Newsletter Mayberry-McFarland Weekly News

for the week of May 28, 2018

Due Dates / Upcoming Events:

Monday, June 4: last day for gently used book donations for the book swap / weekly reading logs due

Tuesday, June 5: ABL Culminating Event - see note below

Wednesday, June 6:

Thursday, June 7:

Friday, June 8: Book swap

Special Announcements:

Here is a brief list of special activities coming up.  It’s simply for your own information. When parent help is needed or if students need to bring in anything special (other than what is noted), we will let you know either via a special paper notice or through this newsletter communication.

• June 5- Last ABL (outside): sneakers, water bottle, sunscreen
• June 8- Book Swap (send donations of books by Monday, June 4)
• June 11- Project ACES Day (morning only)  (https://lensaunders.com/aces/aces.html): sneakers, water bottle, sunscreen
• June 12- Ferry Beach field trip: more details on what to bring coming later
• Wednesday, June 13- Step Up Day
• Thursday, June 14 - Activity swap in afternoon
• Friday, June 15 - Celebration of Reading Day
• Monday, June 18 - Last student day, Variety Show

Kickball Tournament

This past week, our class played two kickball games as part of a ⅘ kickball tournament.  The tournament is for some ⅘ fun, and I was very pleased with our class’s sportsmanship and positive attitudes.  We won our first game against Mrs. Russell’s class and lost to Mrs. Cosquer’s group Friday. Our Magical Monkeys gave it their all, and everyone contributed!  The kids enjoyed popsicles from Harrison and his mom after our loss.

Academic Updates

Writing Workshop

We worked on writing poems about color last week.  We read a couple from past students, then brainstormed ideas of our own for a class poem.  Then, we worked some of those ideas into lines. Students then chose their own colors, and they are collecting finished poems in a folder in their Google Drives.

    This past week, students learned how to write “Post-It Poems” based on how Evan, a character in the book The Candy Smash, learned from his fourth-grade teacher.  We worked on a class Post-It Poem and then students worked on several of their own.  Below is an early draft of Graham’s. The poem is on the left; on the right, are words he may or may not choose to use when revising.

    Last week’s Rock-n-Roll Friday song was Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.”  After annotating the writing moves in the lyrics, we analyzed the meaning of some of the lines, identified social issues in the song, and then watched the video.  It’s pretty heavy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PivWY9wn5ps  I was impressed with how many situations and people the kids identified and knew about: KKK, Mother Teresa, John Lennon, JFK…  I told them about Farm Aid and Baby Jessica who fell into the well in Texas in 1987. Maybe something lighter next week…?

Reading Workshop

We have started reading a book together called, Just Juice, by Karen Hesse.  https://www.amazon.com/Juice-Scholastic-Signature-Karen-Hesse/dp/0590033832/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1527258800&sr=8-4&keywords=just+juice  It’s the story of a family who is down on their luck, including Juice (Justus), the narrator, who doesn’t like to go to school.  She often stays home to watch over her dad, who is sad and lacks hope of finding a way to support his family. It’s an endearing story that encompasses a variety of social issues.

    I’m also working my way through one-on-one Teachers College reading assessments.  I learn so much from these opportunities to sit with each child, listen to her/him read and talk about a scene from a story.  Sometimes, we analyze the running record together, and we set goals for the spring and summer.

Math

This week students finished up the final unit in math and took their last unit assessment. Next week we will be hitting the last few lessons of the year and playing some math games which will involve reinforcing skills and strategy building.

One game that students will have access to throughout the summer is Fraction Of which is located in ConnectEd4. They can continue to access the login page through my web page. This game will support their fact practice and allows for partner play. In addition, students will also be able to access their IXL accounts during the summer.

Students playing Fraction Of on ConnectEd4

Theme

Students enjoyed a Mystery Science lesson involving how muscles, bones and tendons work together to move our bodies. Part of the lesson included making a paper robotic finger and many students elected to go further and create a paper robotic hands.