Happy Last Friday of Hybrid!!
Did I hear some cheers?! I know we have been smiling big in Room 15 as we count the days until Tuesday!! In Math, this week we have been reviewing multiplication and division of fractions and also doing some work reviewing multiplication of larger numbers. We will be doing some fun March "Mathness" activities next week to review many of the topics we have worked on this year!. Speaking of March Madness, I have mailed a letter to your child with a Ticket inside. They have been asked to wear school colors on Tuesday as we kick of our full return. When they arrive they will realize Room 15 is in MARCH MADNESS! We will be learning about the history of basketball and the Final Four, engaging in a STEM challenge where they will make a catapult with me and then be challenged to improve it to be used in a class contest, working on correcting grammar mistakes on Twitter and Instagram from some famous athletes as well as continuing our work with context clues. Next week is sure to be a lot of fun as we work thematically as we learn more about each other and build our classroom community! I cannot wait to get started! This week we put the finishing touches on some open response practice questions, again using our ACE organizers to be sure we answer questions completely and with evidence to support! We are working on opinion articles about School Uniforms, Recess and Zoos and have been having lots of fun with Idioms! Next THURSDAY, APRIL 1 is IDIOM DAY in Room 15! (One of my favorite days of the year!). Students will be bringing their card stock project of the idiom they chose along with their prop or costume to school so we can share our creativity as we learn more about this fun figurative language! With the warmer weather coming, I have asked all students to bring their towels back to school as I plan on using an outdoor classroom as much as possible. Additionally, they can bring a snack each day which we will have during our 10:30 mask break. We don't have lunch until 1:20pm, so it will be a good idea to have something small at 10:30am. Please note, I am not allowed to provide snacks for students that forget them and if it is POURING rain (we do go out when it sprinkles) we will not be outside so will not have a snack on those days. I have mentioned this to kids that on lousy days they may want to make sure they have a heartier breakfast! Lastly, if you have not yet emailed me to print and give to your child, or a card for me to pass on when they arrive on Tuesday, please send to me by Monday. I have received so many and can't wait to watch the excitement on their faces when they read your messages of encouragement as we start our final term together! As always, let me know if you have questions, and THANK YOU very much for all you have done to keep us safe and ready to be back! Cheers Maura Important Dates to Remember Friday, March 26th - REPORT CARDS - POSTED ONLINE Monday, March 29th - bring snack and towel to school Tuesday, March 30th - FULL IN PERSON (WHOOP WHOOP) Wednesday, March 31st - HALF DAY (no remote work) Thursday, April 1 - IDIOM DAY Friday, April 2 - NO SCHOOL - Good Friday
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Happy Friday!
Can you believe today is the last day of WINTER!! Of course, I woke up to snow on the Cape, but the sun was shining as I crossed the bridge and it will be melted by the time I get home! A busy week in Room 15 with lots of excitement and buzz about our return to full in person learning. It looks like we will be back on Tuesday, March 30th - the School Committee votes on Monday! While most kids seem really excited, some have mentioned some nervousness about the long days ahead. I think it is really important we continue to talk about this with them to let them know we are all here to support them and will be working through this change TOGETHER! As mentioned last week, I'd love to get a card, note or even an email from each family to put on your child's desk when they arrive that first day of full in person. A note of encouragement and praise for what they have done and what we still have to accomplish. I have started to receive a few - you can drop off at the office, mail or email to me at school or send in with your child any time! The first few weeks we will be spending a great deal of time establishing our classroom community. While we have done some work on our remote days, now that we are ALL back together, we will need to go over expectations etc and get to know each other better as a TEAM. We will begin each day with our Class Meeting which will consist of a greeting, sharing opportunity and a class activity. This is a great way for students to get to know each other and build that sense of community. I cannot wait to get started!! This past week we have been doing more work with mixed fractions and multiplication, while also reviewing some of our basic operations. Students have been practicing converting mixed to improper numbers to help them when multiplying mixed fractions and we have been spending some time reviewing division as well. Next week we will work on story problems using all 4 operations with fractions. Students are working hard to look for key terms and to try to picture what is being asked to help them decide which strategy and model to use to solve problems. Great work by all! In reading, we finished AMONG THE HIDDEN, and students are now beginning a choice board as a culminating activity. They will choose 2 projects and have them both submitted by Friday, March 26th. I have attached a copy of the Choice Board to my email. Next week, we are going to be working on analyzing a selection from Among the Hidden, looking at strategies for answering multiple choice questions as well as continuing to use our ACE to develop and organize our thoughts when answering an open response question. We did a great job on our Figurative Language posters and now will have some fun with a focus on IDIOMS! Stay tuned next week for details on an Idiom project! We will work to show our understanding of both the literal and figurative meaning of an idiom and then either dress up or bring in props to present our learnings. This is always a fun week and I have planned Idiom Week for our first week back! In writing, we have begun to do some reading on topics for our argumentative/opinion essays. Students are reviewing articles on testing, school uniforms, recess and zoos and will then decide which one they want to dig into. They will then research the pros and cons of their topic and write an essay with their claim. This is always a fun writing activity and I am anxious to get this going! We have continued our work with our March Madness read alouds. This week we read stories of acceptance, courage and perservence. Be sure to check out our photo gallery for the titles and ask your child about them! We also loved having Mrs. Polcari join us and share a family favorite and are looking forward to Mr. Polcari's appearance next week! If anyone else wants to share a family favorite with us, click this link and choose a time that works for you. If we need to schedule a different time, just let me know as we can be flexible! Happy Friday and Happy Sunshine all!
I can't believe that a year ago, I left school thinking I was leaving "regular" teaching for two weeks, and we have now hit a YEAR! I do feel VERY blessed that I have been able to be in person with your children four out of five days this year, but I am over the moon excited about the plans to come back FULL TIME!! (Did I hear a whoop whoop!??) Once we have the exact date set and all plans are locked and loaded, I'd like to plan to do something fun for the kids on their first day back. I think it is so important that they hear from all of us how very proud we are of them and their ability to be flexible over the past year. One thought I had been to ask that each of you write a note that I can have waiting on their desk when they arrive our first full day back. You can tell them the things you are so proud of and the hopes we have for them as we finish our year together! If it is easier to send an email that is fine, or you could drop a card off at school and I will keep them in my desk until our full in person return. My head is still thinking about some other ideas, but this I think would make day 1 really special for them! This week we definitely felt the Spring peeking in (even though I see the forecast has a dip in temperatures coming up)! I told kids to start bringing their towels back in as when the weather warms we will be enjoying outdoor learning as soon as we are able! This week our focus was on dividing fractions. Looking at dividing a whole number by a fraction and a fraction by a whole. We then took those strategies and looked at word problems. Next week we will review multiplication and division of fractions and take an assessment to see how we are doing, what we need to review to get us ready for decimals! I am also starting to really spiral back to some earlier lessons from our year, just to remind them of all they have accomplished, but also to dust off any cobwebs on other topics ! In Reading and Writing we have been focusing on Figurative Language. Students have a project due next Friday - A figurative language poster showing 8 different examples of figurative language. Then we will be having lots of fun with idioms. I plan to celebrate Idiom Week with them our first full in person week back! This is always a ton of fun - more information will be coming home soon! Students have also been working on test taking strategies. This week we looked at two different excerpts about survival and then wrote about the challenges the main characters faced and how they overcame those challenges! Great work done by all, they are really doing a nice job using our ACE graphic organizers! In Science, we are finishing up our work on the Earth, Moon and Stars and will be again reviewing some of what we learned about Matter and Forces before moving on to Ecosystems and the world around us! Our celebration of reading is going strong! I cannot thank all of you enough for taking the time to come and read with us! This week we had Mr. and Mrs. Britton, Mrs. Bass, Mrs. Foy, Mrs. Sousa and Mrs. Carbone share their family favorites with wonderful messages about how to be the best we can be! If you'd like to join in the fun, simply click this link and choose a time that best works for your schedule, or you can record your reading and send me the file to share! Kids LOVE seeing their parents on Google Meets in front of their peers, and it sends such a positive message to them about the importance of reading in our lives! Be sure to check out all the pictures in our photo gallery! Many might be options for their Memory Boards (DUE ON MONDAY!). Have a great weekend and as always, thank you!! Cheers! Maura Important Dates to Remember
Happy Friday all!
We have started off March with some Reading Madness in Room 15! Please be sure to ask your child what their favorite March Madness Picture Book was this week! We enjoyed a title about the Cherokee Nation, about puppies in France, a new version of Jack in the Beanstalk, one about a Shapeless Shape trying to find his identity and lastly a book about soccer fields in Saint Lucia! We have talked about Story Elements of each and how authors write about different themes using these beautiful books. We also had some guest readers sharing some family favorites and look forward to more guests in the coming weeks! I can't tell you how special it is for the kids to see you all sharing your love of reading! If you'd like to join in the fun, simply click this link and sign up! www.signupgenius.com/go/8050D4DA9AF2BA7F58-read In Science, we have been working hard to learn the Moon phases, creating models from Oreos and reviewing with some Kahoots. We also have been looking at how NASA gets ready to explore the Moon and even Mars! We had a great STEM challeneg to build a PASTA ROVER for Mars. Students needed to stay within a budget to buy materials to build a rover that would travel down a 1 meter ramp and then continue on a flat surface for 1 mile! We will be letting our Rovers dry over the weekend and testing them on Monday! Be sure to check back for updates! |