Weekly News 1/31

Our literacy and inquiry have blended together and we've been deeply immersed in our systems research and writing! We started by writing a flash draft trying to add detail about each of our subtopics.  That helped students begin to see holes in their research and where they needed to find more information. From there we've been working on main idea sentences.  We explored how authors make these main idea sentences engaging and then found some that we wanted to model our sentences after.  Students have been writing furiously on their topics and are coming up with some creative and engaging pieces! We hope to have these completed in the next couple of weeks.  

Third grade math:
It's math fact bootcamp time! Students self-assessed on math facts that they need to work on and are making daily choices in order to reach their math fact goals.  Students have been playing games, making flashcards, quizzing each other and hopefully practicing at home, too! Please encourage your child to practice for a few minutes at home each night.  They all have a specific goal they are working on! 

Fourth grade math:
As we finished our unit reviewing multiplication vocabulary, it has become clear that the unit was a challenge for some because they don't have mastery of their multiplication facts. I stressed the importance of knowing their facts as we move into more complex concepts. It has been shown that students who have their facts mastered are more confident in tackling new mathematical challenges. I will send home Xtra math passwords again today.  There are also lots of great suggestions to ways to practice here. 

Third grade immigration day:
Third grade parents mark your calendars for March 13th! Your child will be participating in an Ellis Island Immigration simulation on that day with the other third graders.  This day will be part of a larger study in our classrooms on historical fiction, the power of story, multiple perspectives and history. We need some third grade parent volunteers for that day for the quarantine station!  Please let us know if you'd like to help out.  

It would be helpful at home to start talking about any immigration stories that you might have in your family.  Where are your ancestors from? What are their stories?  We will start sharing soon! 

Learning Showcase:
We are inviting parents in for a learning showcase on Friday, February 21st from 8:45 to 9:30.  Feel free to drop in any time during that time and your child will be individually showing you some things that he or she is working on.  It shouldn't take more than 15 minutes or so- if you're able to drop in we'd love to see you! 

Communication Assembly:
Our students helped plan and run a whole school assembly on communication! Students learned the sign language signs for see, say and brave and taught the whole school as we sang along to "Brave".  It was awesome!

Valentine's Day:
Students are welcome to bring in Valentines on February 14th for a Valentines exchange.  We just ask that if students are bringing them in that they bring one for everyone! 

Fourth grade STEMbassadors:

Have a great weekend!