Classroom Update - Week of October 29th

Updates/Reminders​

• First Quarter report cards went home on Friday, October 26th. Please make sure to review these and return the signed manila envelope to school with your child.

• Wednesday, October 31st is "Dress Like a Book Character Day" at MES! Your child will be allowed to dress up as a favorite book character that day. The costumes should not include any extra items, accessories or masks that could interfere with instruction.

• Our Unified Club is currently leading a school supply drive for Maysville Elementary in Jones County that was affected by Hurricane Florence. They are collecting supplies that will be sent down to the school. There are boxes throughout that school where the supplies can be delivered and collections will be going on until this Friday, November 2nd. Please help us work together to help out another MES school!

• This is the LAST Week to Order Your Spirit Wear Online!!

• The PTA is taking orders for spirit wear beginning today, Oct. 5th through Nov. 2nd. Orders will be delivered to your child in late November.

• Go to morrisville.memberhub.store and Click on MES Spirit Wear on the left.

• If you would like to pay by cash or check, then please print out the form in the link below and return with payment to your child’s teacher: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12XaUxHX9rUvPbRMmXh2ZI1-fRc3PZbR1/view?usp=sharing

• If you have any questions, then please email spiritwear@morrisvillepta.org

• This is a reminder that November 6th (Election Day) has been changed to a 2 hour delay. Buses will run on a 2-hour delay. Doors for students will open at 10:45 and the instructional day will begin at 11:15. We will have a modified lunch schedule and students will eat in the classrooms due to MES being an election site.

• For read aloud, our class has been listening to the book, Wonder by R.J. Palacio. This has inspired many of our students to follow the motto of the book and to "Choose Kind". One of the ways that we will be demonstrating that this quarter is by participating in the "Certified Kind Classroom Challenge". We are all working together to go out of our way to show kindness to one another and for every act of kindness that is recognized we are placing one blue marble inside a large mason jar. Once our jar has been filled we will be taking a picture of the jar and sending it to Penguin Random House (The publishing company of Wonder) to be recognized as a "certified kind classroom". To learn more about this, please check out THIS site.

E.L. Education:

This week, the students will continue to learn more about animal behaviors and defenses through a variety of nonfiction texts. Some of the important reading skills that they will focus on this week during the module and A.L.L. Block are:

• Developing a strong main idea statement and finding relevant details to support that main idea.

• Taking notes to paraphrase a text or video.

• Writing a clear and concise summary

• Using strategies to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words

• Interpreting diagrams to help them better understand the text.

How to Help Your Child at Home:

• Take your child to the library to check out or learn more about defense mechanisms that animals use to help them survive.

• Have them identify the main idea and supporting details of nonfiction paragraphs or text sections.

• Have your child orally paraphrase what they just read in a nonfiction text.

• Point out tricky words, while reading and discuss strategies that your child used (or could use) to determine the meaning.

Math:

This week in math the students will continue to work on multiplying multi-digit numbers through finding partial products. The students will be focusing on multiplying 3 digit by 1 digit and 4 digit by one digit numbers earlier in the week and then focusing on 2 by 2 digit numbers near the end of the week. We have been spending a lot of math class time practicing these skills on whiteboards and I am seeing progress each day. Please continue to study multiplication fast facts at home a little bit each night. There are also several step-by-step videos on my website to show some of the new methods that the students are learning.

How to Help Your Child at Home: ​

• Does your child know their multiplication facts? If not, they should be practicing them each night to improve their math accuracy and fluency. There are great sites like multiplication.com or arcademicskillbuilders.com that have fun games and strategies that your child can use at home. There are also many other fun apps and sites that your child can visit, in addition to flash cards.

• Watch the video lessons on my website or look back through your child's student notes together. Have them show you some of the new ways that they are learning to multiply numbers.

Social Studies:

This week in social studies the students will be learning more about the North Carolina Constitution, why it was written, and what are some of the key principles and rights that are included in it. Towards the end of the unit, the students will be looking at how our colonial history has influenced the governing documents of our state. The students will be adding helpful notes and resources to their social studies notebooks to help them in learning and studying these concepts as well as creating a flipbook on how colonial history has influenced our governing documents with a partner.

How to Help Your Child at Home: ​

• Have your child share with you what the North Carolina Constitution is and why it was created.

• Discuss some of the key principles in it and why they are important.

• Talk about the Declaration of Rights and what freedoms these mean for them.

• Take your child with you to vote and help them understand some of the ways that you research the candidates you choose to vote for and explain why voting is important to you.

• Have your child share their social studies notebook with you to share some of the concepts that they have learned.