McFarland-Mayberry-Begley Bulletin

for the week of September 28-October 2

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Reading Workshop

Parents, please help your child set aside time four days per week to get in their minimum goal of 25 minutes of reading.  Almost everyone is there!

    We have been building relationships with our reading partners this week.  Students interviewed their partners, asking questions about their reading lives, and then they introduced each other to the class.  It was fun!

    Next week, I’ll start teaching one of several ways to “stay accountable to the text.”  That means using details from a text to support an idea.  I’ll have them use the boxes and bullets method to structure their thinking in writing.  This structure will come in handy in our next writing unit: essays.

    Students wanted a chart in the classroom for book recommendations, so I’ve implemented a system for  that.  Part of it is to list the level of the book they recommend.  Monday, I will show kids how to use the Book Wizard at Schlastic.com (http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/bookwizard/) to find the Guided Reading Levels of books.  Now, we keep in mind that not all books have a level and not all books that do have levels are listed on Book Wizard.  But, I do want students and parents to know how to use it.  In addition to finding a book’s reading level, you can use Book Wizard to search for books by level, and you can search for books that are similar to one you liked.  If you’d like to check it out at home this weekend with your child, go for it!  Your child can help others with it this week.

Writing Workshop

Some writers brought home their yellow drafts of their stories to finish up over the weekend.  If your writer needs some time to work on it over the weekend, I’ve sent you a separate email.  I’d like to have everyone have their draft complete and ready for some major revision and editing work coming up this week.  You won’t need to help your child at all with the actual work; just help them find 15 or 20 minutes once or twice this weekend to work.

    This week, we focused on the heart of the story and used a mini-timeline to plan out details we’d use in the heart to show our message.  I’ve shown the kids how to use a color-coding system so they can visually see what kind of details they have and what kinds are lacking.

    We also focused on using words and phrases to show transitions in our stories.  I showed them the rubric I’ll use to score their writing, and they got to see what’s expected for transition use in 4th grade.  We compared that to what second-graders and even sixth-graders are learning about transitions -- so we have some bold writers who wanted to challenge themselves to try out more sophisticated transitional words and phrases!

Math

This week students worked on the traditional algorithm for subtracting large numbers. This is the algorithm that most adults learned in grade school. We have focused heavily on subtracting over zeros (6004 - 2773) as this is an area that students often get confused with. One thing I have noticed is that a lot of students are being slowed down by not being fluent (automatic) with their basic subtraction facts. Over the next few weeks I am suggesting that basic subtraction facts be the main focus with at-home-fact-practice. Also, please remind your child to take advantage of the math link on my web page. I have a link to a really good fact practice site; ask your child to show it to you. We visited this site and students got to practice facts with it on Wednesday.  

    Please note that I now have a link for homework tutorials on my web page. These tutorials are meant to provide support for your child when they are having difficulty at home. I hope they are helpful.

Spelling

This week students explored patterns for long e and learned about homophones.  We also learned that blends are two letters that create one sound.  Students found words that had blends are the beginning, middle, and ends of words.

Theme

This week students learned about the different kinds of rocks.  We created “sediment” by crushing vanilla wafers, graham crackers, Rice Krispies, and pretzels.  We layered our sediment and buried a goldfish (for a fossil), creating a model of a sedimentary rock.  We also to a sedimentary “rock” (aka a Snickers bar) and added heat and pressure to change it to a metamorphic rock.  Finally, students used all that they learned about the types of rocks to sort and identify 12 rocks by their name and type.

    Please save the date for our play!  Wednesday, October 21st in the GMS gym.  The Mayberrys will perform at 6pm, the Begleys at 6:30pm, and the McFarlands at 7:00pm.  Please make sure your child is working on learning his/her lines at home - we need them memorized by October 16th.  Students brought home scripts on Monday.  Also, I’m still looking for someone to work on costumes.  Please email me if you’re available to help.

Google Accounts for Students

This week in Computer class, the kids got to try out logging into their sad51 Google accounts!  They will be learning the basics of digital citizenship in Computer class and in the classroom.  While this is very exciting for the kids, I talked with them at length (for the first of many times) about these accounts, specifically that they are the property of the district and that pretty much any school staff member has access to their accounts.  The purpose of these accounts are academic; the intent is not for them to be used for social communication unrelated to school.  I work hard in the classroom to monitor what students are doing when using devices in the classroom for projects, and I am strict about any kind of misuse.

Due Dates / Upcoming Events:

Monday, October 5th - Sneakers for P.E.! / Reading logs due

Tuesday, October 6th - Home link due / Newspaper and Chorus after school / Picture Day

Wednesday, October 7th - Full Day

Thursday, October 8th - Spelling due / Color Guard 3:00-4:00pm

Friday, October 9th - No school for students- Teacher Inservice

Monday, October 12th - No School - Columbus Day

The McFarland class is looking for a Room Parent representative to the PTO for this year.  If you are interested, please email me directly.  Thanks for considering!