McFarland-Mayberry-Begley Bulletin

for the week of January 5, 2015

If you would like to be notified whenever I post to our class blog, please click on the space to the right, “Follow by Email.”

Reading Workshop

This week, our focus has been to build experience with nonfiction by reading only nonfiction texts in reading workshop class.  We’ll continue this for the next few weeks.  Students are welcome to continue this nonfiction immersion at home, but they may also read fiction at home.  We’ve expanded our classroom NF library collection, and students got excited to see a wide variety of titles while they sorted the new texts by type: narrative NF, expository, and biographies.  We talked about the fact that not every book is “just one kind.”  Your child should be able to identify what type of NF a book is.  See what’s in the book baggie over the weekend and ask!

Writing Workshop

If you’ve asked your child what s/he is working on in writing workshop this week, you may have heard some sophisticated words: independent clauses and conjunctions.  We are working very hard to identify and fix run-on sentences by using a conjunction and a comma to separate two independent clauses.  We are also trying to limit our sentences to no more than two independent clauses.  This is pretty technical work.  We started with direct instruction, focusing on only one sentence at a time.  Your child should have brought home a MUG Shot Sentence Organizer this week (MUG = Mechanics, Usage, Grammar) that shows some of this practice.  Then, I had students read some fourth-grade-like writing that needed this kind of help.  They talked with partners about some ways to revise the work, using their new knowledge of independent clause, conjunctions, and commas.  Today, kids revised their own writing.  Lots of run-on sentences were saved with the use of the comma-conjunction duo!  And there’s a new rule around here: You can’t use a comma unless you know the reason it belongs in the sentence.  This is to avoid a serious condition many young writers suffer from: Comma Crazy.  It is treatable with extra doses of grammar instruction and lots of old-fashioned practice.  Its symptoms are similar to Apostrophe Fever.  Don’t get me started on that…

Math

This week students jumped back into our decimal unit with review of skills covered prior to the break. On Friday they took the end of unit assessment. Progress profiles will be sent home by the end of next week. Our next unit in math involves multiplication of larger numbers. Being fluent with multiplication facts will play a major role in being able to successfully navigate this unit. Please continue to check in on your child’s multiplication fluency as we move forward. 

Spelling

This week we reviewed the patterns for the /ow/ sound - ou and ow.  We also looked at “roughie toughies,” the exceptions to the rule where the ou pattern doesn’t say /ow/.

Theme

In science we jumped right into our Magnets and Electricity unit.  I am using a combination of Talk Science probes and the Foss kits to engage the kids in activities to build knowledge about magnets and magnetism.  We’ve learned that magnets can attract or repel one another without touching.  We tested objects around the room and discovered that only items with iron, steel, cobalt, and nickel are attracted to magnets.  We crushed up Total cereal and used a magnet to extract some of the iron found in our food.  Finally, we hypothesized whether or not magnetic force could pass through objects that are not magnetic.

     With a lot of the Talk Science probes it gives the kids an investigation or question to answer, but leaves the experiment design up to them.  It’s been fun to watch them tackle the problem in different ways and think of more “what if” questions.  We are, however, working on how to use scientific evidence to support our hypotheses.  I’m trying to help them move from, “I just think that’s why it’ll happen,” to “I know from experiments earlier this week that two magnets can stick when something nonmagnetic, like paper, is in the middle.”

     Here is a Youtube link to one experiment we did this week:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRK15XSqtAw&index=9&list=PLayKagtOn2GJqjidYMQJBN-6rearQ0G_v

Due Dates / Upcoming Events:

Monday, January 12th - Reading logs due / Sneakers for P.E.

Tuesday, January 13th - Study link due

Wednesday, January 14th - Early Release

Thursday, January 15th - Spelling due / ABL

Friday, January 16th - Recorder notices due

**Report cards will be sent home Friday, January 30th** 

Earlier this week your child brought him a notice about recorders from Mr. Saunders, the music teacher.  Every child must have a recorder for music class, and every child must return the form to show what her/his recorder plan is.  On the form there is a spot to mark whether need to buy one or if you already own one.  If you are purchasing a recorder, please send a check payable to GMS for $5.  You can send cash, but please be aware that we cannot make change.  Money is due next Friday.

Have a great weekend!

Dena