I hope everyone has had a fun and restful vacation.
I am looking forward to seeing your children on Monday. This week we will begin our Artist in Residency. We will be making Wish Flags with artist Marc Ragonese. On Friday, we will be planting trees in collaboration with the town of New Boston and the Forestry Commission. A permission slip for this event will come home on Monday. This week, we will enjoy reading Junie B. Jones. This will be in preparation for our field trip on Monday, May 7th to the theatrical production of Junie B. Jones! We are learning about our incredible brains! We are learning how our brains grow and how we grow by making mistakes. They know that mistakes can help them grow. This week we will re-visit this topic and we will think about the things that we CAN do that were once tricky, and we will think about the things that we are working on learning to do! During math time we will be working on adding two digit numbers, working with money, and telling time to the half-hour. You can work on these concepts at home by: 1. Have your child count dimes, nickels, and pennies. Always start with the larger amount...count the tens first, followed by 5's, and then by 1's. Money practice and Switch counting all in one! 2. Find opportunities for your child to use an analog clock. (A clock with hands.) Remind your child that the small hand shows the hour and the long hand tells the minutes. We are focusing on time to the half-hour. Your child should be able to write the time to the half hour as "half-past 1 o'clock" or "1:30". A common misconception for first graders is to write this time as "1:6". 3. Practice adding by giving your child a math problem with a two digit number and a 1 digit number. Ex. 17+6 = ___. 4. Practice using the Hundreds Chart with your child. Your child should be fluent with finding 1 more, 1 less, ten more (moving down the grid 1 place for 10) and ten less (moving up the grid 1 place for 10 less). You can challenge your child by asking him/her to find 20 less than a given number, 30 more, etc. This week we will be learning about sound! We will do several experiements to learn to "see" sound! Your children will be using vocabulary words such as volume, vibrations, and pitch to explain the concept of sound.
During writing time, we will write sound poems! Your children are becoming proficient in their math facts. Each day we practice our facts through Xtra Math. The kids are increasing their fact fluency. The focus of this program is to solve the fact within 2-3 seconds of seeing it. They are making big gains. This week, the homework will be to play a Math Facts Game with your child. The Game is "Beat the Calculator", and the directions will come home on Monday. You will need a calculator or a calculator app for this game, and your child will bring home an envelope of Fact Triangles. All of the materials will stay at home, and you will not need to hand in anything on Wednesday. I hope you enjoy playing this game with your child! We've enjoyed playing here at school, and they will be excited to share it with you. On Friday, our class and our buddy class will participate in an Earth Day Clean Up activity. Please have your child dress for the outdoors. Gloves and tools will be provided. Friday is also a school-wide spirit day. Kids are encouraged to dress a bit crazy...mismatched socks, crazy hair, a wacky outfit... Report cards went home on Friday. Please sign and return the envelope. Families, you have some very amazing kids. They are learning and growing daily! They are so very proud of their growth, and their teacher is proud of them too! We are learning about inventions. We had a great discussion about cars, telephones, computers, and electricity. This is a great topic, and I encourage kids to bring in items that are related to our discussions. Do you have an old rotary phone? An old style Walk-man? A cassette tape? Talk to your child about these inventions and how these inventions have changed over time. If it's okay with you, it's okay for your child to bring it in to share.
A reminder that our Field Trip to Odiorne Point is on May 21st. We need a lot of chaperones for this trip, but all chaperones must be on the school's Designated Volunteer list. If you are interested in chaperoning, please be sure to do the paperwork needed to be a Designated Volunteer. Please call the school or check the school's website for information about this process. Information about our Odiorne Point Field Trip will come home in early May. From the Student Council...Thursday, students are invited to wear Red Sox Gear...(or any team)...in honor of Opening Day at Fenway.
On April 20th, it will be Crazy Day...mismatched socks, crazy hair, a wacky outfit... From Mrs. Veilleux... Thank you for the supplies! It is very much appreciated! This Friday is Kids' World Yoga Day! We will do a yoga practice with our Reading Buddies. Please have your child dress comfortably. If you have any coffee cans, please send them in. I have sent a revised Parent Contact List. It is in your child's folder. Look for the blue paper. We learned about fractions! We read Give Me Half, a fun story about a brother and sister who have to split everything in half. We also read Full House, a fun story that works with fractions!
The fourth grade challenged each class in the school to set a reading goal. We set our goal for 500 books, and we surpassed that goal this week. So far we have read a total of 580 books. Did your child show you his/her kite? We did a design activity in which we had to design and create a kite. It was a bit too wet for flying, but I hope the kids gave their kites a try. Coming home with the kites were some papers that showed their imagined designs and their thoughts on materials. The last page talks about what happened when the kite was flown and any thoughts the kids had about re-design. It is optional to send these back in, but if the kids have an opportunity, we'd love to share any that do come back. Designing and re-designing are all a part of the creative and engineering process. We talk about this quite a bit and we've made connections to the revision process that we do in writing. We understand that it takes lots of tries and effort to create and we learn by and from trying and retrying, We are in need of soft tissues, eco-friendly cleaning spray, sanitizing wipes, and a box or two of crackers for the occasional forgotten snack. Your help with any of these things would be greatly appreciated. |
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