February 27, 2015
Dear Parents,
This
week has been so busy and fun, and I don’t want to jinx us, but it
looks like the snow is starting to melt! We have been hard at work in
all areas…
In
reading, we have finished “Fly Away Home” by Eve Bunting, “Each
Kindness” by Jaqueline Woodson, and excerpts from other texts such as
“Because of Winn Dixie” by Kate DiCamillo. The students were diligent
in finding evidence of the central idea, character traits, and
unfamiliar vocabulary. Ask them about Plickers! We are using an app
that grew out of the belief that teachers shouldn’t have to teach blind,
data doesn’t have to be overwhelming, and students shouldn’t be afraid
of being wrong. This app is awesome for quick formative assessment data
collection that is so important for us to tailor instruction to meet
the students’ needs, but they think of it as a game! It’s really
exciting! Check it out online!
We
are finishing up literary essay writing this week as well. Students
were asked to analyze the main character’s behavior in “Each Kindness”
and write a four paragraph response that show cases their thinking.
They are feeling so proud of their beautiful work, and have been able
to articulate amazing ideas about friendship, bullying, and regret. We
will be starting a new informational essay next week on the wild horses
of Assateague and Chincoteague. Ask them to share it with you next
week!
In
math we continue to work on division. As you know the children are
using the partial quotients method of division to find whole number
quotients and remainders with up to 4-digit dividends and 1-digit
divisors. We have sent home some information on this method. If your
child is spending more than thirty minutes on their math homework,
please let us know.
Friday, March 13th
will be our student teacher, Miss Lauren’s last day. We have been so
impressed by her dedication, hard work, and connections that she has
made with our students. We want to thank you Miss Lauren, and wish you
the best of luck!