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

This week we welcome Danielle Carangelo to our classroom! Danielle is a student teacher from Framingham State who will be joining us in the afternoon on Tuesdays this semester. She brings us her experience as an elementary substitute teacher in Milbury and multi-age dance instructor. We’re sure to learn as much from her as she will from us!
We’re halfway to the end of the year! This is a good time to reflect on our journey, and to thank you for your efforts as partners in your child’s education. It’s remarkable how much growth the kids have shown, from learning skills and critical thinking to their growth as caring members of our learning community. To foster self-reflection, try asking your child to compare how s/he is different now from the start of the year. What things can s/he do now that s/he couldn’t before? What things does s/he still want to learn (goals) and how do they think they can they get there?

Of course, this means the 100th day of school is two weeks away–at this time, Tuesday, Feb. 11!  I will set up a “100 Day Museum” to show off student projects and learning. I encourage children to create a poster/collection/display/etc. that somehow represents 100. Instead of simply collecting 100 things in a bag, I’m challenging students to think more deeply about number. They could bring/show something that displays an understanding of number, patterns, and/or the math we’ve done so far, such as:

• grouping objects (stickers/pennies/etc.)  on a poster that shows counting (and/or multiplying) by 5s, 10s, 2s, etc., with accompanying multiplication or repeated addition sentences
• bar models using the number 100
• create real-world problems with 100

Click here and scroll down for a look at the creative ways that one class took on this challenge. There is also a plethora of projects and ideas on Google and Pinterest and across the web!

Valentine’s Day is coming! We will exchange valentines in class on Friday, 2/14. If your child brings valentines in for classmates, please be sure there is one for everyone. There are currently 19 students in our class. Refer to our class list sent home if your child wishes to personalize valentines with names. Of course, hand-made ones are welcome as well as store-bought! Please be sure no food (including candy) is attached per our district policy, and thanks!

Solving real world problems with measurement is the focus of this week’s math lessons. Consider the following problem. Kids are being asked to think about distance as a quantity expressed in units of measurement–but the process of problem solving remains the same (Understand; Represent; Solve; Check):

Here’s us in action last week, using games to practice measuring accurately in centimeters!

Floral St. has a strong commitment to creating a safe space that respects inclusion and diversity. One way we do that is through teacher-led social groups. These groups provide opportunities for all students to practice social skills, including communication and cooperative skills. Floral’s Early Learning Center (ELC) serves students with diverse needs, some of whom are part of our classroom. They would like to offer students not already in the ELC the opportunity to be peer models in these social groups with their classmates, a practice which has proven to benefit all kids here. Our ELC Coordinator, Rachael Grolman, is sending home a permission slip tomorrow so that kids in our class can participate. Please sign and return it if you give your permission. For more information, you can call or email Rachael at rgrolman@shrewsbury.k12.ma.us

Our CAFE focus this week is on Identifying Character Traits vs. Feelings. This is part of the Common Core reading standard RL.2.3: Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. Integrating social studies instruction, we’ll learn to analyze Amelia Earhart’s character traits that made her great and see how her feelings fueled or challenged her. Here’s the author, Brad Meltzer, reading his book I Am Amelia Earhart :

The kids have been learning much about writing informative pieces, including introductions, ideas with supportive details, and conclusions that engage the reader. Here are some from 1) Aadhya, on Hoola Hooping 2) Mason, on football 3) and Ishawn on Pele: 1) The first thing you should know about hula hoops is that you put it on your waist and spin it. You have to spin it fast as you hold the hula hoop. 2) The first thing you should know about football is the equipment that you wear. For one thing, there are shoulder pads and helmets with cushions inside. 3) The first thing you should know is Pele lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil. For one thing, in Sao Paulo he was very poor. He stole peanuts to get money for a soccer kit. He still didn’t have enough money for the soccer cleats. Great work!

This week we begin chapter 7 of Math in Focus, the goal of which is to make students proficient with linear measurement (especially meters and centimeters). To begin, students will learn the importance of standard units of measurement and be introduced to content-specific vocabulary (width; height; length; meter; etc.). They will next develop a sense of how big meters and centimeters are. Then they will learn correct methods for estimating and accurately measuring and talking about measurement (more than, less than, about, exactly). And as always, they will be asked to solve real-world problems that require analysis and application of skills learned. Consider the following problem from this week’s lessons. Notice how it requires students to think about space, length, multiplication/repeated addition, and subtraction to solve it:

In Science, students are learning to Ask Questions and Construct Explanations as they explore a variety of objects and substances as part of our study of Properties of Matter. This week they used their senses of observation besides seeing to identify properties of subjects in “Mystery Bags”!

Our Term 2 Social Studies focus is on learning character traits and applying that knowledge to understand famous U.S. and world figures and their contributions. What makes these historical leaders worth remembering? How did Lincoln’s honesty, Cesar Chavez’ determination, Harriet Tubman’s bravery, and Susan B. Anthony’s patriotism affect the lives of others and forever change our understanding of America? These are the kinds of questions we will attempt to answer by analyzing biographical texts and media.

This week, we will analyze the life and achievements of Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) and learn to assign character traits to him based on evidence from biographical texts and video. We’ll then use this evidence to create an informative writing piece. Check out this great video from Brainpop. Then consider these traits: determined; hardworking; patriotic; creative; honest; responsible; brave. Which words best apply to MLK? What is your evidence?

Our work on inference continues as we look for clues to how what a character feels and thinks by analyzing their actions. Take for example these lines from Chrysanthemum (Henkes): “On her first day, Chrysanthemum wore her sunniest dress and her brightest smile. She ran all the way.” Keying into important words like sunniest  and brightest and ran, we can use our schema plus these clues to infer that Chrysanthemum is full of anticipation, excited for her first day of school. When reading with your child at home, try pausing once in a while and asking what they think is going on in the text, and what words gave them those clues! Here’s a fun online game kids can use to practice:

As we wrap up our study of multiplication, students will be introduced to using equal groups to make sense of odd and even numbers. They’ll divide groups of objects (by “dealing” like cards and by subtracting equal groups) to see if the answer results in a remainder (odd) or not (even). Most students will be familiar with recognizing that even numbers end with 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, but this way they develop a hands-on understanding of the concepts.

And here’s us at music class, learning to develop a rhythm of steady beats as we sing and play!

Miguel Discart via Compfight

Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were full of cheer and good memories to cherish. I got to catch up with family and friends and recharge! Onward…

Community Reader Day is coming! On Friday, March 6 at 9:30, Floral will be filled with Shrewsbury residents who will read to students and share how reading is a joyful and impactful part of their lives. Before I tap into our pool of volunteers to obtain a reader, I want to put it out to our class parents first. If you would like to come in to read and talk to our class, and possibly lead an activity (we can talk), please let me know this week!

Our CAFE focus this week is on Inferring, which is a strategy we use all the time to help us understand what we’re reading. When we infer, we use our schema (what we already know about something) and combine it with clues from the text to understand something new. Consider these lines from Eloise Greenfield’s poem Things: Went to the beach/Played on the shore/Built me a sandhouse/Ain’t got it no more. My schema tells me that at the beach we build sandcastles, which is what she likely means, and sometimes the ocean comes and washes them away–that’s why the speaker “Ain’t got it no more.” Kids and grownups infer all the time in real life, for example: Snow is in the forecast. When the phone rings at 5:30 AM we can infer school will be delayed or cancelled! It’s smart to catch it when it happens and ask “How did you infer that? What were your clues?” Here is a site that, while designed for teachers, has lots of great info and links on inference: http://www.minds-in-bloom.com/2012/02/tips-for-teaching-inference.html

Chapter 6 of MIF focuses on learning multiplication facts of 2s, 5s, and 10s by teaching the connection between skip-counting and multiplication, and using that understanding to solve problems. To solve 8 x 2, for example, we want students to count by 2 eight times. It is a way of learning the meaning behind the numbers involved in multiplication instead of just memorizing facts (which has value, too, just not on its own). One way we teach this is to have students count pairs of objects. Next is counting on fingers while counting aloud by 2 (1 finger up gives you 2, or 1 x 2; etc.). Students will then be introduced to dot paper, which for this chapter shows arrays of 2s, 5s, or 10s. The example below shows 4 x 2. On homework, students should use dot paper by counting down the rows by 2s, then naming how many rows they counted. In this example, they should say “2, 4, 6, 8; I counted 4 times; 4 times 2 is 8.”

To help us use skip counting to multiply, we’ll be using some chestnuts from Schoolhouse Rock–remember those? <“)