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.