Learning To Go Mr. Avery's Class on the Web 

Literacy Night is coming on Friday, April 8, 6-9 PM! Floral alumni know this to be an evening of fun, games, treats, and everything reading and writing. This year’s honored guests include local illustrator and author Ralph Masiello (http://ralphmasiello.com/) and historical actress Sheryl Faye (http://sherylfaye.com/). I have OK’d several students’ writing pieces for those wishing to read aloud on Literacy Night. Any remaining copies and permission slips will come home this week. When practicing the pieces at home, encourage your child to read loudly and s-l-o-w-l-y, with expression that matches the genre (e.g. for narratives, read like you’re telling a bedtime story; for informative and opinion, read like you are the world’s leading expert). It can be helpful and instructive to see how the experts do this! Together, explore good reading/speaking at Storyline  http://www.storylineonline.net/ (narratives) or Ted Talks https://www.ted.com/playlists/86/talks_to_watch_with_kids (nonfiction).

This week we will learn how to add Red Flags to our writing. These are transitional phrases that keep the reader’s interest: Without warning; Suddenly; A second later; Finally; etc. Consider the difference between these two moments: 1) I slipped. I fell in the water.  2) Before I knew it, my foot slipped on the mossy stones. In a flash, I slid into the murky pond! We will  also learn what makes a good ending. Initially, many kids want to end their stories with “Then I went home and went to bed,” thinking the end of a day should equal the end of a story. Instead, students should end by reflecting on what was written using a combination of feelings, memories, and/or hopes/decisions for the future: I’ll never forget that trip to Old Sturbridge Village and how funny it seemed when I fell into the pond. I still laugh thinking about it. Next time, I’ll stay on the path for sure!

We will wrap up our study of fractions by learning to add and subtract “like” fractions. We’ll then connect this concept to bar models we’ve previously used to represent problems. Check out the picture above: notice how bar models can be used to think concretely about the relative space and size involved in fractions–smart!

Our Trimester 3 mapping goals include locating and identifying all continents, oceans, and major physical features of the U.S. such as the Mississippi, Rocky Mountains, Appalachians, Great Lakes, etc. We’ll begin by examining the big guys, learning to name the continents and discovering geographical features of North and South America.

The Next Generation Science Standards outline the important skills and concepts students should know in grades K-12. As we wrapped up our study of Air and Weather, students engaged with the idea that we use the knowledge acquired through scientific study to solve problems. Tasked with the problem of how to keep a paper towel in a beaker dry under water, they engaged in discourse and engineering design combined with empirical procedures and revised thinking. As Aamir put it, “Failure is as important as success!” 

The final science topic of the year that we will explore is States of Matter. Through a combination of hands-on activities, investigations meant to teach the scientific process of inquiry, and multimedia approaches, students should develop an understanding of matter and be able to identify solids, liquids, and gases by their observable properties. This week they will investigate solids, liquids, and gels by manipulating examples of each in order to learn about their properties. Here’s a link to our district’s science program for this topic, with objectives and content defined:https://www.fossweb.com/delegate/ssi-wdf-ucm-webContent?dDocName=D568667

Literacy Night is coming on Friday, April 8th! This annual school event features games, books, local authors, food, and more. A favorite feature of this event is the reading of original pieces by student authors. I encourage any student from our class to participate. If your child wishes to read his/her writing (in classrooms with a group of about 9 other students), here’s what to do: 1. Select a piece of writing from home or school this year (think of the great work they’ve done with Opinion, Informative, and Narrative writing! or something they’ve worked on at home). 2. Send it in for me to OK anytime this week. 3. I’ll send it back with any suggestions for polishing. 4. You’ll be sent a permission form, followed by a confirmation letter with room assignment and time. 5. Come and celebrate! Students begin presenting at 6:00 PM.

 Our reading focus this week is on using the comprehension strategy Determining Importance. In nonfiction texts, authors use titles, subtitles, and headings as clues to their main ideas. Using a variety of texts, students will read the supporting details of an author’s argument. Then, they will sort out interesting vs. important information using the headings and title to guide their thinking. You can try it out at home, too! Visit a kid-friendly site like Time For Kids or National Geographic Kids; choose an article with headings; read the sections; and look for the main idea of each with the heading and title in mind. Here’s one example, about a new species of tree frog that looks just like Kermit: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/nature/new-real-life-frog-looks-like-kermit/

As we begin the last trimester of school, students will return one last time to narrative writing. What’s important by year’s end is that they write several paragraphs of a story from their lives that include an entertaining beginning; description; a main event that stretches out the moment; transition words; and an extended ending. It’s by far the most complicated writing they’ll do. This time around, students will write about a common experience we shared last week when we went outside to fly kites. We’ll walk step by step through the process together, while looking at examples of student work to guide us.

This trimester, students will engage in skills-based math topics such as telling time, measuring in inches/feet, and more. We begin by learning fractions: what they are; how to name them; how to compare them, and how to add fractions with similar denominators. What’s important, according to the Common Core, is that students gain an understanding of what fractions mean and become fluent using halves, thirds, and fourths. Consider the example below. Notice how it encourages students to think about what fractions are and about their relative sizes. This picture and many more can be found in the Student Book accessible via the Math in Focus link above (Book B; Chapter 12). As always, hit me with any questions! 

 

In Social Studies this week, students will be taught to identify natural and cultural features on a map and will use them to understand place and much more. Natural features include land, water, air, and organisms; cultural features are anything put there by people, such as boundaries, roads, and buildings. Check out this picture from Weather.com. Synthesizing our understanding of map skills, we can see that a large cloud mass is moving up through the southern United States, while another one is moving from Canada to the north (where the air is always colder). It looks like they will move over parts of New England–better keep an eye on the weather!

Here’s some more kite pictures, plus a few more from our Great Global Map Skills Game with the Youngs:

  

 

Cool! Students combined their writing skills with the comprehension strategy of Determining Importance as they created “Wordles” to accompany their opinion writing pieces based on character traits of great Americans. Thanks to Media Specialist Christy Minton for her lessons that combined technology with critical thinking skills. The kids’ work will be displayed in our hallway for a time before being sent home. Try a Wordle at home, using any topic! http://www.wordle.net/

We ended last week with a geography head-to-head against students in the Young class! Student partners prepared by creating lists of questions based on the world map that demonstrated understanding of continents, countries, oceans, map keys, directions, and more! It was great to hear evidence of kids thinking and reasoning as they worked to apply their knowledge to solve problems. Kudos to them!

As the second trimester of school comes to an end, students will also be taking reading tests (DRAs) and quizzes/tests to measure students’ progress with map skills, math, and science concepts related to weather. To know if a paper coming home is a test vs. regular in-class work, look for a score at the top (e.g. 7/7).

Our next area of study in math involves understanding and using money. Besides identifying coins/bills and their amounts, students should be able to combine various amounts of both. Consider this example:

Notice how students can best solve this by starting with the larger amounts and using counting on/adding on. Students will also learn to write in dollars-and-cents notation ($1.25) and with words: one dollar twenty five cents. Students will also learn to compare 2 or more amounts of money. This can get tricky if students are still learning coin values and totaling. For example, 7 coins does not make an amount greater than 2 coins if we’re comparing 7 pennies and 2 quarters.For help with homework, see the resources section of your child’s math homework folder where you will find a variety of pages on everything from coins and counting to vocabulary. And as always, see the student e-book (Student Book B) from the Think Central site. This unit is Chapter 11.  Although many of us pay for things with cards instead of cash, be on the lookout for opportunities to teach your child to total amounts of coins and bills and to estimate 1) if there is enough to buy something and 2) about how much change is due!

Singing is a great way to memorize new skills! Readeez has put out a truly fantastic collection of learning songs. Here’s one of our favorites in class. You can find others (dimes, nickels, quarters, and much more) at Youtube.com and at the Readeez site.

What a blast we had on Read Across America Day! Students in our class were treated to a visit from Shrewsbury firefighter Mike Guarino. Mr. Guarino read the book Dory Story by local author Jerry Pallotta, modeling for us the importance of interest when choosing books as readers. Mr. Guarino also engaged students with his work as a firefighter and gave us a lesson in fire safety, too! A big thanks to him for sharing his time and expertise.

With a focus on Changing your voice to match the character as part of reading fluency, students took part in a reader’s theater production of Dr. Seuss’ The Sneetches. They did an excellent job bringing the dialogue to life in ways that show they understood the text. Fun! We ended the day with a celebration of reading at our School Meeting in the gym, during which time the Martel class shared favorite books and author’s messages, and even the Cat in the Hat made an appearance to read to us (Mr. Martel)!

Thank you for keeping our classroom stocked with health items this winter. We are currently in need of boxes of Kleenex (lots!) to get us through the rest of  winter and through the spring. Please send in a couple of boxes when you can, and thanks!

 Our CAFE reading work focuses on the Comprehension strategy Determining Importance (DI). When reading text, especially informative text, there is a Main Idea and supporting details. Learning to recognize interesting details and differentiate them from important information is key to good understanding. Think about how we read a magazine article as adults. We look at the title and headings, and as we read we are always thinking about how the information relates to the topic. This helps us to disregard unimportant facts so we can retain essential ideas. To try this with your child at home, go to http://www.timeforkids.com/news. Choose an article to read together. After each section, talk about the interesting ideas and then decide on one main idea for each (often the headings are big clues). What information was important, and what was merely interesting?

As a way to make DI meaningful for kids, they have been analyzing their opinion writing pieces on famous Americans, highlighting key words and phrases that are most important about their subjects. Media Specialist Christy Minton returns week to create wordsplashes with students using their results at the website Wordle.net. Cool!

As the trimester ends, students will apply what they’ve learned about Informative Writing in a district-wide writing assessment this week. Their work has been phenomenal and they’re well-prepared!

The focus of this week’s math is estimating by rounding up/down and using estimation as a way to check the reasonableness of sums/differences. These are VERY important skills that require students to develop and apply number sense as they think critically about math. For a detailed and illustrated explanation, see the MIF Student Book 2B, pp. 28-35 (follow the link in the Parent Resources section of this blog and enter your PowerSchool credentials).

At first, students just need to learn and practice the basic skill of rounding to the nearest 10. Next comes the smart stuff. To check that a sum/difference is reasonable, they will learn to use estimates (sometimes called Ballpark Estimates). Take this example: When solving 67 + 44, I can estimate the sum as 110 (67 rounds up to 70, plus 44 which rounds down to 40). My actual answer therefore needs to be close to 110 (less than a difference of 5). If I get an answer of 111, my estimate shows that my answer is reasonable and I likely have it correct. However if my answer is, say, 121 then I better check my work because that answer is too large to be correct. The beauty of using estimates is that they push kids to think of the numbers involved by rounding them into 10s and 100s, which they can ‘hold in their heads’ much easier than numbers like 67 and 44. This week’s homework is all about estimating; contact me if I can clarify!

In Social Studies this week we will learn about in-between directions (NE, SE, NW, SW) and apply this skill to solving problems and finding places on local, national, and world maps. We often apply skills using a trivia game in which I or the students make up questions having to do with one of the maps mentioned that require students to practice the ability to use map features (map key, symbols, country borders, directions, and more). I encourage you to do the same at home. Making up questions helps to stretch your child’s knowledge and understanding of the subject. Good places for online maps are National Geographic and Google Earth.

Putting map skills to the test, students will be devising questions in pairs and engaging in some friendly competition with students from our neighbors, the Young classroom at the end of the week!

Here are some more photos from Read Across America Day, along with the last of our 100 Day projects: