McFarland-Mayberry-Begley Bulletin

For the week of May 9, 2016

Due Dates / Upcoming Events:

Monday, May 16th - Weekly reading logs due

Tuesday, May 17th - Home link due

Wednesday, May 18th - Early Release

Thursday, May 19th -  Spelling due

Friday, May 20th - Home link due

Attention chaperones for Strawbery Banke!  Please make sure you find the slip that went home last week, describing to you the opportunity to purchase an $8 entrance fee by sending $8 in to your child’s teacher ASAP!  If you pay when you arrive, the fee is $20.00.

• May 18th - Poetry Jam (5:30pm)
• May 23rd - 4th Grade Musical (Please have your child here at 5:50, white top/dark bottoms)
• May 27th - Project ACES - 1-3pm (outside: sneakers, water, sunscreen)
• June 2nd - ABL Celebration Day (outside: sneakers, water, sunscreen)
• June 7th - 4th Grade Field Trip to Strawbery Banke
• June 15th - Book Swap
• June 17th - Last Day of School

Alex Nason, a former student and senior at Cheverus is volunteering at GMS as part of his senior project.  He is running a drive to benefit HART animal shelter.  Students may bring in cat food (dry food must be Science Diet; canned food can be any brand), cat toys, food and water dishes, cat litter, and cat bedding.  HART only accepts new products for donation.  The deadline for donations is May 23rd.

Academic Updates:

Writing Workshop

This week we focused on looking at everyday objects using a poet’s mind.  We read a poem by Valerie Worth called “Pumpkin.”  She wrote a whole anthology about seemingly random objects, and she uses original ideas and specific, descriptive words to help readers think about those objects in a different way.  (Have you ever thought of a jack-o-lantern as a “vegetable skull”?)  We also defined and practiced specific strategies for revising, because some of us are still responding to the suggestion of revision by saying, “I did. I looked it over.”  (When I hear that, I just close my eyes gently and breath…)  Really, the willingness and the know-how to revise separates those writers who genuinely improve from those who don’t.  So, I’m trying hard to give as much “know-how,” and I’m trying hard to inspire as much “willingness” as is humanly possible!  Here’s the chart we’re looking to for specific actions to take when we’re “done.”  

    This week’s Rock-n-Roll Thursday’s featured song: “That Wasn’t Me,” by Brandi Carlile.  I’m sure your child can fill you in on how I feel about her; I may have mentioned that I think she is SO cool and that I think Brandi and I would be really good friends.  Anyway, to get to the message of this song, I proposed a sentence-starter:

“This song is about a person who…”

The kids came up with such thoughtful sentence-finishers, such as:

“...has done some bad things in her life.”

“...has made some bad choices.”

“...is apologizing.”

“...wasn’t herself in the beginning, but now she wants to be herself.”

“...is changing.”

    Then, in preparation for watching the song’s video, I told them about what MTV was like in its early days.  We talked about how the video director and the musician may have different ideas about the story to tell with their song, and that often it’s a sort of compromise.  That was the case with “That Wasn’t Me.”  Before we watched the video, I asked the kids to watch the video’s main character’s experiences and see if it matched with our comments about Brandi’s main character.  Here’s a link to Brandi singing it at what I imagine is the bestest venue ever (Bucket List!), Red Rocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUFgGP8A6xI

And here’s the music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNmo8I4dEQE

And, if you’re interested, below is a link, also, to my favorite Brandi song, as performed at Red Rocks, “The Story.”  She is SO cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvhyyuUx0Do

If you’re becoming a Brandi fan, she’s playing at Thompson’s Point on June 4th.  I don’t understand why, but I believe there are still tickets available.  See you there!

Math

This week has been all about application of skills with number stories. Students have done a wonderful job working with a partner(s) to solve multistep problems. These problems are truly challenging at times as they can require students to work with whole numbers, fractions, decimals and/or units of measure (both U.S. customary and metric). Also, students are having to sift through the problem to determine which strategy to use, be it: addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. Phew! It has been rewarding to watch and listen to their conversations. I love it when students challenge each other’s thinking and listen to the reasoning of their partner(s). These are true mathematicians at work!

Spelling

This week students learned how to use apostrophes to show possession.  They also participated in a word building activity to practice certain blends.

Theme

This week teams presented their traps to Frank Von Holzhausen, our expert from Group 4 Research and Design firm.  A big thanks to Ingrid Vanni for hooking us up for this project.  The kids have learned so many important critical thinking, problem solving, and collaborative skills.  They are also more confident public speakers.

    In between putting the finishing touches on our traps, we have been exploring the human skeleton.  The Mayberry class dissected owl pellets on Tuesday and the Begleys and McFarlands will follow suit on Monday.  Students used an app called Whack a Bone to practice the names and locations of 24 bones.  I will be sending home labeled skeletons with the required bones early next week - please be on the lookout for it.  We will also learn about the structure of bones and joints next week.

    Are you a doctor?  We are looking for guest speakers who can come in and talk about bones and/or muscles.  Since I know it’s a challenge to stay for a long stint to speak to all three classes, I’m looking for 1-2 people in each class who might come in sometime in the coming weeks.  Please email me (Carrie), if interested.