McFarland-Mayberry-Begley Bulletin

for the week of February 22, 2016

Due Dates / Upcoming Events:

Monday, February 29th - Weekly reading logs due

Tuesday, March 1st - Home link due / Monthly (February) reading calendars due

Wednesday, March 2nd - Early Release Wednesday

Thursday, March 3rd -  Spelling due

Friday, March 4th - Home link due / Second States Quiz (30)

Adventure-Based Learning February 25, 2016

We were disappointed that we need to postpone our Iditarod event due to weather and lack of snow cover, but we will send word about a rescheduled date as soon as we set one.  Until then, we will keep our eyes on the weather!

    Regardless, the kids were excited to execute Mrs. Murray’s challenges in the gym this morning!  Today, we “reprogrammed iPads” by tapping consecutive numbers on little pads on the floor with our feet.  The pads were randomly placed inside a rope circle.  

    Each group Asked questions, Brainstormed ideas, Chose ideas, Did it, and then Evaluated and made changes, in order to decrease the amount of time it took to reprogram those iPads.  A 5-second penalty was earned if the numbers were tapped out of order or if two people were in the circle at the same time.  The two groups I worked with were highly engaged for the entire time.  In fact, they wanted to keep going to beat each other’s time over and over again, and they did!  They held meetings to reorganize their process after each round.  I was most impressed by the fact that any time a penalty happened it was due to a person trying to be faster for the betterment of the team -- as opposed to being goofy or “checking out.”  We talked quite a bit about this when reflecting in the groups after the activity.  I think this is the first time I have seen two groups’ dedication and engagement for the entire duration of a challenge; the activities are designed to become somewhat frustrating, providing opportunities for the kids to support each other through that frustration using the skills Mrs. Murray teaches them in every ABL session.

Reading Workshop

This week, we reviewed the goals of our new Historical Fiction unit.  We watched two BrainPop videos about slavery and the underground railroad to establish common background knowledge.  We also read two short texts together, Barefoot and Henry’s Freedom Box.  

    One common question that kids always ask during this unit is, “Why didn’t they just __________________ [fill in the blank: run away, fight back, refuse to do that…]?”  It can be really difficult to understand why people did what they did or didn’t do what we think they should have done.  And that’s one reason we read stories -- lots of stories -- so we can begin to understand what the circumstances were that influenced people’s lives.  One of the higher-level reading skills that we will focus on during this unit is synthesizing.  I define this for the kids as combining background knowledge with details from stories and nonfiction texts to generate your own ideas.  Right now, the kids are highly motivated to dig into the baskets of HF texts.  Please ask your child what s/he is reading about; there are surely questions your child has for you!

Writing Workshop

Students completed their three supporting idea paragraphs for the first literary essay!  It seems to have dragged out somewhat with the snow day, delay, vacation, etc.  But we are making headway!  Building supporting idea paragraphs that are cohesive and effective, and that make sense, is tough stuff!  One strategy we are using to write these kinds of paragraphs is to follow a pattern for each one:

• supporting idea sentence
• detail from the story
• a sentence that shows why you’re including that detail and how it connects to the supporting idea (“This shows…”  “This led me to believe…”  “This makes me think that…”)
• detail from the story
• a sentence that shows why you’re including that detail and how it connects to the supporting idea
• detail from the story
• a sentence that shows why you’re including that detail and how it connects to the supporting idea
• ending sentence

    We incorporated some movement into our revision of these paragraphs: When I read a volunteer’s paragraph out loud, half the class stood up when they heard a detail from the story and then sat down.  When they heard a sentence showing why the writer included that detail, the other half of the class stood up...  That way, they could see and feel the pattern.

    Thursday, we focused on editing for spelling, an area of general weakness.  I’m working to incorporate this on a more regular basis in writing workshop.  If you’re wanting to help your child, check out the page in your child’s HW planner entitled, “Editing Help at Home.”  Consider using those techniques, especially for spelling, capitals and punctuation, on your child’s Home Links and weekly spelling homework. (And, THANK YOU!)

Math

This week students started in on a new math unit. They have already tackled decomposing fractions, adding fractions with like denominators and adding mixed numbers. We have also worked on fraction number stories and identifying the whole in a problem. A lot to cover in one week!

    But there is more… we had a snowball fight in math class! Take a look. https://goo.gl/F9dZYo   Students had fun and got a lot of practice with double digit multiplication.

Spelling

This week students worked on adding lots of suffixes (-er, -est, -y, -ly, -ing, and -ed) to known base words.  We have been practicing making decisions about what suffix rule needs to be used (y to i, drop the e, double the last letter, just add it on).  Mrs. Alves, our literacy leader, has been joining our spelling sessions a couple of time a week to provide support to spellers as they’re trying out and practicing new skills.

Theme

Our classes are super-jazzed to be studying the states!  The excitement has been palpable as we’ve been exploring which states we already know and sharing strategies for remembering the locations of different states.  Kids have had multiple opportunities to practice in hands-on ways at school this week: puzzles, flash cards, playing Scrambled States of America, using the iPads to play Stack the States, and more!  We also watched a couple of fun songs about the states, including “Tour the States”, which had all three classes mesmerized.   Inspired, one of our own students, Julietta, went home and made her own stop motion video of her doing the same thing!  So cool!

    Students took their first states quiz today.  The goal was 20 states.  I will have them all graded and handed back by Monday, so students can make an informed decision of what states they are going to tackle next.   Next Friday’s goal is 30 states.  Anyone who learns all 50 states early is encouraged to learn the capitals, which will earn them an “exceeds” and a homework pass.  Next week students will begin a research project about a state.  They will have the opportunity to choose how they want to present their learning to the class (poster, brochure, Jacob’s Ladder, etc).