McFarland-Mayberry-Begley Bulletin

update for the week of November 9, 2015

Due Dates / Upcoming Events:

Monday, November 16th- Reading logs due/ swim bags for P.E.

Tuesday, November 17th- Home link due / Box Tops collected

Wednesday, November 18th- Early Release / PTO Parent University

Thursday, November 19th -  Spelling due / Color Guard 3:00-4:00pm

Friday, November 20th - Home link due

Please help your child be prepared for each swim class.  Your child’s swim bag should include: swim cap for hair longer than 3 inches, swim suit, goggles, towel, hair brush or comb.  

A volunteer need: All classes have been invited to participate in a door decorating contest.  The theme is "fall," and the date of the judging will be Tuesday, November 24th.  I would love to have a parent volunteer take this over: from the concept, to the materials, to any coordination w/ kids, to the decorating.  It's a FUN activity -- but I'd like to slide it off my plate.  If you'd like more information, please contact me soon!  Thank you!

Academic Updates:

Math

This week students continued to work with multiplicative comparisons using unknowns. We also introduced properties of both triangles and quadrilaterals. The week finished up with an introduction to lines of symmetry. In addition, throughout the week we also continue to reinforce multiplication facts and skills covered in previous lessons.

Spelling

This week students participated in another word building activity.  We also practiced making compound words and adding the suffix -ment to various base words.

Theme

This week we finished our research on the Jamestown colony.  Students had one more opportunity to explore On The Trail With John Smith, the online simulation.  We took one day to learn about the failed Popham colony.  I'm impressed with the students’ ownership of their knowledge.  As we read about Popham, students debated about whether certain decisions were smart or not, citing evidence from prior colonies studied.  Just in time for Thanksgiving, we will be focusing on the Plimoth colony next week.

Reading Workshop

Envisioning...rubric...turning point...Journey...yadda, yadda, yadda...The highlight of our week was easily our new BOOK BAGS!

Thank you to the talented relatives of Adam and Sofi!  

Quotes heard during the Book Bag Distribution:

“Ooooooooh…”

“Aaaaaah...”

“Those are awesome!”

“I don’t know which one I want!”

“I want that one...No, I want that one...I don’t even care which one I get!”

“This is the best day of the year besides vacation days!”

Writing Workshop

Students were well-prepared early on this week with survey and interview questions and quotes and statistics.  We are working on using a variety of kinds of evidence to support our ideas.  Next week: introductions and conclusions, anticipating counter-arguments, citing sources (ooooo, advanced!), and typing final drafts using our Google accounts!  At least, that’s the plan.