Classroom Update - Week of February 12th

Updates & Reminders:

• Our class will have a small amount of time on Valentine's Day (February 14th) to pass out Valentines. If your child chooses to pass them out (it is not required), please ensure that they have a valentine for every student. We have 25 students this year: Jake, Addy B., Alex, Gabe, Anthony, Addie C., Finn, Holly, Sarvesh, Nathan E., Xaiden, Nicole, Mason, Sai, Jamie, Logan, Nathan L., William, Samaira, Kendal, Nithya, Sraavya, Neeshma, Benjamin, James.

• We will be celebrating the character trait of integrity for the month of February. We we have a spirit week for part of this week and next. The information for each day is below:

• Wednesday, February 13th - Dress to Impress

• Thursday, February 14th - Integrity requires heart! Wear pink or red.

• Friday, February 15th - Mustangs show integrity! - Wear your MES spirit wear.

• Monday, February 18th - Dress as a famous person who shows integrity. (ex. Honest Abe)

• Tuesday, February 19th - People with integrity sparkle and shine! Wear your sparkly and shiny outfits and accessories.

• Keep sending in paperwork and payments for our beach field trip scheduled for April 26, 2019. All fees are due Thursday February 28, 2019. After reading the first two pages of the packet, please complete the last two pages and return them to school, even if you are not paying immediately. If you would like to chaperone, please email me with the name of the chaperone. All track 4 chaperones will need to drive or carpool to the beach. There is not space on the bus for chaperones. You must be a currently registered volunteer in order to chaperone.

• Morrisville Elementary is participating in the WCPSS Wake up and Read Book Drive. Please send in new or gently used books for children Pre-K-12. All books are welcome. Thank you for your support of this great opportunity to provide books to students/children that may not have access to books. The drive continues through February 15th.

• Monday, February 11th is Dining for Dollars at Ruckus Pizza in Park West Village.

• Registration has begun for this years STEM Night and Science Fair. This year’s event will be held Thursday, February 21st from 6:00-8:00pm. To register, please Complete Registration Form online by Friday, February 15th . To participate, all projects must be pre-registered. A flyer will be going home in Friday Folders.

• Friday, February 15th is an Early Release Day. School will dismiss at 1:15PM.

• Monday, February 18th is another Dining for Dollars at Ruckus Pizza in Park West Village.

• The deadline for our school fundraiser for Jump Rope for Heart is February 28th. You can visit the MES site HERE.

• Mark your calendar - MES 5th Annual Stampede 5K is coming soon! This is a time for community, family, fitness and fun… and warmer weather! Join us for the 5th Annual Stampede 5K on Sunday, May 5 from 2-5pm. The proceeds from this fun family and community event will go directly to the MES PTA to fund educational resources, programs, and school improvements.

E.L. Education:

This week the students continued to read nonfiction texts about the Revolutionary War, and especially focused on the role of African Americans and American Indians. As they read, they worked to determine the gist of each paragraph and then wrote a summary for the article. The students also looked at the organizational structure of the text and determined whether it was description, chronology, comparison, cause & effect, or problem and solution. The students will have their end of unit test tomorrow and it will cover these things. On Thursday, the students will start reading the drama Divided Loyalties. This play is told from a family who had many different perspectives of the war. They will focus on reading this text to analyze the thoughts and feelings of the different characters.

How to Help Your Child at Home:

• Read stories and informational books about the American Revolution.

• Encourage your student to tell you the main idea and to provide supporting details of informational texts you read together.

• Encourage your child to summarize informational texts you read together.

• Watch documentaries about the American Revolution.

• Visit museums or exhibitions about the American Revolution.

• Read a play together with your child and talk about how the stage directions help the story.

Math:

In math, we will be finishing our decimals unit with finding equivalent decimals of tenths and hundredths, ordering decimals on a number line, comparing decimals and adding tenths and hundredths. The next unit has the students working on fractions again. In this unit, the students will work on decomposing unit fractions and then adding fractions with common denominators.

How to Help Your Child at Home: ​

• Discuss the following questions at home with your child:

• What would be an equivalent decimal to 0.6? Why is it equivalent?

• Can you write the following decimal (0.34) as a fraction? In words?

• How would the decimal 0.7 change if you added two tenths? What if you subtracted 3 hundredths?

• Order the following decimals from least to greatest: 0.4, 1.2, 0.38, 0.04. What strategy did you use to help you?

• What is a unit fraction?

• How could you decompose 5/6 into a unit fraction chain?

• Show me some strategies that you use to add fractions?

Social Studies:

This week in Social Studies the students will explain how North Carolina was established and how that colony changed over time. They will also spend a majority of the week reading a nonfiction article to learn more about what life was like for the people who first settled in the Coastal, Piedmont, and Mountain regions of North Carolina.

How to Help Your Child at Home:

Discuss with your child the following questions:

• Why did England want to establish colonies in America?

• What was life like for settlers in the Coastal, Piedmont, and Mountain regions?

• How were their lives similar and different?