Mayberry-McFarland Weekly News

for the week of October 24, 2016

Due Dates / Upcoming Events

Monday, October 31- reading logs due

Tuesday, November 1 - Home Link due

Wednesday, November 2 - early release day / McFarlands have PE (swimming!)

Thursday, November 3 -  math box pages catch-up due / McFarlands visit the Book Fair (If you would like your child to make a purchase, please send in cash on that day.  If you would prefer to supervise that, Family Night is going to be Thursday, 11/10 until 7:45)

Friday, November 3 - Home Link due

Monday, November 6 - reading logs due

General News and Announcements

Annnnnnnnd, the (co-)winner of the GMS Fall Door Decorating Contest is….

Lost on a Mountain in Maine!

Thank you very much to Mary Jane Call and Molly for their creativity and leadership in this project!  The other 4th grade winner is Mrs. Bradeen’s class with their book, There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom! Hope you can stop in and check out the creations soon (before they fall down). My favorite, besides ours, is Mr. Benoit's class's mosaic of the cover of the book, Wonder. Very impressive!

Students participated in a presentation by the Cromwell Center for Disabilities Awareness on Thursday.  Please read the yellow flier in your child’s mail for details.  At the end of the presentation, we received a copy of the chapter book, Hank Zipzer: Niagra Falls, or Does It?  It’s about a dynamic boy who happens to have ADHD.  The book has a Guided Reading Level of O.  Immediately, a student came to me and asked me about it to see if he could read it first (of course!).  I have other books in this series in our classroom library.  Our presenter then mentioned another book that kids might want to read: Fish in a Tree.  This one is most likely a higher level (it’s new and hasn’t been leveled yet), but I’ve heard great things about it, and I have a copy I’ve already shared with interested students earlier this year.  When one student asked me today if I have that book, I recommended reading it with a parent or in a book club so they have some support and can discuss it.  Boom: spontaneous book club formed!  I’ve already collected a few copies from generous staff members and printed off calendars so the kids can plan out their reading together.  Now, I’m working on a bookmark of things to talk about in a book club...

Please note that students should focus their math facts practice on subtraction and multiplication.  We are scratching out addition on the planner sheets, as almost everyone has mastered those.  Please see Mrs. Mayberry’s web page (https://sites.google.com/a/msad51.org/sheila_mayberry/) for a variety of ways to practice.  Students should mark what they practice on the weekly homework planner sheet, and parents should be initialing that each time.  Thanks to those of you who are doing that regularly!

Reading Workshop

The kids worked on retelling.  This still needs a lot more work, so I’ve created a graphic organizer to provide more direction and support for some students.  We will continue that work next week while also adding more ways to jot our thinking as we read.  Our focus continues to be The Character.

Writing Workshop

This week, we got back to basics with a packet of grammar worksheets.  Topics included homophones, synonyms, and antonyms, goals being bring awareness of these concepts and to build vocabulary.  Students also wrote two journal jots early in the week.  We will start essays on Monday!

Math

This week students worked on converting unit of time; hours to minutes and minutes to seconds. This presented them with another opportunity to use their multiplication skills! We also did some work with multiplicative comparison statements and multiplicative comparison number stories with an unknown variable. Wow! They got a little dose of algebra on those days. In addition we had a quick lesson on how to classify triangles according to the size of the angles.

Theme/Content

Students continued to work on their geography flipbooks.

Mayberry-McFarland Weekly News

for the week of October 17, 2016

Due Dates / Upcoming Events

Monday, October 24- reading logs due

Tuesday, October 25 - Home Link due

Wednesday, October 26 - early release day / McFarlands have PE (swimming!)

Thursday, October 27 -  math box pages catch-up due

Friday, October 28 - Home Link due

Monday, October 31 - reading logs due

General News and Announcements

Please note that students should focus their math facts practice on subtraction and multiplication.  We are scratching out addition on the planner sheets, as almost everyone has mastered those.  Please see Mrs. Mayberry’s web page (https://sites.google.com/a/msad51.org/sheila_mayberry/) for a variety of ways to practice.  Students should mark what they practice on the weekly homework planner sheet, and parents should be initialing that each time.  Thanks to those of you who are doing that regularly!

Reading Workshop

Students took some time to reflect on their reading logs this week.  I made a packet of them (lots of minutes are logged in those stacks!), and I attached a sheet to summarize their at-home reading according to what each child has logged.  The kids studied their logs and made observations about their reading habits.  From there, each reader set a goal in order to become a stronger reader.  I’ll share those with you at our upcoming conference.

Writing Workshop

All writers finished the final drafts of their narratives this week!  It will take me awhile to score them, but we shared titles today, and they are really descriptive titles!  I’m excited to read these carefully and see how well each writer applied new concepts, such as paragraphing, using a balance of details (setting; action; TFR: thoughts, feelings, and reactions), and figurative language (similes and personification).  Next up: essays!

Math

This week students worked on converting unit of time; hours to minutes and minutes to seconds. This presented them with another opportunity to use their multiplication skills! We also did some work with multiplicative comparison statements and multiplicative comparison number stories with an unknown variable. Wow! They got a little dose of algebra on those days. In addition we had a quick lesson on how to classify triangles according to the size of the angles.

Theme/Content

Students continued to work on their geography flipbooks.

Mayberry-McFarland Weekly News

for the weeks of October 3 & 10, 2016

Due Dates / Upcoming Events

Monday, October 17- reading logs due (Almost everyone is now on board and meeting the minimum expectations of 4 x 25+ minutes.)

Tuesday, October 18 - Home Link due

Wednesday, October 19 - early release day / McFarlands have PE (swimming!)

Thursday, October 20 -  math box pages catch-up due

Friday, October 21 - Home Link due

Monday, October 24 - reading logs due

General News and Announcements

Please note that we start swimming in PE class this Wednesday!

I’m looking for sets of trivia cards, any topic -- general ones are even better!  We use them at dismissal time, and we’re getting too many repeat cards from the packs that I have.  If you have some in your basement or playroom that are collecting dust, please send them in.  I can return them if you want them back.

At the end of the summer I submitted a grant request to Donors Choose. This organization helps educators find funding for materials they would like to have in their classroom. If you would like to check on, and possible donate to my project, it is linked here.

Please note that students should focus their math facts practice on subtraction and multiplication.  We are scratching out addition on the planner sheets, as almost everyone has mastered those.  Please see Mrs. Mayberry’s web page (https://sites.google.com/a/msad51.org/sheila_mayberry/) for a variety of ways to practice.  Students should mark what they practice on the weekly homework planner sheet, and parents should be initialing that each time.  Thanks to those of you who are doing that regularly!

Students took the iReady math and reading tests this week.  This test replaces the STAR assessments we have used in previous years.  We are expecting the results, in conjunction with the results of classroom assessments, to help us form intervention groups based on students’ needs.  We will be analyzing the data in the coming weeks.

Thank you to those who have signed up for a parent/teacher conference to chat about your child’s start to the school year, progress so far, and goals for the remainder of the year.  You will meet with both Mrs. Mayberry and I, so we can share details from each academic subject area.  

Thank you so much to Mrs. Soucie, Mrs. Mohr, Mrs. Duina, and Mrs. MacArthur, who made the beautiful book bags for the McFarland and Mayberry readers!  The kids LOVE them, and it was the most exciting day of the year so far when they got to choose one for their own!

Reading Workshop

This week, our Reading Workshops took a hit due to a planned evacuation drill and the iReady testing.  Despite that, your child’s log will show that we did get some independent reading accomplished.  We’ll be back at it next week!

Writing Workshop

Students edited their narratives in “rounds” this week!  Of course, editing for a number of things in an entire writing piece all at once is tiring and overwhelming...exactly like a boxing match is tiring and overwhelming if fought all at one time.  So, we edited in rounds.  We put to use some of Mrs. Mayberry’s dictionary work from Theme last week, in addition to using other resources, such as class charts, our word wall, and Quickword Handbooks.  (I also added -- after the photo below was taken -- a Bonus Round 6: commas in a series [list] and commas in dialogue).  Students started writing their final drafts in class on Thursday.

Math

Last week we started the second unit in the Everyday Math program. This unit focuses primarily on multiplication facts and strategies to use when faced with an unknown multiplication fact. Students also have worked on identifying the factors for a given number less than 50 and determining the multiples for numbers 2-10.

This week students have learned how to find the area of a rectangle, which is yet another application for their multiplication skills. In addition, they learned about, and how to identify, prime and composite numbers.

Theme/Content

In social studies students completed their North America maps and have started in on a flip book project for landforms and bodies of water. This book will serve two purposes; first, as a study guide for an upcoming quiz and as a resource for the final cartography project in this unit.