Mayberry-McFarland Weekly News

for the week of December 12, 2016

Due Dates / Upcoming Events

Monday, December 19 - typed essays due for writing workshop* / reading logs due

Tuesday, December 20 - Home Link due

Wednesday, December 21 - full day / Celebration of Reading all afternoon: Bring books and reading materials of all kinds and something to get cozy with (stuffy, blankie…), and we’ll hunker down and READ!

Thursday, December 22 -  math journal pages: be all caught up / 4th Grade Holiday Swap: All fourth-grade teachers have prepared a winter activity, and students have signed up to participate in three of them...a very fun morning!  (Thank you to those who were able track down and donate wire for my bracelet-making sessions -- I have plenty now!)

Winter Break: Friday, December 23 - Monday, January 2, 2017

See you Tuesday, January 3!

Tuesday, January 3  - reading logs due: 8 different days from 12/19- 1 / 3

General News and Announcements

*Essays due for writing workshop: Most writers are already done and have nothing for homework over the weekend.  If not, your child has the directions on a neon yellow sheet of paper.  Parts about parent involvement are on the second page.  Here’s the link to the directions sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wmU4CVAk6YO9K5NwpJYdSD-8Wbm94wMp4GKJdh60qvA/edit

Adventure-Based Learning

This week, students crossed a river with their entire group using one less stepping stone than the number of children in their group.  Lots of interesting strategies, some frustration, and much success!  See the photos below:

Academic Updates:

Reading Workshop

This week, we started learning about identifying the main idea and supporting details of a text.  We used the lyrics to “Mr. Grinch” and later in the week an article about Michael Jackson.  Mcfarlands will have brought home the Grinch one, assessed for understanding of main idea and supporting details and for quality of work.  I’m almost done with the Mayberrys’.  I’ll have the MJ ones graded by the end of the weekend, to come home next week.  

    We will use different graphic organizers to organize our ideas, and I have a variety of “texts” to try out, including a couple of videos.  The concept of main idea can be tricky.  Soon after vacation, the kids will be working on a research project using a main idea structure to eventually create a presentation to teach others.

Writing Workshop

We got a lot accomplished this week: introduction and conclusion paragraphs earlier in the week, and then typing final drafts on the Chromebooks!  Unfortunately, we didn’t get any takers on the editing help due to scheduling conflicts, but I decided that maybe diving into the typing would support the spelling needs -- from what I have seen so far, it’s helped.  We talked about a couple of ways to use the device to help with spelling.  Kids shared their work with me via Google Drive, and I’ll begin scoring them this weekend.

Math

With unit 3 in the books, this week students started in on unit 4 of the EveryDay Math program. This unit focuses primarily on multi-digit multiplication and problem solving. In the first few lessons students learned to use extended multiplication and learned how to multiply with partitioning rectangles. They are becoming more and more aware of how important knowing their basic multiplication facts has become, keep practicing! Below are pictures of partners using a game on ConnectEd to practice partitioning rectangles.

Theme/Content

This week students continued to learn about challenges faced by the settlers of early Jamestown. In our read aloud, Blood on the River, the settlers have arrived in Virginia. The Virginia Company, a group of investors, have ordered the leaders of the colonists to find a location that meets the following criteria:

• The settlement must be surrounded on three sides by water so they can see any potential enemies approaching.
• The settlement needs deep water so the ships can be accessible.
• The area must not be too close to native people who may not be friendly

The chosen area was named Jamestown, after the King of England, in 1607.

    One of the disadvantages of the site was the access of clean, fresh water. So as a STEM extension students got to design a water filter with the challenge of filtering out a cup of VERY dirty water. Students were pretty amazed at how clear the water from their filtration devices turned out. Below are a few pictures of water filters at work.

       

      

Mayberry-McFarland Weekly News

for the week of November 28, 2016

Due Dates / Upcoming Events

Monday, December 12 - reading logs due

Tuesday, December 13 - Home Link due

Wednesday, December 14 - book orders on-line due Scholastic Reading Club/Formerly Book Clubs – Parent/Teacher Ordering

Thursday, December 15 -  math journal pages: be all caught up

Friday, December 16 - Home Link due

Monday, December 19  - reading logs due

General News and Announcements

Thank you!

Dear Students & Families, Thank you for the generous contributions to the holiday drive for Native American Families in Maine.  We were so impressed with the volume of donations that quickly came in for the Thanksgiving drive. When we dropped the final items off this week the organizer said the contributions from the two classes made a significant difference this year. Every little bit helps!

Best, The Petrie Family

Adventure-Based Learning

Thursday, Mrs. Murray was back with a challenge from space!  After a huge game of dodging asteroids, groups prioritized a list of items they’d need to survive on the moon.  Then, they needed to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere through a portal (we call it a hula hoop), with certain guidelines.  We continue to be impressed by how well this group does with active, adventure-based challenges.  It’s quite a sight to behold when nearly one hundred kids are spread out all over the half-gym space, listening to directions about the next steps!  I’m grateful to have the support of the district to fund this unique program for all 4th graders.

    Mrs. Murray will join us again this coming Thursday for a make-up session from the day we lost due to the water main break last month.

Spelling Instruction

Friday, kids in both reading workshop classes experimented with their SpellingCity accounts.  Mrs. Mayberry and I are learning the program as well, and we want to take advantage of the variety of possibilities to support the development of our students.  For the first couple of weeks, we will work on it in  class, so I can track how long the activities take and can help guide the students with the technology aspect of it...though I must say that, realistically, they’ll be guiding me -- they’ll catch on much faster than I!  After the holidays, this will be a weekly homework assignment on-line.  Regarding students who receive their reading instruction in the resource room: I am not requiring that those children are also be responsible for this work, in addition to their spelling work in the resource room.  However, if you want your child to be involved in it, contact me, and we can figure out how to work that.

A message from the Petrie Family:

"Dear Students & Families, Thank you for the generous contributions to the holiday drive for Native American Families in Maine.  We were so impressed with the volume of donations that quickly came in for the Thanksgiving drive. When we dropped the final items off this week the organizer said the contributions from the two classes made a significant difference this year. Every little bit helps!

Best, The Petrie Family"

Penny Drive

Mr. Brooke’s 5th grade class is collecting pennies and other coins, bills and checks, in hopes of being able to donate over $1,000 to the Press Herald Toy Fund!  We have collection bags in the classroom for any donations.  Thank you to all of you who have donated already!

Academic Updates:

Reading Workshop

As you (hopefully) know, the focus of our reading workshop work has been on text features this week.  Monday, the kids worked with their reading partners on a scavenger hunt for text features in a number of nonfiction texts.  We spent most of our time on Tuesday reviewing study strategies.  

    Wednesdays we will start working on a regular basis on targeted reading skills.  Your child has a flowchart in her/his reading notebook, titled “Reading Priorities.”  This is a flowchart that I made up last year to explain to one reader about how many readers often learn and prioritize reading skills.  The skills are: engagement, accuracy, two aspects of fluency, and two kinds of comprehension.  I am seeing growth in engagement of almost all readers this fall (and it’s been exciting to hear parents’ feedback about that as well!).  Our first skill to focus on will be accuracy.  Ask your child about the story we read in class Wednesday with 4% of the words X’d out.  The teaching point of the lesson was to show how accuracy affects comprehension. The students were surprised that reading at 96% accuracy, no matter what level, has an effect on one’s ability to understand the text!

Writing Workshop

This week’s focus was writing supporting idea paragraphs.  It’s not easy work.  Check out the photo of the chart below.  Most writers were very focused on this task, and they used the chart well to guide their work.  We still need a lot of work on sentence fluency (Does that makes sense?  Where does a sentence end?  How do I fix run-on sentences?).  Adding to that new, sophisticated concepts, such as unpacking evidence, using transitions to switch from the evidence itself to explaining why it’s included, and writing strong ending sentences...well, we have some room to grow.  Next week, we’ll try to tighten up some of that sentence work, while also crafting introduction and conclusion paragraphs.  Later on for editing, we’ll invite some middle school classes to join us as mentors!

Math

This week students continued working with decimals. We spent time learning to read and write them correctly, learning how to compare them and how to convert tenths and hundredths to fractions.

Theme/Content

This week students learned more about the hardships and obstacles faced by the settlers of Jamestown, and we haven’t even reached the shores of Virginia! They also spent time planning what important items they would take with them if they were making this voyage to the New World in 1606.

   

Still looking for:

• Small yogurt containers
• Pipe cleaners
• Small plastic lids
• Straws - not bendy
• Small plastic cups
• Empty spools
• Plastic wrap

Mayberry-McFarland Weekly News

for the week of November 28, 2016

Due Dates / Upcoming Events

Monday, December 5 - reading logs due (Many children need more adult support in reminding them to get parents’ signatures, reminders such as, “Is there anything you need me to look at before school tomorrow…?”  Your involvement in your child’s at-home reading is important to me so that I know that you know how much, what, and if your child is reading at home.  Your signature on the log helps me to know that you’re aware of and are satisfied with your child’s reading habits and quality of work on the log itself.  Please support your child as needed until your child makes it her/his own habit.  That shouldn’t take more than a couple of weeks, especially if you add in something like: “And if you forget without my reminder next week, you’ll lose screens for _____…”  That may or not have happened in my own household last month…)

Tuesday, December 6 - Home Link due

Wednesday, December 7

Thursday, December 8 -  math journal pages: be all caught up

Friday, December 9 - Home Link due

Monday, December 12  - reading logs due

General News and Announcements

Classroom Climate Update

We continue to see an improvement in the productivity in both classes, especially in the morning.  We do still find that a number of students continue to ignore directions on the first, second, or third time.  We will tighten up on providing simple, logical consequences, as needed.  Happily, we are also finding many reasons to recognize students in the way of bucket slips and names in the Awesome Book for being helpful to others, for sharing, and for consistently following directions.

Spelling Instruction

Soon, students in both reading workshop classes will learn the ropes on SpellingCity!  SpellingCity is an online spelling program where students learn and practice spelling rules and word patterns.  We’ve set up each child with a membership, and we’ll use class time over the next few weeks to practice the ins and outs of the program, before the spelling games and practice become a regular homework assignment.  Lots more information to come!

“The Coder Express”

All 4th and 5th grade students will participate in “The Hour of Code” during technology class the week of Dec. 5th. This is an introduction to computer science to help nurture problem-solving skills, logic and creativity.  As an extension of this week, students and their families are invited to attend “The Coder Express” from 6-7 p.m. on Wednesday, December 14, 2016 in the Greely Middle School cafeteria.  Participants will have the opportunity to take part in computer programming and coding activities using iPads. Students are encouraged to wear pajamas and bring stuffies and blankets as they take part in a fun evening of coding. Thanks in advance to our Greely PTO for providing cocoa and cookies.  Please reserve your seat now on The Coder Express!

Holiday Donation Opportunities

Thank you to all who have donated or plan to donate to Native Americans here in Maine through Hayden’s family’s project!  The second and final pick-up date will be Friday, December 9th.

    Also, Mr. Brooke’s 5th grade class is collecting pennies and other coins, bills and checks, in hopes of being able to donate over $1,000 to the Press Herald Toy Fund!  We have collection bags in the classroom for any donations.

Academic Updates:

Reading Workshop

We have made the shift in our focus from books with characters to nonfiction texts.  Mrs. Mayberry and I have combined our collections to provide a wide variety of offerings for our readers.  We will work hard on identifying the main idea of a variety of kinds of texts (including magazine article, video clips, and songs).  We’ll also learn text features (quiz on that the week after next!).  Students will eventually do some research to be able to teach others.

Writing Workshop

This week, our writers conducted surveys and interviews in order to collect different types of evidence to support their thesis statements and ideas.  We are working on building strong supporting idea paragraphs that include a supporting idea sentence with a transition, a mini-story to show personal experience/expertise on the idea (a shrunk-down version of a narrative), and a meaningful ending sentence that goes beyond, “So, that’s why....”  I will show the kids how to incorporate their results from a survey or interview; a quote; a statistic; and a piece of information from research.  I am already way behind schedule for this unit, so I’ll squeeze in whatever “advanced” instruction I can before our holiday break.

Math

This week students continued their fraction work in math. We started out with comparing and ordering fractions and have transitioned to working with decimal and fraction values using tenths and hundredths. Much of the work this week involved using hands-on manipulatives as a way to solidify basic understanding of the relationship between decimals and fractions.

Theme/Content

In theme this week students learned about the lost colony of Roanoke. This was the first colony established in what is now North Carolina. Historians have not been able to determine exactly what happened to this colony, however there are many theories. The students enjoyed hearing about the different theories and debating which one they believed was most plausible.

    We also have started to learn about the first successful colony, Jamestown. I will be reading Blood on the River, Jamestown 1607. While it is historical fiction, the book gives the students excellent insight to the struggles and hardships faced by the settlers.

    This unit will include several STEM projects as students create their own water filtration system, look-out tower, and rock-moving devices.

We are in need of items for these projects. Please see the list below, and if you have anything you can donate, we certainly appreciate your support.

• Small yogurt containers
• Cardboard tubes
• Pipe cleaners
• Small plastic lids
• Straws - not bendy
• Small plastic cups
• Empty spools
• Plastic wrap

Mayberry-McFarland Weekly News

for the week of November 14, 2016

Due Dates / Upcoming Events

Monday, November 21 - reading logs due

Tuesday, November 22 - Home Link due

Wednesday, November 23-Sunday, November 27 Thanksgiving Break

Monday, November 28 -  reading logs due

Tuesday, November 29 - Home Link due

Wednesday, November 30 - early release / McFarlands swim

Thursday, December 1 - math journal pages catch-up is due

Friday, December 2 - Home Link due

General News and Announcements

Thank you to all those parents who set aside time in your schedules to meet with us for a parent/teacher conference to discuss your child’s fourth grade experience so far!  Our next formal check-in will be progress reports at the end of January; we’ll notify you of the specific bring-home date as it approaches.

Classroom climate updates:  Between parents’ support at home, in-class circle discussions about each student’s contributions to our daily experiences, and individual behavior plans at school, we are seeing an uptick in the productivity of our classrooms and an improvement in the overall climate.  It is sometimes shocking how several students’ changes impact an entire classroom!  We continue to work on listening to and following directions promptly and respectfully responding to teachers’ redirections, among other things.  We have much room for improvement, but we are happy to report right now that we are seeing growth!

Thank you to all who have donated or plan to donate to Native Americans here in Maine through Hayden’s family’s project!  The McFarland box was overflowing this morning!  The second and final pick-up date will be Friday, December 9th.

Our Donors Choose project is over half-way funded! If you would like to find out more about this project and how you can support us in obtaining a green screen with lighting please check out this link. The expiration date for our funding request is December 15th.

The Portland Science Center has a new exhibition, Dinosaurs Unearthed. I have a feeling this is going to be a very popular show. Here’s the link for more information. http://www.portlandsciencecenter.com/

Reading Workshop

We have finished Journey!  I’m thrilled with the level of discussion around the character’s change over time, the author’s crafty writing moves, and attention to details that indicate turning points and resolution scenes.  

    Check this out: I was reading aloud a scene in which main character, Journey, and his sister, Cat, are having a deep talk about their mother having left the family:

“‘You and I,’ I said, ‘we weren’t enough.’

“I ate a raspberry.  It was sour, and for a moment my tongue stung a little.”

I read on for another paragraph or two and said, “Wait.  Did anyone catch that?  What the author did back there, with the sour raspberry?”  

    I reread that tiny part, and I told the kids that this book is a level S (they know it!) and that in books at higher levels like this, yes, you might “get everything that’s going on, so I can totally read this book in class, right, Mrs. McFarland?”...But the author expects much more from us.  The author expects us to notice these little details and understand that it’s not just an action that the author chose to put in so we could envision Journey in our minds doing something.  

    The kids thought this over and talked about it and came to understand that Patricia MacLachlan was using the sour taste of the raspberry to reiterate the sourness of what he’d just said.  It wouldn’t do to have made that raspberry taste sweet; it wouldn’t have fit.  And -- this is the very best part -- one student said, “That must be the joy of writing...You get to put in the exact details you want.”  *mic drop*

Writing Workshop

We have made some significant progress on our essay work -- and this is mostly due to the improvement of some key behaviors!  We are writing a class essay just a couple steps ahead of kids writing their own essays.  We took some time to identify possible audiences for our writing, something I’ve been thinking a lot about.  They are motivated by the fact that their writing will likely be read by people outside of our school building.  

    They are chomping at the bit to conduct surveys and interviews to strengthen their evidence and to anticipate counterarguments.  Usually, I wait a lot longer before introducing these concepts, but their motivation is important, so I’m rearranging some of our plans to be able to get to that the week after Thanksgiving.  This week, we accomplished precisely articulating thesis statements (big ideas) and planning essays using a boxes and bullets structure.  That includes precisely articulating five-to-eight supporting ideas, grouping those ideas where there are natural connections to avoid repetition in the essay, and identifying the strongest three ideas to support the thesis statement, those that have earned a spot in our essays.  Yes, this is still 4th grade!

Math

In math we have jumped into the first of two fraction units. Students have been busy learning how to solve number stories using fractions, how to generate equivalent fractions and how to compare fraction values.

Theme/Content

In theme many students are almost done with their final geography project. Creating their own newly discovered island or continent has been a great way for students to apply their new map making skills and use their creativity as well.

    Our next unit will focus on the early settlements of America. Our primary focus will be on Jamestown, but we will also touch upon the lost colony of Roanoke, Plymouth, and Popham. This unit will include several STEM projects as students create their own water filtration system, look-out tower, and rock moving devices.

We are in need of items for these projects. Please see the list below, and if you have anything you can donate we certainly appreciate your support.

• Small yogurt containers
• Cardboard tubes
• Pipe cleaners
• Cotton balls
• Small plastic lids
• Straws - not bendy
• Small plastic cups
• Empty spools
• Plastic wrap