Newsletter Update for the week of January 11th

McFarland-Mayberry-Begley Bulletin

for the week of January 11th

Due Dates / Upcoming Events:

Monday, January 18th - No school

Tuesday, January 19th - Reading logs due

Wednesday, January 20th - Full day Wednesday

Thursday, January 21st -  Spelling due

Friday, January 22nd - Home link due / PTO Movie Night @ GMS

Color Guard Performing at Greely Girls’ Game

Next Friday, January 22nd, the GMS 4-5 Color Guard will be performing at halftime at the Greely girl’s basketball game.  We have 5 students on the Mayberry, Begley, McFarland team who participate in Color Guard, so consider going and supporting those students and the program, and check out what Color Guard is all about!

Room 206’s Got Talent!

The highlight of my week was easily our Skills and Talent Share!  In fact, it’s probably the highlight of the year so far for me.  The project was purposely wide open and kept to a small scale (2-3 minutes each, our own class as the audience), and I’m glad it was low-key.  The variety and creativity speaks to the unique individuals we have in our room!  Kids were brave in their choices and brave in their presentations; it’s not easy to get up in front of your peers and have all eyes on you!  No matter the degree of nervousness, every child had her/his moment in the spotlight and -- I dare say -- enjoyed it!  Each child chose their own cheer for the class to show support and appreciation (that was fun it itself!).  Definitely something to ask your child about this weekend!

    Curious about what kinds of talents we have?  Here’s the list!  violin~guitar~Miranda Sings impersonation~rock climbing~ice fishing~knee circles ~acting~sewing~jogging horses~boxing~dance~basketball~soccer~hockey~piano~singing~hoverboard

Academic Updates:

Reading Workshop

As promised this week, we went multi-media with main idea practice!  Students watched two short videos over the course of the week, one on how lobsters stay safe while moving across the ocean floor, and the other was about chimps creating and using tools.  All students tried out a new graphic organizer called a Main Idea Table to record their thinking.  I’m seeing good improvement with the concepts of identifying main ideas and supporting details.  Next week, we will start working on a research project where we will use our main idea skills.

    In addition, students learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his leadership in the Civil Rights movement.  They worked on a small art and writing project, which they are displaying on their own locker doors when done.

Writing Workshop

Students have turned a sharp corner in their work on informational writing.  Tuesday, we will start final drafts!  There are so many different text features and options for this writing project, and at this point it’s become quite individualized.  If your child brings home some writing work over the long weekend, take a look at this photo from the board that includes basic directions and reminders.

Math

In math this week we continued to work with reading and converting decimals and fractions to the hundredths place. Students also had an introduction to measuring precisely using centimeters and millimeters. I must say I have many students who are really executing precise measurements all the way down to the nearest millimeter!

Spelling

This week students looked at “roughie toughies” or ou and ow words that don’t say the /ow/ sound.  A lot of commonly misspelled words fit in this category, like though, through, enough, etc.  We also looked at patterns for the /er/ sound: er, ir, and ur.

Theme

This week we wrapped up the magnet portion of our unit.  On Monday, students used magnets, iron filings, and other magnetic objects to help find hidden magnets seal inside boxes.  Students also made temporary magnets, such as electromagnets and nails.  On Wednesday, we performed an experiment called “Iron for Breakfast”, where we extracted the iron in fortified cereal.  (Click here to see the experiment in action)  We are now shifting to electricity.  On Thursday we discussed energy transfers, using a Newton’s cradle.  On Friday, we made different model circuits to see what is necessary in order to have a complete circuit.  We also had a few brief moments to start playing around with the Snap Circuit kits.

Have a safe long weekend!