Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss and Happy 100 Days of School

                                                                          
                                                                                                               March 2, 2015

Dear Parents,

It was FABULOUS to see so many of you at Math Night!  The sessions (Adding and Subtracting Strategies) in Room 5 had a steady flow of parents and students. Although I didn't have a sign in sheet, I know that at least fourteen families from Room 5 were able to attend.  Thanks for coming to Math Night!!

Here is what happened in Room 5 over the past week!!

Math

Students playing a "time" game.

In Math we tested on time.  As with many of our Math skills, this is a skill that will get reviewed constantly, both during Math Meeting and  as we go through our day to day schedule.  I'm noticing more and more students wearing watches and just being 
generally more aware of the time.  Statements like, "Oh it's 11:20, we will be going to lunch soon!"

We spent the rest of the week working on how to find missing numbers in addition and subtraction and use a count on strategy to mentally subtract from 100.  Students are using the terms "Whole" and "Part" when discussing how to find the missing number.

If You Are Missing a Part......Then...
... 23    +   ?     =   48                    48    -    23    =    23  
Part      Part     Whole             Whole   Part       Part    

67    -    ?    =    32                   67    -    32    =    35
Whole   Part    Part                 Whole  Part       Part

If You Are Missing a Part......Then... 
...
?    -    29    =    36                   29    +     36    =     65
Whole Part       Part               Part         Part        Whole

Students will continue using this strategy next week.

Here's the homework for this week...
Mon.     Workbook pgs. 11-12
Tues.    Workbook pgs. 13-14
Wed.     Practice Test B
Thurs.   No Homework (Assessment)          

Writing

Students looking for interesting words.

In search of strong words.

Students got to do some peer editing on their "Organization" stories and I have started to meet with students to revise and edit.  The next writing trait which we started this past week is "Word Choice".  At first, students worked in small groups highlighting interesting words within books that had been read to students as past "Read Alouds".  Students spent time creating word choice posters with 10 favorite words from a selected book.  The students certainly picked strong words.

Projects
Although I was hoping to have the matter projects completed this week, we experienced some technical difficulties so we will have some overlap as we finish with the matter project presentations and start our next project on Earth's Systems.

Language 
It was a review week in language.  Students reviewed the use of commas.  We discussed where and when we use commas.  Students also got to practice  this skill by inserting commas in a letter on chart paper and working on some worksheets.

Another review skill was Collective Nouns.  Students spent time in small groups to review Collective Nouns through a Read Alouds and playing games.  Both skills were assessed on Thursday afternoon.

Between Dr. Seuss' Birthday(March 2nd) and the 100th Day of School (March 3rd) it is going to be an interesting week.

Sincerely,
Anne Bloomfield

Some information from Mrs. Jackson...

March 1, 2015

Welcome March!  Finally a bit of snow!  

I want to thank Mrs. Bloomfield for her amazing presentation and the effort that she put into Math night last Thursday and as a Math leader in our building.  I have worked with so many teachers, but Mrs. Bloomfield always finds a way to go above and beyond.  She puts so much into each child in her classroom; I am inspired.  Thank you Mrs. Bloomfield!

Monday, March 2 is Dr. Seuss Day.  We will be learning a bit about Dr. Seuss and then spend time during our daily five rotation reading and writing about his books and his life.  Have fun pulling these books out at home this week and remembering how fun they truly are!

This week our Spelling pattern is the “aw” Word Family.

We have 2 more weeks left in this quarter.  We are going to spend time during the next two weeks reviewing the author’s use of fact and opinion in their writing and why they choose to include more facts or opinions as part of their pieces.  We will also continue reading information that is presented as a series of events.  

Have a fabulous first week of March!  Softball’s begun; I hope to see many of you on the fields this spring.  My daughter Kacey in 3rd grade is playing in the U8 league for the first time against many of my 2nd and 3rd graders.  Should be fun!

Dr. Seuss-Did You Know?

• Dr Seuss wasn’t really a doctor, he added Dr. because his father wanted him to practice medicine.
• Seuss is really Dr. Seuss’ last name.  Seuss actually rhymes with voice, but was changed later the current pronunciation.
• Dr. Seuss first book And to Think I Saw it First on Mulberry Street was rejected by 27 publishers.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Jackson