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

Thanks, Everyone, for your help with the Get Fit Adventure! Our class was the first to return all pedometers and recording sheets on Friday!

Now, polish those boots! On Halloween we’ll be celebrating Floral style, with our own Fall Festival. The kids will be treated to Fall and Halloween centers in the morning, and we’ll be kicking up our heels at our school Hoedown in the gym that afternoon–what a blast! Kids (and grownups) are encouraged to wear Western gear that day (anything plaid and denim, cowboy/cowgirl/farm clothing). Please no weapons (just a general good rule, no?). We can’t share any food as a classroom, but if you want to pack some kind of Fall/Halloween treat for your child’s personal snack, that will just add to the fun! We do NOT have any food allergy restrictions in our classroom this year–nuts, eggs, flour, berries, wheat, etc., are OK to send in as a personal snack.

Speaking of fun, we’ve been ending the day with fun and learning videos. This one teaches classical music–the theme of Camille Saint-Saens’ “Danse Macabre”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jYnmds8QDE. Another of our favorites for learning coins is “Penny You’re the One”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h946YYlH1M

Math Facts Homework begins this week. On Monday I’ll be sending home a letter outlining how it works. Attached to that will be a note with your child’s password for Xtramath.org, along with general procedures for getting online. Xtramath is an online math facts practice site that gives timed tests to students. This free program keeps track of student progress for kids, parents, and teachers to view any time. Please try it out; it has proved a very helpful and motivating strategy for kids learning math facts! http://xtramath.org. This Friday will be the first “official” math facts quiz. Quizzes will be corrected, scored, and returned every Monday. Students stay on the same level until it has been mastered.

The Common Core Standards rightly raises the importance of poetry in reading and writing. We’ve begun learning poetry terms (stanza, rhyme, rhythm, imagery) and applying them by analyzing poems. This week we will learn about metaphors, which are a powerful tool for creating understanding and painting pictures with words. Consider this poem by Langston Hughes called “Autumn Thought”:

Flowers are happy in summer.

In autumn they die and are blown away.

Dry and withered,

Their petals dance on the wind

Like little brown butterflies.

What images come to mind when reading the poem? How can flowers seem happy? What does it mean to “dance on the wind?” By using the butterfly metaphor at the end, how does the poet show how he feels at seeing the petals?

We have created “Treasure Folders” (I tell the kids each poem is a jewel–how’s that for a metaphor?) in which kids will keep copies of several poems, and others they can choose to take home. In addition, we are copying parts of poems down for handwriting practice. Copying poetry has the added benefit of making it seem like the poems belong to us–which they do!

 

NEW THIS WEEK! First and fourth grades will be taking part in the Get Fit Adventure. This is a program where students keep track of steps taken using a pedometer for one week, and set goals for 3 separate weeks later this year. Coming home Monday will be: your child’s pedometer; a purple recording sheet; and a white information sheet. I’m still learning it too (!) but will try to answer your questions as they arise. Please see this note from the first grade team:

“Pedometer Distribution
In connection to our PEP and our district goal of promoting healthy living,
first graders across the district are being asked to wear a pedometer during
their waking hours for a week at a time, four times during our school year.
Our first week will begin on Monday, October 21st.  Parents are being asked
to help by recording the number of steps that your child takes each day as
well as some basic nutritional information.  Recording sheets are purple and
can be found in your child¹s green folder.  You will see that your child¹s
name is already on top of the paper and that there are directions on the
form as well.  Although we do understand that keeping track of the pedometer
can be a challenge, it also presents our class with some real life
opportunities to look at data.

Pedometers should be taken off at night and
kept in a strategic spot so they can be put back on in the morning as your
child gets dressed for school.  If our classes are able to have 100%
participation students receive t-shirts and we earn classroom rewards.
Needless to say, our class wants to earn these rewards!  Please do help us
to stay on track to meet this goal by doing the following:
1. Pick a strategic spot for the purple recording sheet.
2. Help your child to record their steps and complete the fruit and
vegetable survey each night.
3. Pick a strategic spot to keep his/her pedometer each night.
4. Send the completed purple form back in your child¹s folder and Friday,
October 26th.

Thank you for your support with this wonderful learning opportunity!  The
children are all very excited to use these tools!”

Our reading strategy focus this week is on learning to “Back Up and Re-read.” An important step for young kids as readers is the ability to monitor their reading for both accuracy and comprehension. They should be stopping themselves when things don’t sound right, look right, or make sense. Often the most successful young readers are those who recognize that what they have read does or doesn’t sound like “people talk”; that is, like spoken language. You can help him or her monitor reading at home by checking occasionally and asking your child to re-read a sentence or phrase when words are read incorrectly.

We will be reviewing key concepts taught in Unit 2 math lessons, especially reading a tally chart and interpreting the data, and counting nickels and pennies. You can help at home (in the car at red lights, during a muted commercial on TV) by asking your child to count by 5s to some number (between 10 and 30, for example), then stopping and counting on by 1s. Example: Count by 5s to 15…STOP. Count on by 1s: 16, 17, 18, etc. Counting on is a skill that can help count money and add numbers with large addends! We’ll take the test on Tuesday; look for SEPARATE MATH HOMEWORK PAPERS Monday and Tuesday nights, and math homework 3.1 in the homework packets will begin on Wednesday. I’ve discovered this site for creating tally charts. You can use it to make some at home based on your child’s interests, and ask questions related to the data (e.g. How many kids have 3 teddy bears? or How many friends like the color blue best?): http://www.softschools.com/math/data_analysis/tally_chart/tally_chart_maker/

Other learning focus lessons this week:

• Short vowel review and practice: reading, writing, and learning games.
• Learning to write opinions on a subject and substantiate them with reasons and explanations; learning how informational writing looks and writing a short piece based on facts.
• Introduction to cardinal directions on maps (N, S, E, W) including their purpose and developing spatial awareness with directionality around the room.
• Hands-on science lessons sorting rock mixtures using screens that help us identify sand, small & large gravel, and small & large pebbles by their properties.

Reading homework begins this week. Each night, your child should record ONE book read, even if 2 or more were done. You can help write the date, and initial the line item. What’s important here is that our young students begin to take responsibility for completing assignments as home, by doing as much as possible.

Raz Kids has had a fantastic response from parents! I’m so glad this is an effective format for you and your kids. Please feel free to use the books on it every night INSTEAD OF, or IN ADDITION TO books sent home from school! Also be sure to help your child with the steps (but not the answers!) for taking the quizzes that accompany each book on Raz. For reading homework and other upcoming dates of note, please refer to the updated Nuts and Bolts section.

Parent volunteering this year will take the form of reading with children at school. Initially I’m starting with 4 slots, one day per week M-Th, 10:00-10:40. If you are only able to commit to bi-monthly visits, or if all the slots are filled by the time you visit the signup site, please email me and I’ll see how I can put together a patchwork schedule. If you ARE able to commit to weekly visits, please use the link below to sign up for ONE day a week: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0C4DADAD2FAB9-inschool

There is also availability on the signup for a Room Parent who will organize help for our Winter and Spring concerts.

This week’s CAFE reading strategy focus is Cross Checking. Young readers should be monitoring their reading. After they come to an unknown word and try reading it, they should ask, “Does that look right (do the letters/pictures match my word)? Does that sound right (do the beginning, ending, or middle letter sounds match what I read)? Does that word make sense there?” Eventually, the goal is that students will stop themselves to correct their reading (“Wait, that doesn’t sound right,” or “Yes, that makes sense.”). More at http://cowlishaw.ipsd.org/uploads/Cross%20checking.pdf

For now, when your child reads aloud to you (e.g. during homework) try prompting your child with these questions at unknown words. Other prompts: How is that word like another word you know (the word zoo looks like too)? What part of that word do you already know (to is in the word together)?

This week’s big math idea is to learn and apply the concepts of formal addition and subtraction, including symbols. When dealing with abstract ideas like representing the act of addition using numbers and symbols (+/=) it’s helpful for kids to use a conceptual framework. The “Change for More/Change for Less” diagram is used in Everyday Math to support and give structure to kids’ learning:

At homework time, check to see that your child is filling in the diagram correctly when solving word problems. Thanks as always for your efforts at home!

 

Reading Reading homework will begin Tuesday 11/15. This week we will practice filling in the reading log together in school. There is no expectation that the log (in the folder with the math homework) is done before that; however some of you have been having your child read at night or read with you at night, and that’s fine!

RazKids is here (http://www.raz-kids.com )! For more information on this EXCELLENT site for kids and parents (including our classroom code and your child’s personal password) please read the notice I’m sending home on Monday.

This week’s comprehension focus is on learning to identify and use Nonfiction Text Features (photographs, captions, headings, diagrams, glossaries, etc.). This is another BIG strategy for kids to learn, especially with the increased use of informational text the Common Core State Standards require. As adults, we use them all the time to increase our understanding in as short a time as possible. Think of it: while at the doctor’s office, we pick up the only magazine that looks like it hasn’t been worn out. When looking for something to read, we’re drawn to titles, pictures, and captions that interest us and give us both an overview and details that support the main idea of an article. Headings help us activate our own schema as well as structure the information for us logically. Diagrams, maps, and charts present information in ways that help us understand. The same is true for nonfiction texts for kids, and we need to teach them to use these tools to come to a more complete understanding. More information can be found at This Reading Mama’s blog: http://thisreadingmama.com/comprehension/non-fiction/non-fiction-text-structure/. In addition, YouTube abounds with kids’ videos and songs (here’s just one): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D6cq_-mV90. National Geographic for Kids is an excellent site where you and your child can practice at home: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/

Our Daily 5 instruction continues as we build stamina and learn to problem solve during Read to Others time. We will also learn to Listen to Reading. This is where students listen to someone read books (online) that they can’t really read. It’s a good way to improve their vocabulary and their understanding of what fluent reading sounds like. Of course, you help them do that every time you read aloud to them as well! Keep up that good work. More info: http://www.thedailycafe.com/public/department68.cfm Here’s an amateur site of read alouds; you can search for more professional ones too: http://www.justbooksreadaloud.com

Phonics focus: short u, -up  -ut  ug

Math This week’s focus in on identifying pennies and nickels and how much each is worth. Kids at this age are just learning to think abstractly. They are also learning how it can be that one coin (nickel) is worth 5 of something (pennies). We’ll be playing lots of games where students have opportunities to trade in pennies for nickels. What’s important here aside from understanding this principle (conservation of number) is that students use the knowledge to help them count and add by 1s and 5s. At home, try making the concept into a game (one of the ways young kids learn best) by playing “Banker” or “Store.” The new and old backs of pennies and nickels can make it confusing for kids; still it’s best to use some of both until they get familiar with them!

Writing Another big push in the Common Core is on Fact vs. Opinion writing. The eventual goal is to prepare students for college and career readiness by ensuring they can justify statements with evidence to support them. At this stage, we’re learning the difference between Fact and Opinion, and learning to explain our thinking in writing.

Science This week we will continue learning about skills of inquiry as we learn to ask questions and make predictions about rock specimens. How is one sample the same/different from another (classification)? What might happen to their properties when we change their systems from dry to wet? How could we design a process to test that out?

Social Studies This week we are incorporating ideas about maps and communities as we learn about Fire Safety during Fire Prevention Week. With the help of Smokey the Bear (remember him?) and Sparky the Fire Dog we will explore how to be safe, what to do in case of fire, and how to make an escape map for home. This is an excellent time to review your child’s address and phone number in case of emergencies! More info at: http://www.nfpa.org/safety-information/fire-prevention-week/for-kids-and-families