes are Friday, November 14th.

Have a great weekend!

Dena