Mayberry-McFarland Weekly News

for the week of May 22, 2017

Due Dates / Upcoming Events:

Monday, May 29 - Memorial Day - no school

Tuesday, May 30 - Quotes due for writing workshop (see purple sheet in planner)

Wednesday, May 31 - McF’s have P.E. (sneakers)

Thursday, JUNE 1 -  all-day ABL culminating event (see yellow half-sheet notice in your child’s HW planner) / math journal pages due

Friday, June 2 -  quote paragraph due for writing workshop / Home Link due /

Monday, June 5 - visiting author Matt Tavares! (http://matttavares.com/)

General News and Announcements

A 4th Grade Musical!

Please save the date of Monday, June 12th (5:50-6:30) when the entire fourth grade class performs for their first and only time on stage together until their Greely High School Graduation ceremony in 2025!

Students have been learning a variety of friendship-themed songs in their music classes this spring and will be ready to perform for families soon!  

Please have your child meet her/his classroom teacher in the cafeteria at 5:50 to warm up.  If you arrive earlier, please keep your child with you until then.  Please make sure your child is all cute, wearing a white top and dark bottoms (pants, shorts, skirt…).  Consider that it might get hot in the gym!  See you there!

Academic Updates:

Reading Workshop

A big idea we are growing while reading Just Juice: Maybe Pa can’t read.  Students cited evidence for this idea -- and some reasons we believe that maybe he can read and he just needs glasses.  Class discussions have included social issues, such as paying taxes, inheritances, debt, illiteracy, poverty, families with lots of kids…

McFarland class exchange:

Student 1: “Why do they keep having kids if they can’t afford to feed them?”

Student 2: “It’s not like they can control it.”

Student 3: “Ummmm…”

Me: “So, anyway…”

Writing Workshop

We are right in the thick of it with poetry!  We are working on our first class anthology.  Each child will contribute a color poem.  We studied the Poetry Writing Checklist to determine traits of high quality poetry.  Lesson this week have included work on: line breaks, alliteration, imagery, personification, cliches, stanzas, steps for writing a poem…  We’re busy and loving it!  

    This week’s Rock’n’Roll Friday selection: Brandi Carlile’s “That Wasn’t Me.”  Here’s the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNmo8I4dEQE)...but I recommend listening to it a couple of times without the video’s story in front of you.  

    We did that in class, first asking ourselves, “What kind of a person is the narrator?”  

    “Someone who did something bad and regrets it...someone who is asking for forgiveness...someone who is trying to make her life better…”  

    Then, we watched the video starring Kris Kristofferson as a released convict out on parole, and we discussed his story.

Math

This week students finished unit 7 and took the end of unit assessment. I will do my best to get their unit assessment packets sent home within the next week. We will delve into parts of unit 8 over the next few weeks, focusing primarily on solving multi-step number stories and learning how to multiply fractions with unlike denominators.  

Theme

Students completed their water cycle posters this week. Several teachers in the wing remarked on what a nice job students did with this work and I totally agree. We also got a chance to explore IXL science and social studies as we have a trial subscription for the remainder of the year. Students were thrilled with how much they know in both areas.  

     On Friday some students took their final states quiz. Thanks for all the support you have given your child with studying the states.

Mayberry-McFarland Weekly News

for the week of May 15, 2017

Due Dates / Upcoming Events:

Monday, May 22 - weekly reading logs are due

Tuesday, May 23 - Home Link due  

Wednesday, May 24 - McF’s have P.E. (sneakers)

Thursday, May 25 -  math journal pages due

Friday, May 26 -  states quiz / SpellingCity / Home Link due

Monday, May 29 - Memorial Day - no school

Tuesday, May 30 - weekly reading logs are due

Wednesday, May 31 - full day

General News and Announcements

Be Part of the BAND! ~ A note from Mrs. Cummings

    In music class this week, students will be watching videos that demonstrate all of the instruments in the band. Some students may immediately connect to the sound of a certain instrument while others may like a variety. Some students may be inspired by a family member or older friend. This is all fine! I encourage you to watch the video again with your child and talk about the different sounds and why your child likes it. Next week, I will visit the classes again to answer students' questions. I will also be providing parents with specific information about the band program here at school, the enrollment process, and how to obtain an instrument.

    I encourage you to visit my Beginner Band 2017-18 webpage, where I will be posting this information, videos, and more.  Here is a link for your convenience:

https://sites.google.com/a/msad51.org/sarahcummings/beginner-band-2017-18

Sincerely,

Sarah Cummings

Academic Updates:

Reading Workshop

Our chapter book mentor text for the social issues unit is Just Juice by Karen Hesse, and we started it this week.  We are organizing pages in our reading notebooks to keep track of characters, vocabulary, and questions we are wondering about as we read.  We will grow ideas as we did in our character unit, citing details from the text to support our ideas (a la literary essay!), and I’ll incorporate new teaching points, bringing comprehension much deeper.  I’ll also use this book to continue to teach some figurative language that we’ll use in our new writing unit, poetry!

Writing Workshop

And we started our final writing unit this week as well.  The kids are diving into poetry with excitement and positive attitudes. (Yay, MIW teachers, for sending us kids who love to write poetry!)  We read a poem by Don Graves titled, “Lost in a Book.”  It’s about his experience reading Lost on a Mountain in Maine.  We wrote all over our copies of the poem, noting the sophisticated connections between Don G. and Don F. (super insights!), the use of stanzas, the use of punctuation, how the writer shows the passing of time…  Gold star comment by Zach: “BOTH of their fathers disappear!” and by Owen Pie.: “Both boys ‘trudge on’: the boy in the book keeps walking, and the narrator of the poem keeps reading!” (see photo of Emma’s work below)

    Don’t be surprised if your child comes home humming “The Cat in the Cradle” (yeah, that one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etundhQa724).  Today was the first installment of Rock’n’Roll Friday, a special day each week during our poetry unit when we study songs as poems.

Math

This week students worked hard on solving multi-step number stories involving units of weight (pounds and ounces). They also got an introduction to adding, subtracting and multiplying decimals as they solved consumer related number stories. Real life math at its finest!

Theme

In science this week students conducted an experiment which asked the question: How does the surface area of a container affect the rate of evaporation? Students measured water contents to the nearest milliliter and charted the data. They also worked on creating a poster that shows how the water cycle works.

On Friday some students took their third states quiz. The next goal is to know all 50 states for the quiz on May 26th. Thanks for all the support you have given your child with studying the states.

Mayberry-McFarland Weekly News

for the week of May 8, 2017

Due Dates / Upcoming Events:

Monday, May 15 - weekly reading logs are due

Tuesday, May 16 - Home Link due  

Wednesday, May 17 - MEA writing testing 9:00-10:30

Thursday, May 18 -  math journal pages due

Friday, May 19 -  states quiz / SpellingCity / Home Link due

Monday, May 22 - weekly reading logs are due

General News and Announcements

Be Part of the BAND! ~ A note from Mrs. Cummings

    This week, I am visiting your child’s music class to introduce myself and to talk about starting a band instrument in 5th grade. This is an exciting time and there will be a number of activities that will take place over the next few weeks, providing your child and you with information about band and the best part...choosing an instrument! Students will see wonderful videos of each band instrument and will have time to ask questions about them. They will see a performance by the Greely High School Band. They will also participate in “instrument fittings” at which they will all try their top 2 or 3 instruments with the help of Mr. Saunders, Mr. Thurston, and myself. The enrollment process will start in June and will continue throughout the summer so we are all set to begin when we return to school next fall.

    Be sure to visit my webpage (see Teacher Pages on the GMS website) where I will be posting all the information that you will need about band, the enrollment process, and much more.

    Sincerely,

    Sarah Cummings

Field Trip:

Permission slips and payment are due May 19.  Thank you to those have already sent this in, and thank you to our MANY chaperones!  You all are making this trip possible!

Spring!  Spring...

We are noticing some droopy fourth-graders this week.  The baseball and lacrosse games go until 7:30, the older siblings’ band concert goes past that, you’re planning meals at Food Stop...and (darn-it!) there’s still homework and reading to be done!  Trust me, we get it!  Here are some things to consider to ease the effects of a busy spring season:

• Since all readers were offered the May reading calendar this month, there is even more flexibility in scheduling in the all-important reading time.  Consider some longer stretches on weekend days or evenings that aren’t so full.
• Some students are asking to do their SpellingCity during Quiet Snack time during the school day.  Given the hectic time of year, we are fine with that!  It’s up to your child to follow through; I give a reminder about that offer daily.
• Throughout the year, students have had opportunities to earn homework passes; it might be time to cash those in!  After all, we won’t be giving homework right through June 23rd, and they can’t be used in 5th grade, so why not staple one of those onto a Home Link?  We will let kids know a week or two in advance of the End of Homework Date, so they can be sure to use their passes if they want to.

Academic Updates:

Reading Workshop

This week, we barely scratched the surface of our new reading unit: Social Issues Book Clubs.  First, we are defining the term “social issue” as a situation (often, but not always, a problem) that affects many people in a community.  Common issues we’ll read about are: disabilities, illiteracy, divorce, mental illness, poverty…  One major concept that kids sometimes get confused is that social issues are often found in many, many books, movies, songs, and stories; “social issues” isn’t a genre like historical fiction.  

    This is such a rich unit to have at the end of the school year, because we revisit and deepen our understanding of some of the work we’ve done earlier in the year, including studying a character, identifying themes, and citing and understanding figurative language.  I also have collected multiple copies of chapter books and short texts over the past few years, and I will also access the variety of titles in our Book Nook, to form book clubs in the classroom.

Writing Workshop

As your fourth-grade writer may have mentioned to you, we have focused on our school-wide essay prompt this week.  We did some review and practice on Monday, and then Tuesday the kids worked hard to plan their essays.  Since they had the entire period for this planning, some students wrote their introduction or conclusion paragraphs, and many students used time at the end of the period to ask the class a survey question, so they could include a statistic in their writing.  One student also asked to use her Chromebook to search for a quote, another different kind of writing to add to a paragraph.  So, many others followed suit.  If their essays are as thorough and as well-done as their planning, these essay prompts will indeed be something of which to be proud!

    We also got a jump on reviewing informational text writing for Wednesday’s MEA writing testing.  Mrs. Bradeen’s class and and Mrs. Russell’s classes shared with us their informational books they wrote this winter, and our writers listed the kinds of writing they noted: cause and effect, problems and solution, pros and cons, etc.  Photos below!

Math

This week students worked on identifying mathematical patterns and analyzing how the pattern works. We also continued to hone skills with multi-step number stories using a combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication or division with both whole numbers and fractions.

Theme

In science this week students explored the water cycle and conducted an activity to better understand how condensation forms. More water experiments and activities to come next week.

    On Friday many students took their second states quiz. I was able to grade and give back the quizzes to students so they can gauge their progress toward the next goal. The next goal is to know a minimum of 45 states for the quiz on May 19th. Thanks for all the support you have given your child with studying the states.

Mayberry-McFarland Weekly News

for the week of May 1, 2017

Due Dates / Upcoming Events:

Monday, May 8 - weekly reading logs are due

Tuesday, May 9 - Home Link due  

Wednesday, May 10 -

Thursday, May 11 -  math journal pages due

Friday, May 12 -  states quiz, goal 30 states / SpellingCity: words ending in -ing suffix

Monday, May 15 - weekly reading logs are due

General News and Announcements

Field Trip:

Permission slips and payment are due May 19.  Thank you to those have already sent this in, and thank you to our MANY chaperones!  You all are making this trip possible!

Latest fad:

Many students are beginning to bring “fidget spinners” to school.  While they are marketed as a tool for concentration, most students use them as toys.  One student even remarked on how they are, “all the rage and you can get them on Amazon.”  Students are having spinning contests, balancing them on their nose, fingers, etc… You get the picture. We have decided that fidget spinners will be allowed during snack and recess only.  Of course, if your child has a special plan that indicates a “fidget,” we will work together to find an alternative tool.

Academic Updates:

Reading Workshop

This week in reading workshop, we have been doing some review work with accuracy and fluency.  I hear this a lot: “I read better in my head.”  The best indicator of how accurately a reader reads in her head is how she reads out loud.  I’m encouraging a half a page or so of out-loud reading a few times a week at home.  Some kids say they do some shared reading with a parent, alternating pages or chapters.  This is a great way to provide feedback on accuracy.  But, reading aloud for less time than that also contributes to improvement.  In class, reading partners chose passages and read aloud, noting good reading strategies and kinds of errors, in order to build awareness.

Writing Workshop

In writing workshop, we have finished literary essays!  The results are strong, from what I’ve read so far.  Today, we started doing some review of personal and persuasive essays in preparation for our school-wide writing prompt next week.  There will be one class period for planning on Tuesday, and the kids will write their essays on Thursday.

Math

This week students continued work in unit 7 of the EveryDay Math program. We started the week learning how to multiply a mixed number by a whole number, reviewed how to take a set of data and create a line plot and then finished off the week with multi-step division number stories.

Theme

In science this week students extended their learning about eyes and how eyes work. Students did an activity which helped them understand why animals are so much better with night vision than we are (larger pupils let in more light) and learned how the brain can trick us into seeing something that is not real. Ask your child to show you the hole in their hand, you can have one too! Students also learned a little about reaction time and how our brain responds so quickly in order for us to react. There is a reaction video game linked to my web page that your child can show you, it’s called Slap Shot.

On Friday students took their first states quiz. I will try to have the results back to students on Monday - I know they are anxious to get their quizzes back. The next goal is to know a minimum of 30 states for the quiz on May 12th. Thanks for all the support you have given your child with studying the states.