Parent Newsletter March 6, 2015

Parent Newsletter March 6, 2015
Posted on 03/06/2015
March 6, 2015  
                                                                                         
Dear Families,

 It is hard to believe that we are past the hundredth day of school and daylight savings time begins on Sunday! As spring approaches, we are planning our field trips and very busy end of the school year.  Please be sure that you have a current BCI check on file with the district.  If you do not have this completed, you will not be able to chaperone our field trips or volunteer for events happening in the classroom.  Information on how to obtain a BCI check can be found by contacting the CARES office.
In language arts we continue to work informational text unit. The children have been reading and discussing their non-fiction articles.  Next week we will be writing an essay about the evolution of wild the horses of Assateague Island. Also we will be comparing three articles written about these resourceful horses that roam in their “natural corral made of water” in Maryland. Ask your child to share their finished essay from this week on “Each Kindness”. They should have brought a copy home this week.
In math we continue our work on division. Having mastered the partial quotients algorithm for division and explored the distributive property of division as a possible strategy, we are now working on interpreting remainders and multi-step word problems. The emphasis continues to be on showing math thinking and providing models to demonstrate it.
In science we examined the different type of circuits (series and parallel) and used this knowledge to create homemade flashlights. Next week we will extend this knowledge of the circuits to build our cardboard houses. This will be the culminating activity of our science unit on “Electric Circuits”.
I am sending home a colored folder which includes the last few math unit assessments, the results and an explanation of the Star Test and some information on the upcoming PARCC Test. The testing will begin on March 23rd and end on March 31st.  This folder will be included in your child’s communication folder. In addition, I have also included an updated class list which includes the addresses and phone numbers of all of the students in our class.
Thanks for your consistent support and cooperation!