Week of Oct. 22nd

Families of Room 31 –

A few reminders for this week:

SCHOOL PICTURES – Due this Tuesday, Oct. 23^rd.  RETAKES will be Wednesday, Oct. 24^th. 

Parent Conferences – Due to the fact that I am holding student / parent conferences, I have several parent conference times beside Tuesday Nov. 6^th.  Last week I sent home a parent conference preconference form.  Please make sure to return the form with your child a day or two prior to your conference if not sooner.  Reminder – there is NO SCHOOL for students on Tuesday, Nov. 6^th

MATH – We completed our Chapter 2 test on Friday.  I will send them home with the students as soon as I have remediated and corrected the test with teach individual child.    This week we begin Chapter 3 - Whole Number Multiplication and Division.  This chapter is very rich in content truly focusing on multiplying by 2-digit numbers and the process of long division.  Please make sure your child is practicing their math facts (multiplication and division) especially if they have not mastered them yet.  Their nightly practice counts towards the Math incentive.   Program and truly is essential for success in this chapter and chapters to come.

SCIENCE - Last week, we had our first “official” hands-on science investigation.  The goal of this lesson was to learn about mechanical weathering and frost wedging.  We placed water in tin cans and let then freeze overnight.  They observed the cans the following day and certainly had some distinct observations.  I believe many of them sent you a phot via their SEESAW account!  This week we will learn about abrasion and how abrasion affects and change the earth’s surface!

SOCIAL STUDIES - We are continuing with our notetaking of the EAST REGION.  The focus this week will be finishing up learning about the economy of the region as it connects to the natural resources and we will move to learning about the climate.  I hear that there is a possible nor’easter heading our way this coming weekend.  Please have the kids pay class attention to the weather if it happens to be on at home!

WRITING – Our focus recently has been on the components of NARRATIVE writing with a focus on writing ENTERTAINING OPENINGS.  The focus has been on using a variety of TOADS (thoughts / questions, observations, action, dialogue and sound).  WE also began talking about using our SENSES to describe the SETTING of the story.  Later this week, we will move to learning to ask key questions of ourselves to discuss and describe and critical characters and / or critical objects as they relate to a story we create.    Our hope is to wrap up the beginning of the narrative writing diamond (openings and settings) before we move on to informational writing.

READING – We have begun meeting with GUIDED READING groups now that DRA’s are over.  The groups is also using a subscription to STORYWORKS to read some non-fiction articles and respond to the text.  We are also incorporating our read aloud – The Wild Robot – into some written responses on Schoology that the students will read and respond to.  Lastly, this week our focus for whole group reading is to review expectation of reading / responding to multiple choice questions and open responses.  I am modeling my thinking with the students as we work through a passage together.

As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.