2/23/2018 0 Comments Mayer Memo 2-23-18Sound and Harmonica
We wrapped up the sound unit with the written assessment last week. The children did a FANTASTIC job playing their harmonicas for an audience this week. I am very excited about their musical talents after just five hours of instruction. Please encourage your child to continue playing at home. The harmonicas, books, and gift certificates were sent home with your child on Tuesday. If your child would like to continue studying the harmonica, piano, or drums you can schedule your two complimentary lessons with Mr. Milan by contacting him at 708-612-PLAY. Parent-Teacher Conferences are NEXT WEEK! I have been conducting many assessments to prepare for parent-teacher conferences. Please follow the directions you received from the district to sign up for a conference! I look forward to meeting with you to share your student's progress very soon! Reading Workshop The children are working to become better readers in a variety of ways. Because most students are reading longer, more complex books, they need to keep track of what's happening in these books as they read. One strategy for doing this is to ask a partner for help if the book is confusing. Another way to keep track of longer books is to use sticky notes to write important events from the story and to make notes to remember things. Hopefully, students are also stopping to reread if they get off track and are asking themselves questions to be sure they understand the text. Many students are reading the same book as their partners and they can talk about their book during share time. We are also using the strategies for keeping track of longer books with our read aloud, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate Di Camillo. The students are becoming deeper thinkers about the text and we are having wonderful conversations about this great book. Writing Workshop We continued working on opinion writing the past two weeks. The children have learned the most convincing letters state a clear opinion (Pinky and Rex is a fantastic book!), giving a specific reason (The character, Pinky and Rex, really care about one another.), then supporting it with examples from the text (For example, when Pinky was sad Rex tried many things to cheer him up.) Their published letters about favorite books and those are on display in the hall. This week the students began writing nominations for book awards. For example, they chose a book they felt strongly about and wrote what a judge might need to know to give that book an award. We brainstormed awards they thought their books might deserve, such as Best Book About History for Kids Award, Most Funny Award, Most Colorful Pictures Award, etc, I am very impressed with their growth in opinion writing since we started this unit! Math We are working on Unit 5 in Investigations Math. The first investigation in this unit is about combinations of 100. Students add and subtract 10, 20, and 30 and 1, 2, and 3, to or from 2-digit numbers as they try to capture 5 chips scattered around a 100 chart. They solve 2-step story problems about money and stickers and figure out how much more they need in order to have 100 or $1.00. Students continue to review and practice addition and subtraction facts and consider the relationship between adding 9 and 10 and subtracting 9 and 10 when the +/−𝟫+/−9 Fact Cards are added to their set. The second investigation will be about adding within 100 and counting to 1000. Students will think about combinations that make 100 as they try to find pairs of 2-digit numbers that equal a number close to 100. They also revisit activities that extend the rote counting sequence to 1,000. They practice reading, writing, and comparing 3-digit numbers, skip counting within that range, and adding 10 or 100 to any 3-digit number. They use the stickers to represent 3-digit numbers as hundreds, tens, and ones. The third investigation will be about fluency within 100. Students will solve story problems, including comparison problems with a bigger unknown and problems with more than one step. They will focus on developing efficient and accurate strategies for adding 2-digit numbers within 100, specifically those that involve adding tens and ones and adding on one number in parts. Social Studies We dove into our Economics theme this week by learning about needs, wants, technology, saving, and many other concepts related to economics, or the working world. The students are reading the social studies text and learning how to find definitions for key vocabulary words by looking around the bold or highlighted words in the text. We are having many fabulous conversations about this topic! I hope you are hearing about it at home! Word Study and Other Concepts About English Due to the short weeks of school, I have not introduced new word study sorts. Instead, we have discussed how to write abbreviations and identified verbs. Ask your child to tell you about these concepts! Valentine’s Day Party Was Wonderful Thanks to our fabulous room parents for a fun, memorable Valentine's Day party! We loved every minute of the activities! The children enjoyed playing games, making "Cupid's Clubhouse," and enjoying the yummy treats! What a great day!
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Mystery State!Mystery state for June 1 Did You Know...New evidence links handwriting and educational success.
Children not only learn to read more quickly when they first learn to write by hand, but they also remain better able to generate ideas and retain information. "When we write, a unique neural circuit is automatically activated,” said Stanislas Dehaene, a psychologist at the Collège de France in Paris. “There is a core recognition of the gesture in the written word, a sort of recognition by mental simulation in your brain. And it seems that this circuit is contributing in unique ways we didn’t realize,” he continued. “Learning is made easier.” Parent's attitudes about mathematics affect their kids!
"A 2015 study showed math-anxious parents who frequently helped their elementary schoolers with homework saw their kids learn significantly less math by the end of the year than kids whose parents didn't express an aversion to math." (Heidi Stevens, Balancing Act and Chicago Tribune) According to Jennifer McCray, Principal investigator at the Erikson Institute's Early Math Collaborative, "Statements from parents are extremely powerful in terms of helping a child decide, 'Who am I going to be relative to math" How should I feel about math?'" If you're a math-averse parent, the article linked above has great tips for addressing this! Archives
June 2018
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