Monday, March 29, 2010
More Fraction work from class on our Smartboard
Please look at some fraction work the students have done on our Smartboard in class. They learned about equivalent fractions last week and how to visually represent these equal parts. Enjoy!
Idiom of the Week
Our new idiom of the week is "crocodile tears."
This expression means that you shed false tears or show insincere sadness or grief. It has an interesting history as we learned in class today. In the 14th century, some people believed that crocodiles shed tears when they ate their prey, but we know today that it is not true. Crocodiles do, however, have tear ducts and "shed" tears, but not out of sorrow and sadness, but because their eyes get dry when they spend too much time out of the water!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Weekly Update
Dear Families,
We have such strange weather these days! Just when Spring arrived and we hoped for warmer and brighter days, the snow came back with cold temperatures and precipitation again. Please remember to send your child to school with weather appropriate clothing as the students have outdoor recess every day (unless it is cold and raining). The fields are muddy too, so please make sure your child also has good outdoor shoes. Thank you!
The students were busy this week finishing up their Response to Literature pieces and we started fluency work in reading. Please look for additional MP3s to be posted on the wiki as they get recorded. Your child will periodically take home short plays, scripts, or shorter passages. Please listen to your child as he/she reads these aloud at home. Repeated practice of reading the same texts improve not only reading fluency and prosody, but also confidence!
3rd graders started their new math unit on fractions this week. They learned that fractions are equal parts of a whole. This concept can be challenging sometimes, but using a ruler and a number line helps us visualize our fractions. Please visit the classroom digital portfolio for postings of lessons as we learn these new and exciting concepts. Thank you.
We are almost out of pencils and erasers in our classroom again. It is challenging sometimes with students sharing many classrooms and transitioning between classrooms throughout the school. Sometimes pencils get left behind and cannot be found again. We are asking for students to bring in their own pencils and erasers. Ideally, your child should have a small pencil case for his/her own pencils and erasers, but a zip lock bag with a name on it would be great too. Your child will be responsible for his/her pencils only. Once again, thank you all for your generosity donating pencils to our classroom. Of course they are still gladly accepted as some students will need “emergency pencils”. Thank you for your understanding.
The students studied Christopher Columbus this week. Please ask your child to share some of the very interesting details of how he evolved from a weaver to a sailor. Please ask your child to explain his determined character, as he waited for years before King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella finally accepted his offer to explore for Spain. Also ask your child to sing you our special song about 1492 which helps us remember interesting facts about this very important explorer. The students will finish up their quick study of explorers next week. They will learn to identify many routes taken on maps and identify the main reasons explores left their own native countries in the 1400s, the 1500s, the 1600s, and the 1700s. We will study Jamestown next. Please do not forget to visit many educational games on the wiki relating to our current unit on Explorers and Colonial America.
News and Reminders:
• Please sign up for parent-teacher conferences the week of April 12th if you did not already.
• Please note that next Tuesday, March 30th is a half-day with dismissal at 11:30am. Teachers are scheduled for in-service.
Have a great weekend!
Regards,
Maria McCormack
We have such strange weather these days! Just when Spring arrived and we hoped for warmer and brighter days, the snow came back with cold temperatures and precipitation again. Please remember to send your child to school with weather appropriate clothing as the students have outdoor recess every day (unless it is cold and raining). The fields are muddy too, so please make sure your child also has good outdoor shoes. Thank you!
The students were busy this week finishing up their Response to Literature pieces and we started fluency work in reading. Please look for additional MP3s to be posted on the wiki as they get recorded. Your child will periodically take home short plays, scripts, or shorter passages. Please listen to your child as he/she reads these aloud at home. Repeated practice of reading the same texts improve not only reading fluency and prosody, but also confidence!
3rd graders started their new math unit on fractions this week. They learned that fractions are equal parts of a whole. This concept can be challenging sometimes, but using a ruler and a number line helps us visualize our fractions. Please visit the classroom digital portfolio for postings of lessons as we learn these new and exciting concepts. Thank you.
We are almost out of pencils and erasers in our classroom again. It is challenging sometimes with students sharing many classrooms and transitioning between classrooms throughout the school. Sometimes pencils get left behind and cannot be found again. We are asking for students to bring in their own pencils and erasers. Ideally, your child should have a small pencil case for his/her own pencils and erasers, but a zip lock bag with a name on it would be great too. Your child will be responsible for his/her pencils only. Once again, thank you all for your generosity donating pencils to our classroom. Of course they are still gladly accepted as some students will need “emergency pencils”. Thank you for your understanding.
The students studied Christopher Columbus this week. Please ask your child to share some of the very interesting details of how he evolved from a weaver to a sailor. Please ask your child to explain his determined character, as he waited for years before King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella finally accepted his offer to explore for Spain. Also ask your child to sing you our special song about 1492 which helps us remember interesting facts about this very important explorer. The students will finish up their quick study of explorers next week. They will learn to identify many routes taken on maps and identify the main reasons explores left their own native countries in the 1400s, the 1500s, the 1600s, and the 1700s. We will study Jamestown next. Please do not forget to visit many educational games on the wiki relating to our current unit on Explorers and Colonial America.
News and Reminders:
• Please sign up for parent-teacher conferences the week of April 12th if you did not already.
• Please note that next Tuesday, March 30th is a half-day with dismissal at 11:30am. Teachers are scheduled for in-service.
Have a great weekend!
Regards,
Maria McCormack
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Weekly Update
Dear Families,
We have had another wonderfully productive week in our classroom, finishing up some units and themes, while starting new ones.
Firstly, we ended our unit on Light Energy with a two-part assessment; a computer-based assessment using Voicethread, and a traditional paper-based test. The students should receive the results by next week when we will sit down and discuss the assessment data one-on-one. I am very proud of their ease of use of various computer platforms. They all navigated around the slides inside the thread independently, utilizing the many tools available to them. The paper-based assessment emphasizes two types of skills; first, the content knowledge of the unit, second, the application of inquiry-based thinking skills such as observational and critical thinking skills. 4th graders will participate in the NECAP Science assessment later in May, so these constructivist thinking skills will help prepare them for that assessment. More information regarding test dates, etc will follow as we approach the date.
Secondly, the students are immersed in response to literature now. They are all diligently working on their own 4 paragraph essays. We hope to finish in the next two weeks so please look for your child’s writing piece as it comes home. Our next writing unit will be on narrative writing, a unit that always allows students to creatively use their imagination as they create their own fictional characters and place them in settings, that may or may not be real, but where they face some challenges and problems which must be confronted and solved. We are very excited to start this new venture together!
The students did not have regular Book Clubs (guided reading groups) with me this week as we concentrated on writing. These book clubs will resume next week. Please note that all students will embark on fluency instruction. While fluency instruction has been embedded into our daily routines since the beginning of the school year, we started more direct instruction and practice a few weeks ago, concentrating primarily upon poetry. The students read poetry in small groups, in partnerships and alone. They practiced together and were recorded using Audacity, a computer program which allows you to create and re-create audio files. Some of these files are posted as MP3s on our Classroom Digital Portfolio wiki, under Red Clover, Silent Music. Please click on the links inside the folder and listen to them read. The book Silent Music, written by James Rumford, was a Red Clover nominated book. It tells the story of a boy who, while growing up in Baghdad, discovers that his native language looks like music when it is in written form. The students were encouraged to look at our language in written form and discover that it can sound like music! If carefully crafted, it can convey suspense or delight, impatience or hope and chaos or silence. We will continue these explorations next week. Please look for fluency packets for repeated reading at home. All students are encouraged to read out loud as they practice reading with expression and intonation. Thank you.
News & Reminders:
• April parent-teacher conference confirmation notes are enclosed in your child’s homework folder this week. Please make sure you check your date and time. If you did not return the slip or sign up yet, please let me know as soon as possible as the time-slots are filling up quickly.
• Please also return the permission slip from UVM regarding your child’s participation or non-participation in the UVM Peer Relationships Study. Thank you. If you need additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
• Students have vocabulary homework due next Friday. Our new unit is called Colonial Times. They are also posted on the wiki in the Link Library. Thank you.
Have a great weekend.
Regards,
Maria McCormack
We have had another wonderfully productive week in our classroom, finishing up some units and themes, while starting new ones.
Firstly, we ended our unit on Light Energy with a two-part assessment; a computer-based assessment using Voicethread, and a traditional paper-based test. The students should receive the results by next week when we will sit down and discuss the assessment data one-on-one. I am very proud of their ease of use of various computer platforms. They all navigated around the slides inside the thread independently, utilizing the many tools available to them. The paper-based assessment emphasizes two types of skills; first, the content knowledge of the unit, second, the application of inquiry-based thinking skills such as observational and critical thinking skills. 4th graders will participate in the NECAP Science assessment later in May, so these constructivist thinking skills will help prepare them for that assessment. More information regarding test dates, etc will follow as we approach the date.
Secondly, the students are immersed in response to literature now. They are all diligently working on their own 4 paragraph essays. We hope to finish in the next two weeks so please look for your child’s writing piece as it comes home. Our next writing unit will be on narrative writing, a unit that always allows students to creatively use their imagination as they create their own fictional characters and place them in settings, that may or may not be real, but where they face some challenges and problems which must be confronted and solved. We are very excited to start this new venture together!
The students did not have regular Book Clubs (guided reading groups) with me this week as we concentrated on writing. These book clubs will resume next week. Please note that all students will embark on fluency instruction. While fluency instruction has been embedded into our daily routines since the beginning of the school year, we started more direct instruction and practice a few weeks ago, concentrating primarily upon poetry. The students read poetry in small groups, in partnerships and alone. They practiced together and were recorded using Audacity, a computer program which allows you to create and re-create audio files. Some of these files are posted as MP3s on our Classroom Digital Portfolio wiki, under Red Clover, Silent Music. Please click on the links inside the folder and listen to them read. The book Silent Music, written by James Rumford, was a Red Clover nominated book. It tells the story of a boy who, while growing up in Baghdad, discovers that his native language looks like music when it is in written form. The students were encouraged to look at our language in written form and discover that it can sound like music! If carefully crafted, it can convey suspense or delight, impatience or hope and chaos or silence. We will continue these explorations next week. Please look for fluency packets for repeated reading at home. All students are encouraged to read out loud as they practice reading with expression and intonation. Thank you.
News & Reminders:
• April parent-teacher conference confirmation notes are enclosed in your child’s homework folder this week. Please make sure you check your date and time. If you did not return the slip or sign up yet, please let me know as soon as possible as the time-slots are filling up quickly.
• Please also return the permission slip from UVM regarding your child’s participation or non-participation in the UVM Peer Relationships Study. Thank you. If you need additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
• Students have vocabulary homework due next Friday. Our new unit is called Colonial Times. They are also posted on the wiki in the Link Library. Thank you.
Have a great weekend.
Regards,
Maria McCormack
Friday, March 12, 2010
Red Clover Winner in our Classroom!
The winner of the Red Clover Book Award in our classroom 2009-2010 is
Owney, the mail-pouch pooch, written by Mona Kerby!!
Owney visits our classroom!
Owney, the Mail-pouch pooch introduced in Mona Kerby's Red Clover nominated book, Owney, the Mail-pouch pooch, visited our clasroom earlier this week. This stuffed animal Owney represents Owney the REAL dog who traveled around the world, working for the United Postal Service in the late 1800s. Owney (the stuffed animal) now visits classrooms across Vermont and we had the opportunity to read some stories along with him.
We read a fantastic collection of paragraphs and essays on Australia compiled by the 5th and 6th graders in Ms. Kenney and Ms. Wright's class last year. Please visit our classroom digital portfolio to see our Voicethread research on this amazing Red Clover Book, Owney, the Mail-pouch pooch, written by Mona Kerby (Click here for link)
Also, please view our slide-show from our last meeting with our Kindergarten Buddies. We had a great time reading together!
We read a fantastic collection of paragraphs and essays on Australia compiled by the 5th and 6th graders in Ms. Kenney and Ms. Wright's class last year. Please visit our classroom digital portfolio to see our Voicethread research on this amazing Red Clover Book, Owney, the Mail-pouch pooch, written by Mona Kerby (Click here for link)
Also, please view our slide-show from our last meeting with our Kindergarten Buddies. We had a great time reading together!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
3rd grade math lesson
Please view some of the math our 3rd grade mathematicians did this week. Thank you!
Weekly Update
Dear Families,
Spring is finally on its way! The days are getting longer, the snow is melting and the winds are warmer. Daylight Saving Time begins on Sunday this weekend. Please ask your child to explain why we change the time twice a year and what specific benefits we get from that.
Besides warmer weather, Spring is also a time for parent-teacher conferences at HCS. They are scheduled for Thursday, April 15th and Friday, April 16th. The students will attend school for half of the day, with dismissal at 11:30am. I have attached a sign-up sheet to this newsletter. Please indicate your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice. Do not forget to enter your name and e-mail/phone number in case I need to contact you to re-schedule or find a new time-slot. I will do my best to accommodate everyone’s schedules. If you have specific requests and cannot make any of the time-slots available, please do not hesitate to contact me. As indicated in last week’s newsletter, our marking period ends on April 2nd. Students will bring home report cards the following week, April 9th.
Our science unit on Light Energy is coming to an end. I have published the Voicethread assessment on our classroom digital portfolio. The digital portfolio has been linked as a separate entry on the school web-site for quick access. It still remains within the blog, but you can also access it directly from the options on the school web-site (Please note that you can also access it directly from its own url www.summitprojects.pbworks.com). The students have viewed the assessment in class and will have opportunities to prepare their statements and responses. I encourage the students to work together and discuss the assessment at home with the parents. They will, however, respond independently. (Please click here to view the assessment). On Monday next week, the students will participate in three more experiments on this topic.
3rd graders will also finish their unit on multiplication soon. The unit will wrap up with an assessment before the students perform their second VT Standards Portfolio piece in algebra. Our next unit will be on fractions and probability. Please visit the Digital Portfolio for new lessons and projects, which are periodically posted.
The students started using e-mail this week. We had a great lesson with Ms. Wilson, our school’s Technology Integration Specialist. Please ask your child to describe the rules and expectations for the use of e-mail at our school. They all did a great job, visiting google maps, where they compared the vegetation of Hinesburg and that of Kenya.
News & Reminders:
• Our classroom has the opportunity to participate in a Peer Relationship Study through the University of Vermont. If your child has a letter from UVM this week, please return your response as soon as possible. We cannot start this exciting project until all students have replied. Please return this request even if you decline participation. Thank you!
• Our new idiom of the week is “Saved by the Bell”. Please ask your child to use it in a sentence.
Have a great weekend!
Regards,
Maria McCormack
Spring is finally on its way! The days are getting longer, the snow is melting and the winds are warmer. Daylight Saving Time begins on Sunday this weekend. Please ask your child to explain why we change the time twice a year and what specific benefits we get from that.
Besides warmer weather, Spring is also a time for parent-teacher conferences at HCS. They are scheduled for Thursday, April 15th and Friday, April 16th. The students will attend school for half of the day, with dismissal at 11:30am. I have attached a sign-up sheet to this newsletter. Please indicate your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice. Do not forget to enter your name and e-mail/phone number in case I need to contact you to re-schedule or find a new time-slot. I will do my best to accommodate everyone’s schedules. If you have specific requests and cannot make any of the time-slots available, please do not hesitate to contact me. As indicated in last week’s newsletter, our marking period ends on April 2nd. Students will bring home report cards the following week, April 9th.
Our science unit on Light Energy is coming to an end. I have published the Voicethread assessment on our classroom digital portfolio. The digital portfolio has been linked as a separate entry on the school web-site for quick access. It still remains within the blog, but you can also access it directly from the options on the school web-site (Please note that you can also access it directly from its own url www.summitprojects.pbworks.com). The students have viewed the assessment in class and will have opportunities to prepare their statements and responses. I encourage the students to work together and discuss the assessment at home with the parents. They will, however, respond independently. (Please click here to view the assessment). On Monday next week, the students will participate in three more experiments on this topic.
3rd graders will also finish their unit on multiplication soon. The unit will wrap up with an assessment before the students perform their second VT Standards Portfolio piece in algebra. Our next unit will be on fractions and probability. Please visit the Digital Portfolio for new lessons and projects, which are periodically posted.
The students started using e-mail this week. We had a great lesson with Ms. Wilson, our school’s Technology Integration Specialist. Please ask your child to describe the rules and expectations for the use of e-mail at our school. They all did a great job, visiting google maps, where they compared the vegetation of Hinesburg and that of Kenya.
News & Reminders:
• Our classroom has the opportunity to participate in a Peer Relationship Study through the University of Vermont. If your child has a letter from UVM this week, please return your response as soon as possible. We cannot start this exciting project until all students have replied. Please return this request even if you decline participation. Thank you!
• Our new idiom of the week is “Saved by the Bell”. Please ask your child to use it in a sentence.
Have a great weekend!
Regards,
Maria McCormack
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Idiom of the Week
Our new idiom of the week is "sink or swim"
This expression means that you have to do something on your own, without any help and you will either succeed or fail.
Weekly Update
Dear Families,
It is great to be back in the classroom again. I hope you all had a nice and relaxing vacation and had a chance to spend some quality time together. We have been very busy in school this week and accomplished much.
Our literacy unit in response to literature continues. This week, the students had the opportunity to view several benchmark pieces and discuss the scoring of these pieces. We looked at pieces that lacked elements of paragraph writing and “added” our own ideas and suggestions. We also scrutinized paragraphs that met the standard and exceeded the standard. We will continue working on developing our own writing responses next week.
Our science unit is well under way and we had the opportunity to read many articles and books together as a class this week as we did not have Word Study. We also responded to the first wiki-posted science question during our Computer Lab time this week. Periodically, I will post questions regarding various science themes in our Classroom Digital Portfolio, currently linked in the sidebar in the Blog. The students will be assigned questions and respond in different ways to these questions. Please check them out. They will be posted well in advance as the objective here is to encourage scientific and critical thinking skills. The students responded to question 1 today, and will respond the question 2 at a later date. The final assessment for our unit on Light Energy will be a two-part assessment. The students will be assessed in a traditional paper-based test, but they will also be assessed in a Voicethread, which allows all students to show their understanding in many different ways as they can text, upload pictures/slides/videos, doodle and speak. This assessment will be posted on the Classroom Digital Portfolio shortly for all to see. We will, however, complete it inside the classroom and the students are expected to complete it on their own. Previewing the assessment is encouraged but not required. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. If you do not have access to a computer at home, please know that your child will have many opportunities during the school-week to view and discuss this assessment. Thank you.
Next week will be our last week on Light Energy vocabulary. The week following, we will begin words related to our new Social Studies theme, Colonial Times. We will start by learning about explorers, primarily focusing on those who went to the Americas. (These words will be posted on the wiki in the Link Library). We will learn about Jamestown, the Mayflower and then proceed to expand upon the various aspects of Colonial life itself; its food, clothing, occupations, and housing, etc. As a culminating experience, the students will create a newspaper together, entitled, yes you guessed it…”Colonial Times”!!!
The students will learn how to use our school email next week. We will start by having a class with Jessica Wilson, our Technology Integration Specialist on Tuesday. She will discuss the expectations and the school rules regarding email. Please know that the students can ONLY access their email at the school and the purpose for this is purely academic as teachers can now send assignments and links electronically. Students will not be allowed to access email to “write each other” or “chat”. Access and use of email will be within the regular curricular schedule and I can, as all other teachers at the school, access everything that is written. The students will learn appropriate email customs, how to link, attach, send and manage folders. Please visit our first email response later next week, listed in our Red Clover section (Classroom Digital Portfolio). The students will respond to our last Red Clover book by emailing me their response. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you.
News and Reminders:
• Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled for April 15th and 16th, with half days for the students. I will send out sign-up sheets next week.
• Our next marking period end on April 2nd. Report cards will go home the following week, Friday April 9th.
• 3rd graders are taking home their math fluency sheets every week now. Please make sure you practice these facts at home daily. Students are expected to master 50 addition, subtraction and multiplication facts in 3 minutes by the end of 3rd grade. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Have a great weekend.
Regards,
Maria McCormack
It is great to be back in the classroom again. I hope you all had a nice and relaxing vacation and had a chance to spend some quality time together. We have been very busy in school this week and accomplished much.
Our literacy unit in response to literature continues. This week, the students had the opportunity to view several benchmark pieces and discuss the scoring of these pieces. We looked at pieces that lacked elements of paragraph writing and “added” our own ideas and suggestions. We also scrutinized paragraphs that met the standard and exceeded the standard. We will continue working on developing our own writing responses next week.
Our science unit is well under way and we had the opportunity to read many articles and books together as a class this week as we did not have Word Study. We also responded to the first wiki-posted science question during our Computer Lab time this week. Periodically, I will post questions regarding various science themes in our Classroom Digital Portfolio, currently linked in the sidebar in the Blog. The students will be assigned questions and respond in different ways to these questions. Please check them out. They will be posted well in advance as the objective here is to encourage scientific and critical thinking skills. The students responded to question 1 today, and will respond the question 2 at a later date. The final assessment for our unit on Light Energy will be a two-part assessment. The students will be assessed in a traditional paper-based test, but they will also be assessed in a Voicethread, which allows all students to show their understanding in many different ways as they can text, upload pictures/slides/videos, doodle and speak. This assessment will be posted on the Classroom Digital Portfolio shortly for all to see. We will, however, complete it inside the classroom and the students are expected to complete it on their own. Previewing the assessment is encouraged but not required. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. If you do not have access to a computer at home, please know that your child will have many opportunities during the school-week to view and discuss this assessment. Thank you.
Next week will be our last week on Light Energy vocabulary. The week following, we will begin words related to our new Social Studies theme, Colonial Times. We will start by learning about explorers, primarily focusing on those who went to the Americas. (These words will be posted on the wiki in the Link Library). We will learn about Jamestown, the Mayflower and then proceed to expand upon the various aspects of Colonial life itself; its food, clothing, occupations, and housing, etc. As a culminating experience, the students will create a newspaper together, entitled, yes you guessed it…”Colonial Times”!!!
The students will learn how to use our school email next week. We will start by having a class with Jessica Wilson, our Technology Integration Specialist on Tuesday. She will discuss the expectations and the school rules regarding email. Please know that the students can ONLY access their email at the school and the purpose for this is purely academic as teachers can now send assignments and links electronically. Students will not be allowed to access email to “write each other” or “chat”. Access and use of email will be within the regular curricular schedule and I can, as all other teachers at the school, access everything that is written. The students will learn appropriate email customs, how to link, attach, send and manage folders. Please visit our first email response later next week, listed in our Red Clover section (Classroom Digital Portfolio). The students will respond to our last Red Clover book by emailing me their response. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you.
News and Reminders:
• Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled for April 15th and 16th, with half days for the students. I will send out sign-up sheets next week.
• Our next marking period end on April 2nd. Report cards will go home the following week, Friday April 9th.
• 3rd graders are taking home their math fluency sheets every week now. Please make sure you practice these facts at home daily. Students are expected to master 50 addition, subtraction and multiplication facts in 3 minutes by the end of 3rd grade. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Have a great weekend.
Regards,
Maria McCormack
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