McFarland-Mayberry-Begley Bulletin

for the week of February 8, 2016

Valentines with 8th Grade Friends

Eighth grade mastery classes invited us to make Valentine cards for local residents of assisted living homes.  They joined us in our classrooms, and we spread out construction paper, scrapbook paper, doilies, and cut-out hearts, and they made lots of vivid creations that were delivered to neighbors this afternoon!  I think everyone involved LOVED it.

Due Dates / Upcoming Events:

Friday, February 12th - Sunday, February 21st - February Break

Monday, February 22nd - Weekly reading logs due (monthly calendars due March 1st) / Planner sheets due

Tuesday, February 23rd - Home link due

Wednesday, February 24th

Thursday, February 25th -  Spelling due / ABL Iditarod

Friday, February 26th - Home link due / First States Quiz (20)

Iditarod for ABL!

On Thursday, February 25th, all 4th grade students will be participating in an Iditarod activity as part of the Adventure-Based Learning (ABL) program. This event will be held OUTSIDE.  Please be sure your child has the appropriate gear for this day, including hats, gloves, snow pants, jackets, and boots.  Your child may also want to bring in a change of clothes in case outfit #1 gets wet from being in the snow.

Academic Updates:

Reading Workshop

This week, we concluded our research project!  It was a fun project, and most kids seemed to enjoy each stage: the reading, the research, the scientific learning, even the main idea packet!  Most kids finished a Keynote slideshow, and the McFarland readers shared in small groups yesterday and have their graded main idea packets in their mail today.  The Begleys will find some time after vacation to present, and I will send their packets home that week, as well.

    On our bookshelves, I have been making the shift from nonfiction to historical fiction, our next unit!  Fourth graders generally focus on four time periods:

• slavery
• immigration
• WWII and the Holocaust
• civil rights

There are a number of rich, age-appropriate books about these time periods for our students.  Check out some kid-friendly web sites like Scholastic and Time for Kids if you would like to help give your child additional background information on these time periods.  Because there is some heavy material here, students are hungry for exploring the big questions, especially the WHY’s, and explore we shall!

Writing Workshop

We are a couple of weeks into our literary essay unit and have started our class essay about the short story, “Spaghetti.”  The kids are learning in mini-lessons, drawing on their knowledge from our previous essay, practicing on our class essay, and writing a lot while leaning heavily on their partners.  The discussions between partners about word choice and message are extremely productive, and I am also impressed with how well they’ve carried forward what they learned in that first essay unit.

    A new writing unit for fourth grade teachers and students alike is a historical fiction writing unit.  Reading and writing teachers will spend a part of our professional learning day tomorrow focusing on the opportunities for connections between the HF reading unit and the new HF writing unit.  I’m really excited to dive into this work!

Spelling

This week students practiced adding suffixes that begin with vowels to words that end in silent e.  The rule for this is to drop the e before adding a suffix that ends in a vowel.  This instruction is in response to many students who spelled using, “useing” on the last spelling review.

Theme

This week students finished their claw arms and presented the project to the class.  This is the first class I have piloted this project with, so instead of grading it, students did some reflection and gave feedback so I can tweak the project and make it even better.

    After vacation, we will begin our U.S. States unit.  The expectation is for all 4th graders to learn the location of the 50 states to “meet.”  Today I sent a packet (with a pink cover sheet) which lays out the dates for quizzes and resources to help your child study.  In the packet are blank and labeled maps to help your child study at home.  While students are not required to start studying over vacation, I wanted students and families to have a heads-up.  I’ve scheduled a tight timeline with the quizzes in order to be wrapped up before MEA testing starts in late March.  Please be sure to check out my webpage with links to lots of online games!