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

Report cards will be coming home next week! A few notes about grading: Gone are the days of letter grades, and the system in place now works a little differently. A “3” is Achieving the standard, and that is similar to an “A” grade. A “2” means students are making progress and are not independently there yet. A “4” is rare: it means students are working a grade level above grade 2 benchmarks. A “1” is even rarer: should any student have been heading there, we would have communicated it well before now (and no one is)!

To be achieving on this term’s report card, students should be reading on level 20 and reading fluently while comprehending text on whatever level they may be at. In writing they should be able to write complete sentences; to show evidence of writing opinion and informative pieces; to tell a story about one event from their lives with a beginning, middle, and end in a clear manner; and to write with spaces, correct upper/lowercase letters and correct punctuation. In math they should have passed level 10 math facts on quizzes; shown the ability to add and subtract 3 digit numbers with and without regrouping; and shown how to correctly model addition and subtraction stories (parts-and-total; base ten diagram; bar models).

A note about the report card: I have discovered that the math descriptors I shared at conferences are close but in a few cases dissimilar to the final printing. The main difference is that students will not be scored on reading the calendar or on skip counting. I have tried unsuccessfully to update the report card link on our blog; this link should take you there, or you can access it via the Shrewsbury Public Schools link under the Teaching and Learning tab: http://schools.shrewsbury-ma.gov/egov/docs/1415385240_711547.pdf

This week our math work is all about problem solving, as you will see by looking over our homework. The big idea is for students to think logically and deeply about problems and to create bar models that a) help to organize information,  b) help to make sense of the problem, and c) help to solve the problem. What’s different this week is that many of the problems will have more than one step needed to get to the answer. Consider this problem from the MIF student book:

Notice how each step of the problem is broken down, modeled, and solved in a logical order. Kids should be doing the same when encountering multi-step problems like this: reading, thinking, modeling part 1, then repeating for part 2. Notice too the box for checking work. It is intended for checking answers a few different ways instead of just performing one inverse operation.

It is expected we will wrap up and take the test on Chapter 4 this week (things can change based on the needs of groups of students). As before, I will score and send home the “Chapter Review/Test” whenever we take it.

In writing, we will be pursuing effective main events by writing about a recess time on the blacktop. Personal Narratives have proven challenging for many students, and rightly so: they require the most effort and originality. We will continue to focus on them for several weeks. We have also been learning to write in friendly letter format, writing compliments to students on their birthdays! In addition, we have continued our study of poetry by learning terms and analyzing quality works. This week we learn about the heart of poetry, metaphor. Soon students will be writing great poems of their own–can’t wait!

 Our science work with Air and Weather continues this week as well. Using a variety of objects (bicycle pumps; straws; balloons; feathers; water; vials; and more), students will be investigating what air is, what air can do (e.g. how it can be manipulated, how the force of wind causes reactions), how to prove air is there and takes up space, and what air pressure is.

 You’re invited! Our class will be performing songs and poems with a Winter Theme in the cafeteria on Friday, December 19, at 9:30 (snow date: Monday, December 22, 9:30). We will remain in the space after, for photo-opps and congratulations. <”) Please come: family and friends welcome! This is our Winter Celebration, and takes the place of a class party. Per district recommendations, please do not send in food or drink to share, though you are of course welcome to send in something special, nut free, for your child to enjoy at snack time.