Week 18

Every students received a form on Thursday regarding Saturday Test Prep. Please return this form indicating whether or not your child will attend as soon as possible.

We've been enjoying the great material sent in by our generous families for our Longhouse Project.  The students have been creating accurate scenes of life in an Iroquois home. The writing we've been doing from our research has been coming along so well, we are quickly publishing it as a museum guide book!

Here's what's coming next week:

• We are starting Unit 5 in math. The unit will revisit multiplication algorithms with amounts up to the thousands. Students will learn to use the lattice method and partial product method. There are short videos on the Everyday Math Algorithm link that will help familiarize you to the methods. We will also learn about the standard multiplication algorithm. Students will choose the method that best works for them. This unit will also revisit estimation and exponential notation.
• The unit 4 math test will be returned to your child on Monday.  
• Our Reading unit this month will be Nonfiction Research Book Clubs. Students will learn to drive their own reading progress by getting together with others to explore a topic of interest. Students will set goals for reading and gathering information and learn how to share information. We've been working on Nonfiction strategies for a while and students are expected use them as they teach themselves about Immigration, Modernization, Equal Rights Movements, or American Governments.
• Finally, we are leaving Native Americans and moving onto the Age of Exploration. We will examine the reasons that drove Europeans to seek out new lands and learn about some of the explorers of New York. 
• Mrs. David, our science teacher has prepared a test prep packet for the Statewide Science exam that will take place in June. Please keep an eye out for it when it is given out on Monday.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Week 17

Happy New Year to all!
We had a nice start to 2013 with many students coming back rested and ready for the new year. Many students have set goals to do even better this year.

Family Friday was exciting as we had professional actors (Bellamy's family) come share their craft with us. Students worked on skits based on one of the five rules in our school's community code. Many parents came and offered their sage advice as our students worked out the details of their skit. The skits will be performed for our buddy class and some students are choosing to present theirs to the rest of the school during a special assembly. There will be more details coming soon.

Here's what is happening next week:

• We are wrapping up our Native Americans of New York unit next week with our final project. Many families have stepped in to contribute materials in order for us to make models for our longhouse. The materials will be needed on Monday. Please check your child's homework folder for an update about the collection.
• In reading, you'll notice that students will write their response to nonfiction but read fiction at home. This is to help students review fiction skills for letter level testing. 
• We will return to essay writing this week when we write Research-based Argument Essays. These essays will require students to take a strong point of view and present researched evidence to debate their point. This unit will build on the work we did with five paragraph essays last fall. This week, we took the time to work on adding elaboration to our writing by adding description, explaining how, and why. Often our students have used the "for example" starter to elaborate and we are now adding in an explicit statement that further explains the example in our writing. Even though we've done essay before, our main objective is to do them even better!
• We are headed to the Armory this Tuesday. Please encourage your child to wear running shoes. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Week 16

WOWWOWWOW! This Winter Recess started spectacularly. The class present was stunning and I will cherish the lovely necklace! I was really spoiled today with the many treats and thoughtful gifts. Thank you all so much for everything!

Students received an optional for homework this vacation. It can be turned in on Wednesday or used for extra review at any time. The intention of the assignment is to help students secure some basic knowledge needed for upcoming units.

Here's what to expect when we return:

• We will wrap up our work on the Native American unit with our final project. The plan is to research daily life through examining the longhouse. We are also planning to build a model of the long house. There are some materials we will need listed in a handout given to your child today. We appreciate any help we can get with these supplies.
• Our Realistic Fiction is on display outside our classroom. Our new writing unit will be a Research Based Essay that puts forth an argument. Studenst will read several texts on an issue and take a stance. We will review the five paragraph essay format. The challenge in this essay unit is to use transition phrases and specific relevant facts from our research to present the strongest argument for our position.

Please enjoy the best winter holiday! See you in 2013!

Week 15

We are entering the final week before the Winter Recess. We will be celebrating end of 2012 with a movie and refreshments on Friday. Please send your child with a low sugar drink. Soda is still discouraged for school celebrations. If you would like to send in a healthy treat for the class please feel free to do so.

Math tests went home today. Please check your child's folder and review the test for any areas in need of remediation. I also encourage students to continue practicing multiplication skills for Unit 5 in February.

Here's what is happening next week:

• We have begun Unit 4 in Math. This unit is a study on Decimals and the real life uses of these small numbers. Students have been learning about decimals as it applies to money in previous years. This year we will look at decimals as it applies to metric measurements. 
• We are wrapping up our Realistic Fiction writing. Students have been in the process of publishing this week and will have to turn in their final draft this Tuesday. Some children have written many pages and are taking their work home to revise and edit in time for the deadline. 

There will be an optional homework packet provided for the vacation. Many families have traveling plans and might not have time to devote to school work, whereas some families encourage additional practice to stay sharp. Please make a decision as to what is best for your child and family. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Week 14

We had a jam-packed Family Friday with many family members in attendance. Mrs. Ochoa taught us about the job of a graphic designer. Our students took some of her suggestions and used them to begin the covers of their realistic fiction stories. We want to thank Mrs. Ochoa for taking the time to share her expertise and we were glad to see many parents supporting us in our work.

We are coming to the end of Unit 3 in our math work. Many students have been able to do well with our multiplication/ division work but a few still need to be quicker when recalling multiplication facts. Additional practice at h
ome can easily help with that, whether you log on to the Sheppard Math Games Link for some math games ( scroll up to the top of the page for the multiplication games) or do a Three Second quiz. A Three Second quiz is just calling out a basic multiplication fact and having your child answer it in three seconds. It can be more challenging if you mix the facts up and call them out of order or  call out a math sentence with a missing factor (for example: 4x___= 20).

We have also been working on Expository Nonfiction, which are All About Books. These books tend to be short and have many pictures in them. Students are going through them very quickly and in some cases, not carefully reading it for content. In class, we are practicing using post its to help us retain the main ideas of each section. Your child should have a few post it sheets as a book mark and then stop at the end of each section  to jot about what the section was mostly about.

Here's what happening next week:

• We are headed to the Armory on Tuesday. Please have your child wear running shoes.
• We will have our unit 3 math test on Monday. Students are encouraged to bring home their math notebooks to go over topics that have been taught. We will have a study sheet to practice with on Monday. 

Have an awesome Winter Fair weekend! Happy Hanukkah!

Addendum:
Check out our new video on the class playlist. Emily and Justin explain how to use the lattice method of multiplication. This film was shot entirely by Tali. Enjoy!