Classroom Update - Week of October 21st
Upcoming Events / Reminders:
Track 4 students will take the NC Check-Ins for math on Thursday, October 24th. They will be in the morning, so please make sure that your children are at school on time.
Report cards will be going home on Friday, October 25th.
October is Bullying Prevention and Disability Awareness Month
Tuesday, October 22 – Being Nice to Everyone is NO SWEAT! (Work-Out Clothes Day)
Wednesday, October 23 – National Unity Day! (Wear Orange for Bullying Awareness Day and Promoting Kindness)
Readvolution has started again in Wake County! Just like in previous years, there is a school wide goal and an individual goal. If our school can log in 2,020 books, we will be entered to win a field trip to see the Carolina Hurricanes practice. For individual students, if they log 800 minutes of reading (that's only 20 minutes per day), then they will receive two complimentary tickets to see a Hurricanes game. I have attached the parent letter to last week's email, and a formal letter will also be going home tomorrow in Tuesday folders.
Spirit Wear on Sale: We have cool, new MES spirit wear t-shirts and sweatshirts this year, including tie dye! Please click on this link to order online: morrisville.memberhub.store and then click on MES Spirit Wear from the left side bar or, if you prefer to order by check, then you can fill out and print this form and return it with payment to your child's teacher. ***We only order spirit wear once a year! Orders close on November 8, so don’t miss out!
Yearbooks: If you missed the September discount, you still have time. Get your yearbook early and save 10% through October 31st. Yearbooks can be purchased directly from TreeRing using the following link, https://www.treering.com/validate?PassCode=1015052504693078. To purchase, create an account using the MES passcode, 1015052504693078.
E.L. Education:
This week, the students will be starting a new EL Module on animal behaviors and adaptations. Tomorrow, the students took a poster walk around the room to view some of the different resources that we will be utilizing this year. They will also work on jotting down facts that they already know about animal defenses and things that they want to learn this quarter on a KWEL (what you already KNOW, what you WANT to learn, EVIDENCE you found from resources, and you LEARNED). This is a chart that the students will revisit throughout the quarter. This week the students will also be exposed to and practice close reading with a variety of challenging texts. They will be working on using the reading strategies of finding the gist (what the text is mostly about), defining unfamiliar vocabulary, capturing the main idea and supporting details and paraphrasing what they have read and heard.
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 begin to learn how to multiply multi-digit numbers. They will start the week, with a hands on activity on what is happening when we multiply numbers (remembering that multiplication is repeated addition) using base ten pieces. As the week goes on, they will be introduced to several strategies such as the Area Model, Algebraic Notation, and Partial Products to solve 1x2 and 1x3 digit numbers. The standard algorithm (the way we all probably learned as children) is not explicitly taught until fifth grade. The students will be taking notes in their math journal that they can take home as a guide and I will be posting quick video tutorials to help you help your child at home. Please trust this process. These methods truly work at helping to build your child's conceptual knowledge of what is happening when you multiply numbers.
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.
Have a discussion with your child on how the different ways are similar and difference to each other.
Science:
This quarter, the students will be learning science first with Mrs. Wade. In science this quarter, there will be two segments of learning. First, the students will learn about food, nutrition, and exercise. Beginning Tuesday, students should bring home their science journals to review each night. We will have an assessment on this part in about two weeks. During the next segment of the unit, we will investigate animal adaptations.
How to Help Your Child at Home:
Have your child share with you their science notebook and explain to you what they are learning.