Classroom Update - Week of July 29th
Upcoming Events / Reminders:
Please make sure that you have taken the time to fill out the Student Information Sheet (yellow paper) for my class, as well as the one for the front office (green cardstock).
Please take the time to read the classroom handbook (it is in your child's Take Home folder today). This will explain many of the policies and procedures for our classroom this year.
If you have not signed up for the Remind App, please do so. I will be using this site to communicate and share classroom happenings regularly, so I really hope everyone takes the opportunity to join.
To join send a text message to the number 81010 and type @mrsbrackes in the message space.
If you are having trouble with this, let me know I can send a message to your cell phone number.
Have you been receiving Mr. Cline's bi-weekly Principal Message? If not, please let me know and I will make sure that you are added to the list.
Walker registration forms are available on the MES website (click here) for the 2019-2020 school year. If you live in the designated walk area and would like to apply, please complete the form and submit it to the front office.
Goodberry’s Spirit Night: Celebrate the beginning of the school year with some frozen custard! Bring your friends and family on Tuesday, August 6th, from 11:00 am to 10:00 pm to Goodberry's Custard (2325 Davis Dr. Cary, NC 27519). Mention you are there to support MES and our school gets a portion of the sale!
Tuesday, August 13th is Track 4's Curriculum Night from 6:00-8:00PM in our classroom (#410). Hope to see everyone there!
Labor Day is Monday, September 2nd. There will be no school that day.
Track Out Day for Quarter One is Friday, September 27th.
E.L. Education:
This week the students will be starting their first module with the EL 4th grade curriculum. The text that the students will be delving into is Love That Dog by Sharron Creech. Throughout this unit, students will be introduced to poetry through this book, as it is a novel that is written in verse and includes poems by famous poets that the students will analyze, as well.
The central guiding questions that the students will focus on are:
What makes a poem a poem?
What inspires writers to write poetry?
Working to become ethical people is the habit of character emphasized in this unit. These are the specific skills students will focus on:
I show empathy. This means I understand and I share or take into account the feelings, situation, or attitude of others.
I behave with integrity. This means I am honest and do the right thing, even when it’s difficult, because it is the right thing to do.
I show respect. This means I appreciate the abilities, qualities, and achievements of others, and treat myself, others, and the environment with care.
I show compassion. This means I notice when others are sad or upset and try to help them.
Some of the specific literacy skills that the students will focus on this week are:
Analyzing what is happening in the novel and how Jack (the main character) feels about it.
Identifying characteristics of poetry and determining their theme.
Summarizing poems and to compare poetry to prose.
How to Help Your Child at Home:
Read poetry aloud with your student and invite him or her to find poems or a poet that he or she particularly likes.
Help your student practice reading aloud fluently and accurately.
Talk to your student about the meaning of the poems he or she is reading and what inspired the poet. Encourage your student to find evidence of that inspiration in the poems.
Math:
This week in math, the students will be working on graphing. They will be exposed to a variety of different graphs (bar graphs, line plots and frequency tables) and be expected to create and analyze them based on the data they provide. They will also work on coming up with questions that will help them in examining the data, as well.
Some important math terms the students will be learning are:
Bar Graph - a graphical display of data using bars of different heights
Categorical Data - data represented by characteristics or personal preferences, for example: names, ages, food or clothes.
Numerical Data - data that is measurable and represented by numbers
Line Plot - a graph that shows frequency of data along a number line
Frequency Table - a table that lists items and shows how many times they occur
Students will take their first assessment on these skills on Tuesday, August 7th.
How to Help Your Child at Home:
Point out graphs to your child in magazines or newspapers. Have them tell you the type of graph that it is, whether it is numerical or categorical, and then ask them specific questions about the information the graph is telling you (both literal and inferential).
Give your child meaningful data points and have them create the best graph to display the information. Have them create their own questions that could be answered by the information in that graph.
Social Studies:
This week the students will start their first social studies unit, which will focus on the history of North Carolina. They will begin by focusing on the first people of our state, the Native Americans and how their lives changed after the arrival of the Europeans. They will also begin to learn more about each region, (Mountain, Piedmont, and Coastal Plains) how it was settled, and the impact that it had on the development of the community.
How to Help Your Child at Home:
Discuss with your child the following questions:
How were various Native American groups changed after the arrival of the Europeans?
Tell me about the disappearance of the colony of Roanoke.
What do you think happened to these colonists?
Why did England want to establish colonies in America?