Mayberry-McFarland Weekly News

for the week of September 19, 2016

Due Dates / Upcoming Events:

Monday, September 26 - reading logs due (4 different days [habit], 25 minutes or more in each sitting [stamina])

Tuesday, September 27 - Home Link due

Wednesday, September 28 - early release (12:30), McFarlands have PE (sneakers)

Thursday, September 29 -  math box pages catch-up due

Friday, September 30 - Home Link due

Monday, October 3 - Reading logs due

Parents, please take note of the bottom of the reading log where I ask you to help with the addition of minutes and to sign the log.  Your signature tells me:

• that you agree that your child has met the expectations (four different days of at-home reading for 25 minutes or more, each of those four days)
• that you agree that your child has completed the log to 4th grade standards (neat, complete, in pencil, and with correct capital letters on titles)

    If you don’t agree, please have your child erase and make changes to the log before handing it in on Monday morning.  The log can also help you to see to what extent your child is meeting grade level expectations for at-home reading.  Your help at home makes a huge difference in the quality of the work and in influencing your child’s work ethic.  It shows your child what you value, and that’s so important.  Thank you for helping your child get into the reading routine!

Volunteer Opportunities

If you are interested in volunteering in Art class (Friday 11:15) or Library class (Thursday 11:15), please contact the following teacher:

Lynda Olson (Art) lmccann-olson@msad51.org

Dorothy Hall-Riddle (Library) dhall-riddle@msad51.org

Reading Workshop

This week, we have finished reading Marvin Redpost: Why Pick on Me?  We discussed a story mountain structure, something kids are generally familiar with, and most times we read, we tried to identify where on the story mountain we are at that time.  The kids were able to quickly identify rising action and the turning point scene.  

    I’m also introducing ideas about the author’s expectations of us as readers.  For example, the author might skip over a scene in the story but expect that, given certain details, we can infer what went on in that scene.  (If you ask your child what happened in the principal’s office when Marvin was sent there for fighting, you’ll see what I mean.)  

    I am also introducing the idea that characters, like people in real life, don’t usually get exactly what they want at the end of a book, but they often get what they need.  The problem often doesn’t go away, but we see the character handling it, and readers are left with the notion that the character will be OK.  That’ll be a huge concept as we embark on our next book together, our mentor text for our big unit on characters, a much deeper, higher-level story.  We’ll be diving into some pretty significant concepts (about reading, about what authors expect, and about life).  More on that next week…

Writing Workshop

I am slowly making my way through each writer’s on-demand narrative prompt, scoring them with the 4th Grade Narrative Rubric from the Units of Study writing program.  This is one way that helps me get to know each writer, what concepts and strategies s/he uses independently from previous years, and, most importantly, how I can tailor writing instruction this year.  I am pleased to report for the third year in a row that every child was able to choose an idea and write independently; it doesn’t always happen that way!  I’ll show these prompts to the kids as well, and they can set goals as to what their own writing focus should be in the coming weeks.

    In class, students have been working on using the message of their stories (what they’re really trying to show) and planning the heart of the story on a special mini-timeline.  Thursday and Friday, we’ve been writing like crazy to draft the stories in drafting packets.  They are writing with their timeline plans at their elbows, sometimes even checking off the events on their plans as they draft them.  I’m trying to teach them explicitly how a “plan” can help to keep their stories focused and on track, showing readers what each writer really wants to show.  Depending on where we end up at the end of Friday’s workshop, next week’s plans include: writing sophisticated leads, revising for a variety of details, and punctuating dialogue.  Maybe some advanced work with figurative language, too!

    Speaking of punctuation, you should see your child’s MUG Shot Sentence Organizer in her/his mail Friday.  This is one way I’ll be delivering direct instruction on mechanics, usage, and grammar (hence, the term MUG shot).  We focus on only one sentence, with lots of opportunity for new learning!  This week’s focuses: commas in a series, punctuating dialogue, making capital letters that are tall, and expecting all words to be spelled correctly when we’re copying.  As far as commas go, we’re trying to only use them if we can explain why they’re there -- to avoid the 4th grade syndrome known as Comma Crazy (whose treatment plan includes heavy doses of targeted instruction, practice, and eraser use).  And don’t even get me started on Apostrophe Fever...

Math

In math class this week students reviewed and strengthened their skills with traditional subtraction. They learned to use the traditional algorithm you most likely learned when you were in school (smile). Two big hurdles here; knowing their subtraction facts and/or having a strategy to quickly figure them out, and subtracting over zeros. They can still get confused when trading or borrowing over a zero. This is something you can reinforce at home by simply giving them one problem every night next week. Problems like: 608 - 458, 7903 - 3957, 8005 - 6779, etc..

We also worked on linear measurement conversions using U.S. Customary units- yards, feet and inches. This is a very new skill and one that we will work on further as many students continue to need support with this.
Our first dose of geometry also played into this week’s math lessons with an introduction to points, lines, line segments, and rays. Students practiced drawing them and they learned how to label and name them as well. Here is a link for one of the geometry videos we watched in class this week. https://goo.gl/qgBnx6

Theme/Content

This week students started their North America maps. This is the first of two map making projects in our geography unit. This first project is a springboard to another project later in the unit where they will put their creativity and map making skills to work.